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TUB  UNIVERSITY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


A  REPORT 

ON   THE   GEOLOGICAL   AND   NATURAL   HISTORY    SURVEY    OF   MINNESOTA 
MADE    IN    PURSUANCE   TO    AN   ACT    OF   THE    LEGISLATURE 
OF    THE    STATE,  APPROVED    MARCH    1, 

1872. 


PUBI.ISHKI)  I1Y  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  STATE. 


VOLUME  I. 


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GEOLOGICAL 

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NAT! 'UAL    IllSTOhT    SITHVKY 

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MINNK  SOTA. 

N.H.WIXC'HKI.I..  STATK  OBOL00tST 

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THE  GEOLOGICAL  AND  NATURAL  HISTORY"   SURVEY  OF  MINNESOTA. 
N.  H.  WINCHELL.  STATK  GEOLOGIST. 


1872-1882. 


THE 


GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


VOL  I,  OF  THE  FINAL  REPORT. 


BY  N.  H.  WINCH  ELL, 
ASSISTED  BY  WARREN    UPHAM. 


SUBMITTED    MARCH   10,  1882,  AND    PUBLISHED    UNDEK    THE  DIRECTION 

OF   THE    HON.  FRED   VON  BAUMBACH, 

SECRETARY    OF    STATE. 


ILLUSTRATED  BY  FORTY-THREE  PLATES, 


AND  FIFTY-TWO  FIGURES. 


MINNEAPOLIS.  MINN. 

JOHNSON,  SMITH  &  HARBISON,  STATE  PRINTERS. 
1881. 


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Entered  according  to  Act  of  ConifrcM-*  in  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  ;tt  Washington,  in  the 

year  1884,  by  Fred  Von  liamnbacli.  Secretary  of  State,  on  behalf  of 

the  people  of  Minnesota 


GEOLOGICAL  SCIENCES 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 


Letter  of  transmittsl  by  the  STATE  OKOLOQIST. 
Letter  of  PRESIDENT  WILLIAM  w.  FOLWELL. 
Preface. 

CHAPTER  I.  PAGES. 

Historical  Sketch  of  Explorations  and  Surveys  in  Minnesota.     By  N.  II.  WINCHELL.  .     1  to  110 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  general  physical  features  of  Minnesota.    By  N.  II.  WINCHELL Ill  to  141 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  building-stones  of  Minnesota.    By  N.  II.  WINCHELL 142  to  203 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  geology  of  Houston  county.     By  N.  II .  WINCHELL 207  to  235 

CHAPTER  V. 
The  geology  of  Winona  county.     By  N.  H.  WINCHELL 236  to  267 

CHAPTER  VI. 

The  geology  of  Fillmore  county.     By  N.  II.  WINCHELL 268  to  324 

CHAPTER  VII. 

The  geology  of  Olmsted  county.    By  M.  W.  HARRINGTON 325  to  340 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  geology  of  Mower  county.     By  N.  II.  WINCHELL 347  to  366 

CHAPTER  IX. 
The  geology  of  Dodge  county.     By  M.  W.  HARRINGTON  367  to  375 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  geology  of  Freeborn  county.    By  N.  II.  WINCHELL 376  to  393 

CHAPTER  XI. 
The  geology  of  Steele  county.    By  M.  W.  HARRINGTON 394  to  403 


M67038 


viii  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XII. 
The  geology  of  Waseca  county.    By  WARREN  UPHAM 404  to  414 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
The  geology  of  Blue  Earth  county.    By  WARREN  UrnAM 415  to  453 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
The  geology  of  Faribault  county.    By  WARREN  UPHAM 454  to  471 

CHAPTER  XV. 
The  geology  of  Watonwan  and  Martin  counties.    By  WARREN  UPHAM 472  to  490 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
The  geology  of  Cottonwood  and  Jackson  counties.     By  WARREN  UPHAM 491  to  516 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
The  geology  of  Murray  and  Nobles  counties.     By  WARREN  UPHAM 517  to  532 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
The  geology  of  Pipestone  and  Rock  counties.    By  N.  H.  WINCHELL 533  to  561 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

The  geology  of  Brown  and  Redwood  counties.    By  WARREN  UPHAM 562  to  588 

CHAPTER  XX. 
The  geology  of  Yellow  Medicine,  Lyon  and  Lincoln  counties.    By  WARREN  UPHAM. 589  to  612 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
The  geology  of  Big  Stone  and  Lac  qui  Parle  counties.    By  WARREN  UPHAM 613  to  631 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
The  geology  of  Le  Sueur  county.    By  WARREN  UPHAM 632  to  647 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
The  geology  of  Rice  county.    By  N.  H.  WINCHELL 648  to  673 


IX 


LIST  OF  PLATES  AND  THEIR  ORDEE. 


Small  county  map  of  the  state.  Frontispiece. 

Plate  1.  Historical  chart  of  the  state.  To  face  page  2. 

Plate  2.    Franquelin's  map  of  1688.  To  face  page  4. 

Plate  3.  To  face  page  4. 

Plate  4.  Carte  physique,  Buaehe,  1754.  To  face  page  9. 
Plate- pages  5  and  6.  Hennepin's  map.  To  fold  between  pages  16  and  17. 

Plate  7.    Nicollet's  map.  To  face  page  67. 

Plate  A.    Microscopic  thin-sections.  To  face  page  146. 

Plate  B.  To  face  page  154. 

Plate  C.               "  To  face  page  164. 

Plate  E.    Congregational  Church,  Winona.  To  face  page  162. 

Plate  D.    State  Capitol,  St.  Paul.  To  face  page  162. 

Plate  F.    First  Baptist  Church,  St.  Paul.  To  face  page  166. 

Plate  G.    Universalist  Church,  Minneapolis.  To  face  page  174. 

Plate  H.    Westminster  Presbyterian  Church,  Minneapolis.  To  face  page  182. 

Plate  8.     Houston  county.  To  face  page  208. 

Plate  9.      Winona  county.  To  face  page  237. 

Plate  10.    Fillmore  county.  To  face  page  269. 

Plate  11.    Olmsted  county.  To  face  page  326. 

Plate  12.   Mower  county.  To  face  page  347. 

Plate  13.   Dodge  county.  To  face  page  366. 

Plate  14.   Freeborn  county.  To  face  page  376. 

Plate  15.   Steele  and  Waseca  counties.  To  face  page  395. 

Plate  16.   Blue  Earth  county.  To  face  page  415. 

Plate  17.  Faribault  county.  To  face  page  455. 

Plate  18.  "Watonwan  and  Martin  counties.  To  face  page  472. 
Plates  19  and  20.  Cotton  wood  and  Jackson  counties.  To  fold  between  pages  490  and  491. 
Plates  21  and  22.  Murray  and  Nobles  counties.  To  fold  between  pages  516  and  517. 

Plates  23  and  24.    Pipestone  and  Rock  counties.  To  face  page  532. 

Plates  I.  and  J.   Indian  inscriptions.  Constitute  pages  556  and  557. 

Plates  K.  and  L.  Indian  inscriptions.  Constitute  pages  558  and  559. 
Plates  25  and  26.  Brown  and  Redwood  counties.  To  fold  between  pages  562  and  563. 
Plates  27  and  28.  Yellow  Medicine,  Lyon  and  Lincoln  counties.  Fold  between  pages  588  and  589. 

Plate  29.   Big  Stone  and  Lac  qui  Parle  counties.  To  face  page  614. 

Plate  30.    Le  Sueur  county.  To  face  page  632.' 

Plate  31.    Rice  county.  To  face  page  648. 


x  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

LETTER  OF  N.  H.  WINCHELL,  STATE  GEOLOGIST. 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  MINNESOTA, 

March  10,  1882. 
William  W.  Folwell,  President  of  the  University. 

I  have  the  pleasure  of  transmitting  the  accompanying  manuscript  re- 
port, the  same  being  intended  for  the  first  volume  of  the  final  report  on 
the  geological  and  natural  history  survey  of  the  state.  In  tendering  this 
volume,  the  first  of  the  matured  results  of  the  survey,  permit  me  to  thank 
you  for  courteous  consideration  in  our  official  intercourse,  and  personal 
advice  and  assistance  in  many  ways  during  the  decade  that  has  passed 
since  the  work  was  begun. 

Respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

N.  H.  WINCHELL, 

State  Geologist. 


LETTER  OF  PRESIDENT  WM.  W.  FOLWELL. 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  MINNESOTA,  MINNEAPOLIS, 

March  12,  1882. 
Professor  N.  H.  Winchell,  State  Geologist. 

DEAR  SIR:  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  favor 
of  the  10th  instant,  transmitting  the  manuscript  of  the  first  volume  of  your 
final  report.  Permit  me  to  congratulate  you  upon  the  successful  comple- 
tion of  a  considerable  portion  of  the  great  enterprise  in  which  you  are 
engaged  and  to  express  the  hope  that  you  may  be  enabled  to  carry  out 
your  whole  plan.  The  completed  work  will  be  a  noble  testimony  to  your 
skill  and  industry,  and  to  the  liberality  of  the  generation  which  has  had 
the  foresight  to  originate  it. 

Very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

WILLIAM  W.  FOLWELL, 

President. 


PREFACE. 


This  volume,  the  first  of  the  final  volumes  of  the  geological  and  natural 
history  survey  of  Minnesota,  needs  but  few  words  of  introduction.  It  was 
with  much  trepidation,  but  with  unreserved  devotion  to  the  work,  that  the 
writer  began  alone,  in  October,  1872,  the  geological  survey  of  the  state  of 
Minnesota.  The  fund  allowed  by  the  Legislature  was  one  thousand  dollars 
per  year,  to  cover  all  expenses.  This  sum  was  doubled  by  the  next  Legisla- 
ture, and  the  salt  spring  lands  of  the  state  were  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 
board  of  regents  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  survey.  One  half  of  each 
year,  up  to  1S7S,  was  given  to  instruction  in  the  University.  The  field- 
work  of  the  summer  vacation  was  described  in  an  annual  report,  hurriedly 
prepared  in  the  autumn  and  early  winter  of  each  year.  In  1878  the  regents 
made  other  provision  for  the  work  of  instruction.  In  1879,  Mr.  Warren 
Upham  was  employed,  and  he  has  remained  an  assistant  on  the  survey  up 
to  the  present  time. 

Although  the  period  of  ten  years  is  covered  by  this  volume,  it  does  not 
embrace  all  the  results  of  the  work  of  that  length  of  time.  In  accordance 
with  the  general  law  of  the  survey,  several  other  departments  have  been 
prosecuted.  The  series  of  annual  reports  has  been  maintained,  the  General 
Museum  has  been  established,  and  investigations  of  the  palaeontology  and 
mineralogy  of  the  state  initiated.  In  general  the  design  has  been  to  plan 
the  work  systematically  and  execute  it  thoroughly,  based  upon  an  ex- 
pectation of  final  completion.  This  of  course  finds,  at  this  time,  many 
lines  of  investigation  still  open,  and  much  field-observation  still  unclassified. 

The  aim  in  this  volume  has  been  to  state  facts  rather  than  conclusions. 
Whenever  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  assign  a  cause  to  phenomena,  it 
has  been  so  evidently  the  cause,  in  the  light  of  the  facts  stated  or  univer- 
sally admitted,  that  the  description  of  the  phenomena  would  be  incomplete 


xii  PREFACE. 

without  a  reference  to  their  obvious  cause.  Generalization  should  follow 
the  accumulation  of  facts,  not  precede  them.  In  order  to  give  complete- 
ness to  the  survey,  these  facts  ultimately  will  be  grouped,  and  their  true 
relations  set  forth.  But  this  cannot  be  done  till  the  whole  state  has  been 
surveyed. 

At  best  this  is  but  a  preliminary  investigation  of  the  geology  and 
geography  of  the  state.  It  adds  definiteness  and  fullness  to  the  work  of 
Nicollet  and  of  Owen;  but  it  rests  on  data,  appliances,  and  resources  too 
limited  and  inexact  to  warrant  the  expectation  that  the  future  will  not 
find  fault  with  it,  and  will  not  be  able  to  extend  it  by  still  more  thorough 
and  pains-taking  study.  It  is  to  be  hoped,  therefore,  that  in  the  submission 
of  this  work  to  the  scrutiny  of  the  geologist  of  to-day,  and  to  the  verdict  of 
the  geologist  of  the  future,  they  will  both  scan  its  pages  with  due  leniency 
for  its  errors  and  imperfections. 

It  would  be  useless  to  attempt  to  enumerate  tlie  individuals  and  cor- 
porations to  which  the  survey  is  under  obligation.  Throughout  the  state 
its  agents,  and  all  its  efforts,  have  been  received,  with  scarcely  an  excep- 
tion, with  perfect  cordiality  and  cooperation.  It  has  been  a  constant  effort 
to  make  the  survey  useful,  in  every  way,  and  a  free  avenue  of  information 
to  the  people  respecting  everything  that  is  included  within  its  scope.  This 
has  entailed  a  voluminous  correspondence,  but  one  which  often  has  re- 
sulted in  benefit  to  the  survey  as  well  as  to  the  inquirer.  In  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  historical  chapter,  however,  the  generous  assistance  of  Rev.  E. 
D.  Neill  should  be  specially  mentioned;  who  placed  his  rich  library  of 
historical  works,  and  several  unpublished  manuscripts  and  early  maps  of 
the  Northwest,  unreservedly  at  the  service  of  the  writer.  General  Q.  A. 
Gillmore  kindly  superintended  the  testing  of  eighty  two-inch  cubes  of 
building  stone.  Hon.  D.  S.  Durrie,  librarian  of  the  Wisconsin  historical 
society,  has  loaned  several  rare  books  which  could  not  be  procured  in 
Minnesota.  The  gratuitous  aid  rendered  in  1874  by  Prof.  M.  W.  Harring- 
ton, appears  essentially  in  the  reports  on  three  counties. 

N.  H.  W. 


Note  to  the  reader.  The  map  of  De  L'Isle,  on  page  20,  should  be  accredited  to  NeiWs  Min- 
nesota. The  sketch  of  the  lead  region,  which  on  page  92  is  attributed  to  Dr.  D.  F.  Weinland, 
should  be  accredited  to  Prof.  E.  Daniels,  who  was  then  state  geologist  of  Wisconsin.  The  sum 
of  money  granted  Mr.N.C.  D.  Taylor  by  the  Legislature  in  1865  was  one  thousand  dollars  in- 
stead of  two  thousand  (p.  97);  and  professor  James  Hall  dissents  from  the  opinion  of  the  copper 
prospects  of  the  St.  Croix  valley  attributed  to  him  by  Mr.  Taylor.  The  areas  of  Cass,  Crow 
Wing,  Morrison  and  Wadena  counties,  as  given  in  the  table  on  page  114,  are  stated  as  they 
would  be,  had  a  change  of  their  boundaries,  as  proposed  by  the  Legislature,  been  ratified  by  the 
inhabitants;  but  as  the  change  was  voted  down  by  the  people,  their  actual  areas  should  be  given 
as  follows: 

ACRES.  ACRES. 

Cass  county,  1,985,316.23  land;  438,814.34  water. 

Crow  Wing  county,  325,343.50  land:  42,494.63  water. 

Morrison  county,  730,917.20  land;  8,171.77  water. 

Wadena  county,  339,397.81  land;  8,524.62  water. 

Elevations  in  Houston,  Winona  and  Fillmore  counties  when  referred  to  sea-level,  except  the 
average  elevation  of  townships,  should  be  increased  eight  feet,  and  the  foot-note  on  page  241 
should  be  ignored.  On  page  361,  tenth  line  from  the  bottom,  for  "northwestern  "  read  north- 
eastern; and  on  page  362  for  "  Racine"  read  Frankford.  The  bight  of  the  mounds  mentioned  in 
Mower  county  (page  365)  is  rarely  as  much  as  four  feet.  The  thickness  of  the  strata  at  Hook's 
quarry,  Mantorville,  page  373,  amounts  to  72  feet  10  inches.  Head  143  feet,  instead  of  134  feet, 
on  page  634,  for  the  hight  of  the  hills  south  of  lake  Sakata. 


CHAPTER  I. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 

EXPLORATIONS  AND  SURVEYS 

IN  MINNESOTA. 


BY  N.  H.  WJNCHELL. 


The  geographical  position  of  Minnesota  is  such  that  for  the  last  two 
hundred  years  it  has  been  the  ultima  thule  for  western  travelers  and 
adventurers.  Before  railroads  and  highways  had  made  it  possible  to  reach 
the  state  from  the  Atlantic  cities  easily  and  quickly,  it  was  the  turning- 
back  point  for  most  explorers,  traders  and  adventurers.  The  route  by  the 
great  lakes  terminated  at  Fond  du  Lac,  the  head  of  the  great  system  of 
inland  lakes  of  North  America.  The  route  by  the  Mississippi  for  canoes 
either  ceased  at  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  or,  if  pushed  further,  was  lost  in 
a  labyrinth  of  small  streams  and  lakes  in  which  the  Mississippi  has  its 
origin.  Westward  from  the  Mississippi,  or  at  least  westward  from  the  Red 
river  of  the  North,  and  the  St.  Peter's,  extended  the  boundless  prairies  of 
the  continent,  to  cross  which,  or  to  enter  on  which,  was,  to  most  travelers, 
too  arduous  and  too  fruitless  an  enterprise;  and  few  were  hardy  enough  to 
penetrate  so  far  as  the  "Shining  Mountains,"  which  constituted  the  next 
natural  goal  of  the  explorer's  ambition.  Not  only  the  zeal  of  the  mis- 
sionary, but  the  cupidity  of  the  fur-trader — avant  coureurs  of  American 
civilization — found  in  Minnesota  a  long  halting-place.  Hence  a  multitude 
of  published  "journals"  and  "expeditions,"  or  "visits,"  have  made  Minne- 
sota widely  known  throughout  both  English  and  French-speaking  countries. 
Many  of  these  volumes  are  ignored  in  the  following  historical  synopsis. 


2  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Champlain,  1615. 

The  design  has  been  to  note  the  steps  of  geographical,  as  well  as  geological 
exploration  as  authenticated  by  governmental  or  semi-official  publications. 
At  the  conclusion  of  peace  between  Great  Britain  and  France,  in  1763, 
the  territory  which  is  now  embraced  within  Minnesota  was  divided  by  a 
line  running  south  from  the  international  boundary  to  the  source  of  the 
Mississippi  river,  and  thence  southward  along  the  Mississippi.  France 
retained  that  portion  lying  to  the  west  of  the  line,  and  that  to  the  east  was 
declared  subject  to  the  British  crown.  The  name  Louisiane,  which  was 
applied  by  the  French  to  the  lower  portions  of  the  Mississippi,  was  extended 
northward  so  as  to  include  all  their  possessions  south  of  the  forty-ninth 
parallel.  That  portion  of  the  state  which  lies  east  of  the  division  line  of 
1763  became,  in  1783,  a  part  of  the  original  area  of  the  United  States, 
included  in  the  "Territory  northwest  of  the  Ohio  river."  In  1803  France 
ceded  the  "province  of  Louisiana''  to  the  United  States.  Minnesota  was 
admitted  into  the  Union,  as  a  State,  in  the  year  1858.  The  history  of 
exploration  may  hence  be  divided  into  three  parts :  1.  Period  prior  to 
1783;  2.  Period  of  Territorial  Exploration;  3.  Period  of  State  Exploration 
and  Survey. 

I.    PERIOD  PRIOR  TO  1783- 

The  map  of  Champlain  shows  the  knowledge  he  obtained  of  the 
western  country  from  the  Hurons  at  the  time  of  his  visit  to  their  country 
in  1615.*  This  represents  the  "  Grand  Lac,"  which  is  the  French  for  Kitchi 
Gummi,  the  Chippewa  name  of  lake  Superior,  with  a  large  stream  entering 
it  from  the  south,  called  "  La  Grande  Riviere."  This  probably  refers  to  the 
Mississippi,  of  which  he  could  have  had  only  a  vague  idea,  and  especially 
since  no  such  stream,  commensurate  with  the  importance  which  he  has 
given  this,  enters  lake  Superior  from  the  south.  The  accident  of  its  being 


*The  pr'ncipal  authorities  consulted  on  the  earliest  (teographioal  explorations  in  Minnesota  urn  the  following: 
Notts  pour  servir  a  Vkixtoire  et  a  la  bibliographic  et  la  cartographic  de  la  Xourelle- France  et  des  /'ays  atljacents,  I, r 45-1 70";  par 
1'auteur  de  la  Bib'.iotheca  Americana  vetustissiina,  Paris,  Librairie  Tross,  1872.  77w  Collections  of  the  Minnesota  Historical 
Society,  four  volumes,  and  the  Publications  of  the  Department  of  American  History,  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society 
Decouvertes  et  etablissemtnts  des  Francais  danslouesl  el  dVm.s  le  sud  de  I'Amerique  septentrional*  ;  by  Pierre  Marffry.  Paris. 
Helinepin's  Louisiana,  a  translation  from  the  Kr.-ncu  of  Hennepin's  fir-it,  or  Paris,  edition  of  his  work  on  the  Mississippi. 
by  John  Gilmiry  Shea,  New  York.  1880.  Neill's  History  of  Minnesota  from  the  earliest  French  explorations  to  the  present 
time;  third  edition,  t87l»,  Minneapolis  History  of  the  discovery  and  xtttlemmt  of  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  by  the  great 
European  Powers,  .Spain,  Fr*t*ce  and  Great  lliitain;  by  John  \V.  Monette,  two  vo'umes.  New  York,  1Mb  13y  the  cour- 
tesy of  Rev.  E.  D.  Neill,  several  manuscript  copies  of  documents  in  the  Archives  de  la  Marine,  Paris,  and  tracings  of  an- 
published  old  maps  from  the  same  place,  have  been  consulted.  Journal  d'un  voyage  fait  par  ordre  du  Roi  dans  I'Amerique 
Heptentrionale,  par  le  P  De  Charlevoir,  1744,  3  tomes.  Paris.  Mcmoire  sur  les  Maurs,  Coutumes  et  Religion  drs  Sanragesde 
I'  Ameriqui  septenlrionale  par  Xicolas  Perrot,  publi^e  pour  la  premiere  foii,  par  le  K.  P.  Tailhan,  Historical  Collections  of 
Louisiana,  4  vols,  B.  F.  French.  Hisloire  de  la  Lvuutiane,  par  M.  Le  Page  Du  Pratz,  1768  The  Works  and  Voyages  of 
Champlain,  published  in  English  by  the  Prince  Society,  Boston,  1S80.  The  Discovery  of  the  Great  West,  Francis  Parkman 


I'l.ATK    1 


A     S     S 


GEOLOGIC  AI, 

AND 

NATURAL  HISTORY  Sl'RVKY 

OF 

MINNESOTA 


HISTORICAL  CHART 

SHOWING   TIIK 

GE  O  GRAPH  I CAL  NAM  E  S 

AND  THEIR  DATE  S 

PRIORTONICOLLETSMAPOF184L. 


i 

•  i 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  3 

1659,  Groselliers  and  Radisson.] 

represented  as  flowing  north  instead  of  south,  is  no  uncommon  error  for 
the  early  geographers  who  have  mapped  the  rivers  ot  Minnesota  and 
Manitoba  ;  and  La  Salle,  in  1682,  applies  the  same  name  to  the  Mississippi. 
Champlain  also  had  knowledge  of  the  mining  of  copper  in  the  upper 
waters  of  the  Saguenay  (or  St.  Lawrence),  but  he  seems  not  to  have  had 
definite  knowledge  whether  the  mines  were  on  the  south  shore  of  lake 
Superior  or  on  the  "  floating  island  "  (Isle  Eoyale)  near  the  north  shore. 

The  Relations  of  the  Jesuit  missionaries,  so  far  as  published,  cover  the 
period  from  1626  to  1679.  The  adventurous  fathers  more  frequently  men- 
tion the  savage  inhabitants  of  the  country  than  its  geographical  features. 
The  Dakotahs  are  mentioned  by  Paul  le  Jeune  in  1640,  who  says  they  dwelt 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Ouinnipigon  (Winnebago),  and  that  they  and  the 
Assinipouars  (Assiniboines)  had  been  visited  by  Mcollet,  interpreter  for  the 
Algonquin  and  Huron  languages  for  the  Messieurs  de  la  Nouvelle  France, 
in  their  own  countries.* 

The  Relation  for  1659  thus  refers  to  the  Poualak  (Assiniboines).  "As 
wood  is  scarce  and  very  small  with  them,  nature  has  taught  them  to  burn 
coal  (charbon  de  terre)  in  its  place,  and  to  cover  their  wigwams  with  skins. 
Some  of  the  more  industrious  also  make  cabins  of  clay  (or  turf)  much  in 
the  same  way  that  swallows  build  their  nests'."f 

GROSELLIEKS   AND   RADISSON. 

The  actual  exploration  of  the  state  proceeded  westward  from  lake 
Superior.  In  the  year  1659  two  Frenchmen,  in  the  interest  of  commerce, 
made  the  next  recorded  visit  to  the  Nadouessioux  at  lake  Buade  (Mille 
Lacs),  where  they  spent  the  winter.  Returning  to  France  they  endeavored 
to  establish  trade  with  the  "forty  Sioux  villages"  of  that  locality,  but  did 
not  succeed.  Groselliers,  however,  enlisted  the  English  in  an  expedition 
through  Hudson's  bay  to  Fort  Rupert.  He  seems  to  have  reached  lake 
Superior  from  Hudson's  bay,  perhaps  by  way  of  the  Me-me-si-pi,  or  Pigeon 
river,  on  the  international  boundary,  inasmuch  as  that  river,  on  several 
ancient  maps  of  the  northwest,  is  styled  R.  Grossillers. 


*N«ll's  Minnesota,  p.  101. 

fSuch  habitations  were  occupied  by  the  lowas  on  the  upper  Minnesota  when  the  Sioux  first  came  there,  and  are 
probably  the  source  of  many  of  the  "  mounds ''  seen  in  the  state  of  Minnesota, 


4  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Marquette,  1673. 
MENARD. 

To  Marquette  has  been  given  the  honor  of  the  first  discovery  of  the 
Mississippi  at  any  point  north  of  the  Chickasaw  bluff ;  but  it  appears  that 
an  earlier  Jesuit  missionary  reached  it  by  way  of  the  Wisconsin  river  in 
1661,  while  in  pursuit  of  his  labors,  in  an  attempt  to  preach  the  gospel  to 
the  wandering  Huron  nation,  twelve  years  before  Marquette  and  Joliet. 
He  descended  either  the  St.  Croix  or  the  Wisconsin,  and  ascended  the 
Black  river,  on  the  headwaters  of  which  the  Hurons  had  chosen  a  resi- 
dence ;  but  in  making  a  portage  Menard  was  lost  in  the  wilderness. 
Marquette  descended  the  Wisconsin  and  passed  down  the  Mississippi.* 

ALLOUEZ. 

After  the  death  of  Menard,  Claude  Allouez  was  appointed,  in  1665,  to 
the  Mission  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  at  La  Pointe.  It  was  probably  in  1666  that 
he  visited  Fond  du  Lac  Suptrieur,  and  there  met  a  number  of  the  Nadoues- 
sioux  from  the  country  to  the  west  and  southwest,  and  learned  for  the  first 
time  of  the  great  river,  which,  in  his  Relation,  he  denominated  the  Messipi. 
Allouez,  however,  never  saw  the  great  river  of  which  he  heard  so  much ; 
on  the  banks  of  which  dwelt  the  strange  race  of  aborigines  who  were 
reported  to  live  in  a  country  of  prairies  abounding  in  all  kinds  of  game, 
who  cultivated  tobacco  and  lived  largely  on  "marsh  rice,"  spoke  a  language 
entirely  unknown,  used  the  bow  and  arrow  with  great  dexterity,  and  dwelt 
in  cabins  covered  with  deer  skins — the  Iroquois  of  the  country,  as 
Marquette  styled  them.f 

During  Marquette's  administration  the  Mission  at  La  Pointe  was 
abandoned  on  account  of  the  hostility  of  the  Dakotahs,  who  are  described 
by  Marquette  as  a  "certain  people  called  Nadouessi,  dreaded  by  their 
neighbors ;  and,  although  they  only  use  the  bow  and  arrow,  they  use  it 
with  so  much  skill  and  dexterity  that,  in  a  moment,  they  fill  the  air.  In 
the  Parthian  mode,  they  turn  their  heads  in  flight,  and  discharge  their 
arrows  so  rapidly  that  they  are  no  less  to  be  feared  in  their  retreat  than  in 
their  attack."  Although  Marquette  traveled  over  much  of  the  western 


*  Transactions  of  the  Department  of  American  History  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society,  E.  D.    Ts'eill.    In 


French's  Historical  Collections  of  Louisiana,  Part  IV  ,  it  is  stated,  on  the  authority  of  the  Jesu 
Sieur  Nicollet,  m  1639,  probably  was  the  first  Frenchman  on  the  Mississippi  after  the  visit  of  D( 


.f  DeSoto. 


t  French  expresses  the  opinion  that  Allouez  visited  the  Mississippi  by  way  of  the  Fox  and  Wisconsin  rivers  in  the 
year  1670.     (Jesuit  Relation  of  1669-70.)    HM  CoU.  Louisiana. 


PARTIE  DUNE  CARTE  DE  L'AMERIQUE  SEPTENTRIONALE,DRESSEE  PAR  J.B.FRANQUELIN 
DANS  1688,  POUR  ETRE  PRESENTEE  A  LOUIS  XIV. 


PLATE 


NATION 


TJTA- 


i •''//  fiir  the  Gcoloyif-ttl  nn,l  \ntii i;i/  History  .\iir\r\    <>i'  Mtntti -vot<i    tr.'ita   a  HUffiUfCrifft  nttt}>  hi   t In: Archives  rf/w  Marines, 
in  flu  /«f/T.V(',v.v/^//  «/'  //*/•  Lit'jmrtineni  of  American  Hi.-itwv  ofih?  Mintifsota  Historical  Sadcty  . 


J.Bieii  A  Co  I'Koto.-lith 


PAGE  3 


.I.Hien.Pholo.lith.X.Y. 


[\eiJin-<'tl  ;<>r(ht'  (iu'li'inntl  and  Xutiiral  Hi,?tm\\-  Survey  ofMfail6f0tadr0m  ./ 
tntcina  in  the  Department  pt\\mcrtcan  /ft.itrt;\;o('tfu>  Mtnnf.wtn  f/i,vt<>ru~t/t Society 


HISTOKICAL  SKETCH.  5 

1678,  Du  Luth.] 

country  south  of  Minnesota,  visiting  the  Mississippi  by  way  of  the 
Wisconsin  in  1673,  he  seems  not  to  have  prosecuted  his  discoveries  within 
the  area  of  Minnesota. 

SIEUR  DU  LUTH. 

Under  the  direction  of  the  Governor  of  Canada,  but  probably  at  the 
instance  of  the  merchants  of  Quebec,  Daniel  Greysolon,  the  Sieur  du  Luth, 
was  dispatched  with  eight  men,  in  1678,  for  the  purpose  of  visiting  the 
country  to  the  west  of  lake  Superior,  and  taking  possession  of  it  in  the 
name  of  the  king  of  France,  and  securing  the  trade  of  the  native  tribes 
before  the  English  could  reach  them.  He  entered  Minnesota  in  the 
summer  of  1679,  having  wintered  near  the  falls  of  the  St.  Mary's  river. 
In  July  he  caused  the  arms  of  the  king  of  France  to  be  set  up  in  the  great 
Sioux  village,  KatJrio,  which  he  styles  the  village  of  the  Izatys,  which  can  be 
no  other  than  the  great  Nadouessioux  settlement  at  Mille  Lacs,  to  which  he 
gave  the  name  Lac  Buade.  The  next  year  he  reached  the  Mississippi  river 
by  way  of  the  Bois  Brule  river  (in  Wisconsin)  and  the  St.  Croix,  and 
encountered  Hennepin  and  his  companions,  as  detailed  in  his  report  made 
to  the  Marquis  of  Seignelay  in  1685,  an  extract  from  which  is  as  follows  :* 

EXTRACT  FROM  DU  LUTH'S  REPORT,  MADE  IN   1685. 

On  July  2d,  1679, 1  had  the  honor  to  plant  his  majesty's  arms  in  the  great  village  of  the 
Nadoecioux,  called  Izatys,  where  never  had  a  Frenchman  been,  no  more  than  at  the  Songaskitons 
and  Honetlotons,  distant  six  score  leagues  from  the  former,  where  I  also  planted  his  majesty's 
arms  in  the  same  year,  1679. 

On  the  15th  of  September,  having  given  the  Agrenipoulak,  as  well  as  all  the  other  northern 
nations,  a  rendezvous  at  the  extremity  of  lake  Superior,  to  induce  them  to  make  peace  with  the 
Nadouecioux,  their  common  enemy,  they  were  all  there,  and  I  was  happy  enough  to  gain  their 
esteem  and  friendship,  to  unite  them  together,  and  in  order  that  the  peace  might  be  lasting  among 
them  I  thought  that  I  could  not  cement  it  better  than  by  inducing  the  nations  to  make  reciprocal 
marriages  with  each  other.  This  I  could  not  effect  without  great  expense.  The  following  winter 
I  made  them  hold  meetings  in  the  woods,  which  I  attended,  in  order  that  they  might  hunt 
together,  give  banquets,  and  by  this  means  contract  a  closer  friendship. 

The  presents  which  it  cost  me  to  induce  the  Indians  to  go  down  to  Montreal — who  had  been 
diverted  by  the  Openagaux  and  Abenakis,  at  the  instigation  of  the  English  and  Dutch,  who 
made  them  believe  that  the  plague  raged  in  the  French  settlements,  and  that  it  had  spread  as  far 
as  Nipissingw,  where  most  of  the  Nipissiriens  had  died  of  it— have  also  entailed  a  greater 
expense. 

In  June,  1680,  not  being  satisfied  with  having  made  my  discovery  by  land,  I  took  two  canoes 
with  an  Indian,  who  was  my  interpreter,  and  four  Frenchmen,  to  seek  means  to  make  it  by 
water.  With  this  view  I  entered  a  river  which  empties  eight  leagues  from  the  extremity  of  lake 
Superior,  on  the  south  side,  when,  after  having  cut  some  trees,  and  broken  about  a  hundred 
beaver  dams,  I  reached  the  upper  waters  of  the  said  river ;  and  then  1  made  a  portage  of  half  a 


*  Shea's  Translation  of  Hennepin's  Description  of  Louisiana. 


g  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Du  Luth.  1679. 

league  to  reach  a  lake,  the  outlet  of  which  fell  into  a  very  fine  river  which  took  me  down  into  the 
Mississippi.  Being  there  I  learned  from  eight  cabins  of  Nadouecioux  whom  I  met,  that  the 
Reverend  Father  Louis  Henpin,  Recollect,  now  at  the  convent  of  St.  Germain,  with  two  other 
Frenchmen,  had  been  robbed  and  carried  off  as  slaves  for  more  than  three  hundred  leagues  by 
the  Nadouecioux  themselves. 

This  intelligence  surprised  me  so  much  that,  without  hesitating,  I  left  two  Frenchmen  with 
these  said  eight  cabins  of  Indians,  as  well  as  the  goods  which  1  had  to  make  presents,  and  took 
one  of  the  said  Indians,  to  whom  I  made  a  present,  to  guide  me,  with  my  interpreter  and  two 
Frenchmen,  to  where  the  said  Reverend  Father  Louis  was,  and  as  it  was  a  good  eighty  leagues, 
I  proceeded  in  canoe  two  days  and  two  nights,  and  the  next  day  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  I 
found  him  with  1,000  or  1,100  souls.  The  want  of  respect  which  they  showed  to  the  said 
Reverend  Father  provoked  me,  and  this  I  showed  them,  telling  them  that  he  was  my  brother;  and 
I  had  him  placed  in  my  canoe  to  come  with  me  into  the  villages  of  the  said  Nadouecioux,  whither 
I  took  him,  and  in  which,  a  week  after  our  arrival  there,  I  caused  a  council  to  be  convened, 
exposing  the  ill  treatment  which  they  had  been  guilty  of,  both  to  the  said  Reverend  Father  and 
to  the  other  two  Frenchmen,  who  were  with  him,  having  robbed  them  and  carried  them  off  as 
slaves,  and  even  taken  the  priestly  vestments  of  said  Reverend  Father.  I  had  two  calumets 
which  they  had  danced  to  them,  returned  to  them,  on  account  of  the  insult  which  they  had 
offered  them,  being  what  they  hold  most  in  esteem  among  them  to  appease  matters,  telling  them 
that  I  did  not  take  calumets  from  people,  who  after  they  had  seen  me  and  received  my  peace 
presents,  and  been  for  a  year  always  with  Frenchmen,  robbed  them  when  they  went  to  visit  them. 

Each  one  in  the  council  endeavored  to  throw  the  blame  from  himself,  but  their  excuses 
did  not  prevent  my  telling  the  Reverend  Father  Louis  that  he  would  have  to  come  with  me 
toward  the  Oulagamys,  as  he  did,  showing  him  that  it  would  be  to  strike  a  blow  at  the  French 
nation  in  a  new  discovery,  to  suffer  an  insult  of  this  nature,  without  manifesting  resentment, 
although  my  design  was  to  push  on  to  the  sea  in  a  west-northwesterly  course,  which  is  that  which 
is  believed  to  be  the  Red  Sea  [Gulf  of  California],  whence  the  Indians  who  had  gone  warring  on 
that  side  gave  salt  to  three  Frenchmen  whom  I  had  sent  exploring,  and  who  brought  me  said  salt, 
having  reported  to  me  that  the  Indians  had  told  them  that  it  was  only  twenty  days'  journey  from 
where  they  were  to  find  the  great  lake,  of  which  the  waters  were  worthless  to  drink.*  This  has 
made  me  believe  that  it  would  not  be  absolutely  difficult  to  find  it,  if  permission  would  be  given 
to  go  there.  However,  I  preferred  to  retrace  my  steps,  manifesting  to  them  the  just  indignation 
which  I  felt  against  them  rather  than  to  remain  after  the  violence  which  they  had  done  to  the 
Reverend  Father  and  the  other  two  Frenchmen  who  were  with  him,  whom  I  put  in  my  canoes 
and  brought  them  back  to  Michelimakinak. 

HENNEPIN'S  MOVEMENTS  IN  MINNESOTA. 

That  portion  of  Hennepin's  narrative  which  relates  to  his  movements 
in  Minnesota,  and  to  the  natural  features  of  the  country,  is  as  follows,  as 
translated  from  the  first,  or  Paris,  edition  of  his  works,  by  John  Gr.  Shea. 

The  river  Colbertf  runs  south-southwest  and  comes  from  the  north-northwest;  it  runs 
between  two  chains  of  mountains,  very  small  here,  which  wind  with  the  river,  and  in  some  places 
are  pretty  far  from  the  banks,  so  that  between  the  mountains  and  the  river  there  are  large 
prairies,  where  you  often  see  herds  of  wild  cattle  browsing.  In  other  places  these  eminences 
leave  semi-circular  spots  covered  with  grass  or  wood.  Beyond  these  mountains  you  discover  vast 
plains,  but  the  more  we  approach  the  northern  side  ascending,  the  earth  did  not  appear  to  us  so 
fertile  nor  the  woods  so  beautiful  as  in  the  Islinois  country. 

This  great  river  is  almost  everywhere  a  short  league  in  width,  and  in  some  places  two 
leagues ;  it  is  divided  by  a  number  of  islands  covered  with  trees  interlaced  with  so  many  vines  as 

*  There  is  no  such  lake  in  the  limits  of  Minnesota,  but  this  may  refer  to  some  of  the  alkaline  lakes  of  Dakota. 
[N.  H.  W.] 

f  Mississippi. 


HISTOKICAL  SKETCH.  7 

1679,  Du  Luth.] 

to  be  almost  impassable.  It  receives  no  considerable  river  on  the  western  side  except  that  of  the 
Otontenta,  and  another,  which  comes  from  the  west>northwest  seven  or  eight  leagues  from  the 
Falls  of  St.  Anthony  of  Padua. 

On  the  eastern  side  you  meet  first  an  inconsiderable  river,  and  then  further  on  another, 
called  by  the  Indians  Onisconsin,  or  Misconsin,  which  comes  from  the  east  and  east-northeast. 
Sixty  leagues  up  you  leave  it  and  make  a  portage  of  half  a  league,  and  reach  the  bay  of  the 
Puans  by  another  river  which,  near  its  source,  meanders  most  curiously.  It  is  almost  as  broad 
as  the  river  Seignelay,  or  Islinois,  and  empties  into  the  river  Colbert  a  hundred  leagues  above  the 
river  Seignelay. 

Twenty-four  leagues  above  you  come  to  the  Black  river,  called  by  the  Nadouessions,  or  Mali, 
Chabadeba,  or  Ohabaoudeba.  It  seems  inconsiderable.  Thirty  leagues  further  up  you  find  the 
Lake  of  Tears,*  which  we  so  named  because  the  Indians  who  had  taken  us,  wishing  to  kill  us, 
some  of  them  wept  the  whole  night  to  induce  the  others  to  consent  to  our  death.  This  lake, 
which  is  formed  by  the  river  Colbert,  is  seven  leagues  long  and  about  four  wide.  There  is  no 
considerable  current  in  the  middle  that  we  could  perceive,  but  only  at  its  entrance  and  exit.  Half 
a  league  below  the  Lake  of  Tears,  on  the  south  side,  is  Buffalo  river,  full  of  turtles.  It  is  so  called 
by  the  Indiang  on  account  of  the  numbers  of  buffalo  found  there.  We  followed  it  for  ten  or 
twelve  leagues ;  it  empties  with  rapidity  into  the  river  Colbert,  but  as  you  ascend  it  it  is  always 
gentle  and  free  from  rapids.  It  is  skirted  by  mountains  far  enough  off  in  some  places  to  form 
prairies.  The  mouth  is  wooded  on  both  sides  and  is  full  as  wide  as  that  of  the  Seignelay. 

Forty  leagues  above  is  a  river  full  of  rapids,  by  which,  striking  northwest,  [northeast]  you 
can  proceed  to  lake  Conde  as  far  as  Nimissakouat**  river,  which  empties  into  that  lake.  This  first 
river  is  called  Tomb  river,t  because  the  Issati  left  there  the  body  of  one  of  their  warriors,  killed 
by  a  rattlesnake,  on  whom,  according  to  their  custom,  I  put  a  blanket.  This  act  of  humanity 
gained  me  much  importance  by  the  gratitude  displayed  by  the  men  of  the  deceased's  tribe  in 
a  great  banquet  which  they  gave  me  in  their  country,  and  to  which  more  than  a  hundred  Indians 
were  invited. 

Continuing  to  ascend  this  river  ten  or  twelve  leagues  more,  the  navigation  is  interrupted  by  a 
cataract,  which  I  called  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  of  Padua,  in  gratitude  for  the  favors  done  me 
by  the  Almighty  through  the  intercession  of  that  great  saint,  whom  we  had  chosen  patron  and 
protector  of  all  our  enterprises.  This  cataract  is  forty  or  fifty  feet  high,  divided  in  the  middle  of 
its  fall  by  a  rocky  island  of  pyramidal  form.  The  high  mountains  which  skirt  the  river  Colbert 
last  only  as  far  as  the  river  Onisconsin,  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  leagues  ;  at  this  place  it 
begins  to  flow  from  the  west  and  northwest  without  our  having  been  able  to  learn  from  the 
Indians,  who  have  ascended  it  very  far,  the  spot  where  this  river  rises.  They  merely  told  us  that 
twenty  or  thirty  leagues  below  [above?]  there  is  a  second  fall,tt  at  the  foot  of  which  are  some  vil- 
lages of  the  prairie  people  called  Thinthonka,l  who  live  there  a  part  of  the  year.  Eight  leagues 
above  St.  Anthony  of  Padua's  Falls,  on  the  right,  you  find  the  river  of  the  Issati,  or  Nadoussiondj. 
with  a  very  narrow  mouth,  which  you  can  ascend  to  the  north  for  about  seventy  leagues  to  lake 
Buade,?  or  of  the  Issati,  where  it  rises.  AVe  gave  this  river  the  name  of  St.  Francis.  This  last 
lake  spreads  out  into  great  marshes,  producing  wild  rice,  like  many  other  places  down  to  the  bay 
of  the  Piians.ffi  This  kind  of  grain  grows  in  marshy  places,  without  any  one  sowing  it ;  it  resem- 
bles oats,  but  tastes  better,  and  the  stalks  are  longer  as  well  as  the  ear.  The  Indians  gather  it  in 
due  season.  The  women  tie  several  ears  of  it  together  with  whitewood  bark  to  prevent  its  being 
all  devoured  by  the  flocks  of  ducks  and  teal  found  there.  The  Indians  lay  in  a  stock  for  part  of 
the  year  and  to  eat  out  of  the  hunting  season. 

Lake  Buade,  or  lake  of  the  Issati,  is  situated  about  seventy  leagues  west  of  lake  Conde  ;  it 
is  impossible  to  go  from  one  to  the  other  by  land  on  account  of  the  marshy  and  quaggy  nature  of 
the  ground ;  you  might  go,  though  with  difficulty,  on  the  snow  in  snowshoes ;  by  water  there  are 
many  portages,  and  it  is  one  hundred  and  fifty  leagues,  on  account  of  the  many  turns  to  be  made. 
From  lake  Conde,  to  go  conveniently  by  canoe,  you  must  pass  by  Tomb  river,  where  we  found  only 
the  skeleton  of  the  Indian  whom  I  mentioned  above,  the  bears  having  eaten  the  flesh  and  pulled 
up  the  poles  which  the  deceased's  relatives  had  planted  for  a  monument.  One  of  our  boatmen 


*  Lake  Pepin.    **  Bois  Brule.    t  St.  Croix.    ft  Little  Falls.     J  Tintonwan     Jt  Rum  river.    §  Milie  Lacs.    JJ  Green 
Bay. 


8  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Hennepin,  1680. 

found  a  war  calumet  beside  the  grave,  and  an  earthen  pot  upset,  in  which  the  Indians  had  left  fat 
buffalo  meat,  to  assist  the  departed,  as  they  say,  in  making  his  journey  to  the  land  of  souls. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  lake  Buade  are  many  other  lakes  whence  issue  several  rivers,  on  the 
banks  of  which  live  the  Issati,  Nadouessans.  Tinthona  (which  means  prairie-men),  Ouadebatlion,* 
River-people,  Chongaskethon,  Dog  or  Wolf  tribe  (for  Chonga  among  these  nations  means  dog  or 
wolf ),  and  other  tribes,  all  which  we  comprise  under  the  name  Nadouessiou.  These  Indians 
number  eight  or  ten  thousand  warriors,  very  brave,  great  runners,  and  very  good  bowmen.  It 
was  by  a  part  of  these  tribes  that  I  and  our  two  canoemen  were  taken  in  the  following  way : 

The  map  accompanying  Hennepin's  work,  as  published  at  Paris,  is 
reduced  and  reproduced  in  plate-pages  5  and  6.  The  Mississippi  is  conjectur- 
ally  represented  by  a  dotted  line  as  flowing  into  the  gulf  of  Mexico.  The 
Illinois  river  is  named  Seignelay  ;  the  Wisconsin  is  called  Oisconsins ;  above 
that  is  the  river  Noire,  or  Black  river ;  the  next  above  on  the  east  is  E.  des 
Bceufs;  the  St.  Croix  is  styled  E.  du  Tombeau,  and  between  it  and  Bum 
river,  which  is  denominated  the  St.  Francois,  is  a  water  connection  of  lakes 
and  streams.  There  is  one  river  above  the  St.  Francis,  but  unnamed.  The 
Mississippi  is  represented  as  having  no  tributaries  from  the  west,  and  as 
flowing  between  two  ranges  of  mountains  from  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  to 
some  distance  below  the  Wisconsin.  These  "  mountains  "  are  none  other 
than  the  bluffs  of  the  river  valley,  made  of  horizontal  strata  cut  by  the 
river  itself.  Lake  Pepin  is  named  Lac  des  Pleurs  ;  Mille  Lacs  is  Lac  Buade  ; 
lake  Superior  is  Conde  ou  SupSrieur ;  lake  Michigan  is  L.  Dauphin  ou 
Illinois  ;  lake  Huron  is  L.  D'Orleans  ou  Huron  ;  lake  Erie  is  Conty  ou  Erie, 
and  lake  Ontario  is  L.  Frontenac.  The  coat  of  arms  of  France  (probably  as 
established  by  Du  Luth)  is  represented  at  the  most  northwesterly  point  on 
the  map,  surmounted  by  a  figure  of  the  cross,  and  underneath  it  are  inscribed 

these  words: 

Armes  du  Eoy  telle 

quel u  sont  grauee 
sur  I'  escorce  d'  un 
Chesne  a  I'  endroit 
margue — A. 

The  unscrupulous  Franciscan  represents  missions  of  his  order  estab- 
lished some  leagues  to  the  northwest  of  Mille  Lacs,  on  the  lower  Mississippi, 
below  the  Illinois,  as  well  as  on  lake  Ontario.  The  gulf  of  California  is 
named  Mer  Vermeille,  and  toward  the  north  further  are  the  Straits  of 
Anian,  supposed  to  lead  to  the  "  Northwest  Passage,"  that  phantom  of  all 
early  explorers  of  North  America. 


•Warpetonwan. 


HISTOKICAL  SKETCH.  9 

1680,  La  Salic.] 

As  Hennepin's  account  of  his  visit  to  the  Falls  St.  Anthony  has  been 
much  criticised  for  the  exaggeration  and  the  egotism  which  pervade  it,  the 
account  of  La  Salle,  who  planned  and  despatched  the  party,  is  added.  It  is 
very  probable  that  La  Salle  misrepresents  Du  Luth,  and  his  travels  in  the 
upper  Mississippi  region.  Charlevoix  refers  to  Du  Luth  as  a  man  of  veracity, 
bravery  and  honor,  and  Le  Clercq  as  a  man  of  ability  and  experience. 

LA   SALLE   ON   THE   DISCOVERY   OF   THE   FALLS   OF   ST.    ANTHONY. 

La  Salle's  letter  from  Fort  Frontenac,  22nd  of  August,  1682,  is  found 
in  Part  II.  of  Margry's  Decouvertes  et  etablissements  des  Francais  dans 
I'ouest  et  dans  le  sud  de  I'Amerique  septentrionale.  It  contains  internal  evi- 
dence that  La  Salle  derived  his  information  of  this  expedition  from  Michel 
Accault,  the  real  leader  of  the  party.  Translated  into  English  as  follows  : 

The  river  Colbert,  named  Qastacha  by  the  Iroquois  and  Mississipy 

by  the  Outaouacs,  into  which  the  river  of  the  Islinois,  called  Teakiki,  empties,  comes  from  the 
northwest.  1  have  caused  it  to  be  explored  by  two  of  my  men,  one  of  the  name  of  Michel 
Accault  and  the  other  a  Picard,*  with  whom  the  K.  P.  Louis  Hennepin  was  associated,  in  order  not 
to  lose  the  opportunity  to  proclaim  the  gospel  to  those  people  who  inhabit  the  upper  country  who 
had  never  heard  it.  They  left  Fort  Creve  Cceur  in  the  afternoon  of  the  28th  of  February,  with 
the  Peace  Calumet,  which  is  a  protection  against  the  savages  of  these  countries  that  they  seldom 
violate.  The  said  Michel  Accault  was  somewhat  acquainted  with  their  language  and  their 
customs.  He  knew  all  their  habits,  and  was  a  friend  of  several  of  those  tribes  to  whom  I  sent 
him,  where  he  had  been  acquainted;  also,  he  is  prudent,  courageous  and  cool.  They  had  about 
one  thousand  pounds  of  goods,  such  as  are  most  valued  in  those  regions,  which,  combined  with 
the  Peace  Calumet,  are  never  disregarded  by  those  tribes,  since  they  are  nearly  destitute  of 
everything.  They  met  at  first  a  number  of  Islinois,  who  were  ascending  their  river  on  a  return 
to  their  village,  who  used  every  effort  to  induce  them  to  abandon  the  journey.  Michel  Accault, 
who  believed  he  should  lose  the  honor  of  accomplishing  the  undertaking,  encouraged  by  the 
example  of  the  B.  P.  Louis  Hennepin,  who  desired  also  to  signify  his  zeal,  and  wishing  to  keep 
his  word  which  he  had  given  me  to  perish  or  to  succeed,  encouraged  his  comrade  who  was 
dispirited  by  the  statements  of  the  savages,  and  made  him  believe  that  the  design  of  the  Indians 
was  to  profit  themselves  with  their  merchandise,  and  to  seize  their  provisions,  and  that  they 
should  not  change  the  resolution  which  they  had  taken.  In  fact,  they  continued  their  journey 
down  the  river  Theakiki  until  the  7th  of  March,  1680,  when  they  fell  in  with  a  nation  called 
Tamaroa,  or  Maroa,  about  two  leagues  from  the  mouth  of  the  river  where  it  reaches  the  Colbert. 
This  nation  numbers  two  hundred  families  or  thereabout.  They  desired  to  conduct  them  to  their 
village,  situated  at  that  time  on  the  west  coast  of  the  Grand  river,  six  or  seven  leagues  above  the 
entrance  of  the  Iheakiki.  They  would  not  follow  them,  but  arrived,  the  same  day,  at  the  conflu- 
ence of  the  two  rivers,  distant  about  fifty  leagues  from  Fort  Creve  Cosur  and  ninety  from 
the  village  of  the  Islinois.  The  river  Theakiki  is  nearly  everywhere  of  equal  size  throughout 
these  ninety  leagues,  approaching  the  size  of  the  Seine,  in  front  of  Paris,  where  it  is  confined  within 
its  own  bed ;  but  at  various  places,  as  at  PimiteouiJ  one  league  to  the  east  of  Creve  Coeur,  and 
two  or  three  other  times  below,  it  swells  out  to  one  or  two  leagues,  over  much  space,  while  the 
two  shores  which  border  it  below  the  village  of  the  Islinois,  are  distant  from  each  other  about 
half  a  league.  The  land  which  they  enclose  between  them  is  swampy,  as  well  as  the  bed  of  the 


*His  real  name  was  Du  Gay.    fPeoria. 


10  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[La  Salic,  1680. 

river,  and  often  inundated,  especially  after  rains,  which  easily  cause  the  streams  to  leave  their 
channels,  and  expand  them  exceedingly,  though  often  but  a  little  in  height.  That  of  the  Islinois, 
from  their  village  to  the  Grand  river,  has  a  very  deep  and  even  bed.  There  is  a  border  of  timber 
nearly  its  whole  length.  The  low  grounds  all  sustain  very  large  trees  of  all  kinds,  the  slopes  of 
the  shores  being  generally  covered.  But  immediately  after  one  has  crossed  that  which  the  river 
overflows  from  time  to  time,  and  ascended  the  banks,  he  finds  only  beautiful  fields  spread  before 
his  view,  interrupted  here  and  there  with  clumps  of  trees,  which  appear  to  be  there  only  from 
necessity.  These  uninhabited  plains  extend  sometimes  even  to  the  brink  of  the  river,  particu- 
larly about  the  environs  of  the  village,  and  at  sixty  leagues  to  the  east  and  northeast,  where 
timber  can  be  seen  very  rarely  along  the  shore  of  the  river;  but  below  it  is  more  generally 
bordered.  The  current  is  hardly  perceptible  when  there  has  not  been  a  great  fall  of  rain. 
Although  this  happens  only  in  the  spring,  it  is  perfectly  navigable,  nevertheless,  throughout  the 
year,  for  large  boats  as  far  as  to  the  Islinois,  and  above  that  only  for  canoes,  partly  on  account  of 
the  rapidity  of  the  stream,  and  partly  on  account  of  the  greater  descent  and  the  shoals  which 
destroy  its  depth.  Ice  which  they  encountered  in  the  Grand  river  stopped  them  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Islinois  till  the  12th  of  March.  It  washes  on  the  south  shore  a  steep  rock,  about  forty  feet 
high,  suitable  for  the  establishment  of  a  fort,  and  on  the  opposite  side  extends  a  fine  prairie,  the 
limit  of  which  cannot  be  seen,  very  good  for  cultivation.  This  place  seems  to  me  very  well 
adapted  for  settlement,  for  many  reasons  which  I  have  not  time  here  to  state,  and  I  shall  easily 
be  able  here  to  establish  myself  on  my  return.  Just  at  and  below  Pimiteoni  the  river  turns 
somewhat  to  the  south,  so  that  its  embouchure  is  between  46  and  47  degrees  of  north  latitude,  and 
separated  from  the  gulf  of  Mexico  about  120  or  130  leagues.  There  are  between  Quebec  and 
Montreal  43  leagues  difference  east  and  west;  from  Montreal  to  Fort  Frontenac,  61  leagues ;  from 
the  fort  to  Niagara,  65  ;  from  Niagara  to  the  head  of  Lake  Erie,  122  ;  from  there  to  the  mouth  of 
the  river  of  the  Miamis,  117  ;  from  there  to  the  Islinois,  52 ;  thence  to  Pirniteoui,  or  Creve  Cffiur, 
27,  and  from  Creve  Cceur  to  the  Mississipi,  18,  which  makes,  altogether,  about  500  leagues,  or  24 
degrees  of  longitude.  The  Missistipi  appears,  in  leaving  the  mouth  of  the  leatiki,  to  go  toward  the 
south  and  southwest,  and  above  there  to  come  from  the  north  and  the  northwest.  It  runs  between 
two  ranges  of  mountains  of  considerable  height — much  more  than  that  of  Mt.  Valerian,  which  wind 
about  in  the  same  manner  as  the  river,  from  which  presently  they  fall  back  a  little,  leaving 
between  them  and  its  channel  a  prairie  of  some  width,  which  is  sometimes  washed  by  the  water 
of  the  river,  in  such  a  way  that  when  along  one  coast  it  is  bordered  by  the  foot  of  a  mountain,  on 
the  other  is  formed  a  bay,  the  head  of  which  is  terminated  by  a  prairie  or  by  a  little  patch  of 
woods.  The  slopes  of  these  shores,  which  are  either  of  rubbish  or  of  rock,  are  covered  here  and 
there  with  little  oaks,  and  at  other  times  with  very  beautiful  herbs.  The  height  of  these  moun- 
tains conceals  the  plains  beyond,  which  are  of  rather  poor  land,  quite  different  from  that  of  the 
Islinois,  though  they  sustain  the  same  animals.  The  channel  of  the  great  river,  although,  for  the 
most  part  of  the  width  of  one  or  two  leagues,  is  entirely  intercepted  by  a  number  of  islands 
covered  with  wild  timber,  in  which  are  so  many  vines  that  one  can  hardly  pass  through  it.  These 
are  subject  to  inundation  by  the  overflow  of  the  river.  They  conceal  generally  the  other  shore  of 
the  river  from  view,  so  that  it  is  rarely  seen  because  of  these  islands.  The  bottom  is  very 
uneven,  in  ascending  the  river  above  the  mouth  of  the  Islinois.  There  are  often  shoals  which 
cross  the  channel  from  one  side  to  the  other,  over  which  canoes  have  difficulty  in  passing.  It  is 
true  that  in  the  current  of  the  stream  there  is  generally  sufficient  water  to  float  the  largest  vessels  ; 
but  there  the  stream  is  extremely  rough  and  difficult  to  make  headway.  The  Mississipi  does  not 
receive  any  considerable  rivers  from  the  west  side,  from  the  river  of  the  Islinois  up  to  the  country 
of  the  Nadouessioux,  where  it  receives  that  of  the  Otoutantas,  Paote  and  Maskoutens,  who  are  of 
the  Nadouessioux  of  the  East,  about  one  hundred  leagues  from  Teakiki. 

THE  WISCONSIN  VALLEY  AND  THE  ROUTE  TO  GREEN  BAY. 

Following  the  course  of  the  Mississipi,  one  finds  the  river  Ouisconsing,  Misconsing  or 
Meschetz  Odeba,  which  flows  between  the  bay  of  the  Puans  and  the  Grand  river.  It  runs  at  first 
from  the  north  to  the  south,  to  about  the  45th  degree  of  north  latitude,  and  from  there  turns 
to  the  west  and  southwest,  and  after  a  course  of  sixty  leagues,  falls  into  the  Mississipi.  It  is 
almost  as  large  as  that  of  the  Islinois,  navigable  up  to  that  bend  where  a  canoe  portage  is  made 


HISTOBICAL  SKETCH.  H 

1680,  LaSalle.] 

across  a  divide  and  a  swampy  prairie  to  reach  the  river  Eakaling,  which  falls  into  the  bay  of  the 
Puans,  and  perhaps  further.  The  Misconsing  runs  between  two  hill-ranges,  which  recede  from 
time  to  time  and  leave  between  them  and  the  river  prairies  of  considerable  size,  and  lands 
untimbered,  which  are  sandy  and  sterile.  At  other  times  the  patch  which  is  between  these  ridges 
and  the  river  is,  in  places,  more  low  and  marshy ;  and  then  it  is  covered  with  timber  and  is 
flooded  by  the  overflows  of  the  river.  The  mountains  diminish  imperceptibly  in  size  as  one 
ascends  the  river,  and  at  length,  about  three  leagues  from  the  portage,  the  land  becomes  flat  and 
marshy,  open  on  the  side  from  which  the  portage  sets  out,  and  covered  with  pines  on  the  other 
side.  The  place  where  the  canoes  are  carried  is  marked  by  a  tree,  on  which  there  are  two  canoes 
rudely  delineated  by  the  savages ;  whence,  after  having  walked  about  half  a  league,  the  river 
Kakaling  [Fox]  is  found,  which  is  only  a  rivulet  rising  from  a  marsh,  and  which  winds  about 
exceedingly,  forming  little  lakes  by  enlarging  itself,  and  then  often  becoming  narrow.  It  is  followed 
about  40  leagues,  in  the  course  of  the  bends  it  makes,  and  then  is  found  the  village  of  the  Outaga- 
mies.  At  one-half  league  from  the  river,  on  the  north  side,  before  arriving  there,  the  river  falls  into 
a  lake  which  may  be  eight  leagues  long  and  three  leagues  wide ;  and  after  passing  the  village  about 
two  leagues  are  found  the  Kakaling  rapids,  which  are  difficult  to  descend  on  account  of  the  swiftness 
of  the  water,  the  frequency  of  rocks  which  it  encounters,  and  three  waterfalls  where  it  is 
necessary  to  carry  the  canoes  and  their  burden.  They  continue  six  leagues.  Three  leagues 
below  them,  at  the  debouchure  of  this  river  into  the  bay  of  the  Puans,  is  a  house  of  the  Jesuits, 
who  truly  have  the  key  to  the  country  of  the  beaver,  where  a  brother  blacksmith  whom  they 
have,  and  two  companions,  have  changed  more  iron  into  beaver  than  the  Fathers  have  of  savages 
into  Christians. 

About  23  or  24  leagues  to  the  north,  or  northwest,  from  the  mouth  of  the  Ouisconsing  [Wis- 
consin], which  has  also  a  rocky  coast  on  the  south  side  and  a  beautiful  prairie  on  the  north,  near 
to  three  beautiful  basins  or  bays  of  quiet  water,  is  the  river  Noire  [Black],  called  Chabadeba  by 
the  Nadouesioux.  This  is  of  inconsiderable  size,  and  at  its  mouth  it  is  bordered  on  both  sides  by 
alders.  Ascending  about  30  leagues,  all  the  way  in  nearly  the  same  direction,  we  have  the  river 
Bceufs  [Chippewa],  about  as  large  at  its  mouth  as  that  of  the  Illinois.  It  is  so  called  because  of  the 
number  of  these  animals  which  are  there  found.  It  was  explored  ten  or  twelve  leagues,  and  it 
remains  of  the  same  size  and  without  rapids,  bordered  by  mountains,  which  are  separated  farther, 
occasionally,  so  as  to  form  prairies.  There  are  several  islands  at  its  mouth,  and  it  is  lined  with 
woods  on  both  shores. 

LA  SALLE'S  OPINION  OF  DU  LUTH. 

Thirty-eight  or  forty  leagues  higher  is  found  the  river  by  which  Du  Luth  descended 
to  the  Mississipi.  For  three  years  he  had  been,  contrary  to  orders,  with  a  band  of  coureurs 
det  bois,  in  the  lake  Superior  region.  He  had  acted  very  boldly  there,  publishing  every- 
where that  at  the  head  of  his  braves  he  did  not  fear  the  Grand  Provost,  and  that  he  would 
forcibly  make  him  grant  him  amnesty.  The  coureurs  des  bois,  to  whom  he  first  had  revealed  his 
pretence,  have  been  several  times  in  the  settlement,  and  have  returned  carrying  merchandise  and 
furs,  of  which  they  have  meantime  despoiled  lake  Superior,  from  all  the  approaches  to  which 
they  have  kept  out  the  Outaouac  during  this  year,  so  that  they  could  not  descend  to  Montreal. 

During  this  time  and  while  he  was  at  lake  Superior,  the  Nadouesioux,  invited  by  the  presents 
which  the  late  Sieur  Randin  had  made  them  in  behalf  of  Count  Frontenac,  and  the  Sauteurs,  who 
are  the  savages  that  bring  the  most  peltries  to  Montreal,  and  who  dwell  at  lake  Superior,  wishing 
to  observe  the  repeated  injunctions  of  said  Frontenac,  concluded  a  peace,  which  was  to  unite  the 
nation  of  the  Sauteurs  to  the  French,  and  to  allow  them  to  go  in  trade  to  the  country  of  the 
Nadouesioux,  distant  about  60  leagues  to  the  west  from  lake  Superior.  Du  Luth,  in  order  to 
conceal  his  desertion,  took  this  occasion  to  give  it  some  excuse,  and  causes  himself,  with  two  of 
his  fellow-deserters  to  pass  as  an  envoy  of  the  Count  and  charged  with  his  orders,  for  the  purpose 
of  negotiating  that  peace—  during  which  his  comrades  negotiate  for  a  great  number  of  beaver. 
He  had  a  number  of  conferences  with  the  Nadouesioux,  and  as  he  had  no  interpreter,  he  bribed 
one  of  mine,  named  Faffert,  till  then  a  soldier  at  Fort  Frontenac.  Finally,  the  Sauteurs  having 
been  several  times  back  and  forth  to  the  Nadouesioux,  and  the  Nadouesioux  to  the  Sauteurs,  seeing 
that  there  was  nothing  to  fear,  and  that  it  was  possible  to  increase  the  number  of  their  beaver,  he 


12  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[La  Salle,  1680. 

sent  there  this  Faffert,  by  land,  with  some  Nadouesioux  and  Sauteurs,  who  returned  in  company 
with  him.  This  young  man  having  made  a  report  on  his  return  of  the  number  of  beaver  which 
he  might  obtain  from  that  direction,  he  resolved  to  attempt  to  go  there  himself;  and  under  the 
guidance  of  a  Sauteur  and  a  Nadouesioux,  with  four  Frenchmen,  they  ascended  the  Nemitsakouat, 
whence,  by  a  short  portage,  he  descended  into  that  in  which  he  said  he  had  passed  forty  leagues 
of  rapids ;  and  having  seen  that  the  Nadouesioux  were  further  down  with  my  men  and  the  Father,? 
having  gone  down  the  river  from  the  village  of  the  Nadouesioux  where  they  had  already  been,  he 
comes  on  to  flnd  them.  He  returned  to  the  village,  whence  they  all  together  re-descended  and  by 
the  way  of  the  river  Ouisconsing  reached  Montreal.  There  he  was  considerably  elated  at  having 
been  one  of  their  party,  having  even  insulted  the  commissaries,  and  also  the  Deputy  Procureur, 
(at  present  the  Procureur- General),  named  d'Auteuil.  Mons.  le  Oomte  de  Frontenac  had  him 
arrested,  and  took  measures  to  keep  him  in  prison  in  the  bastile  at  Quebec,  intending  to  send  him 
to  France  on  the  certification  of  the  facts  by  Mons.  1'Intendaut,  to  the  end  that  the  amnesty 
granted  to  his  coureurs  des  bois  should  not  result  in  his  discharge. 

To  know  who  this  Du  Luth  is,  it  is  necessary  that  you  be  informed  by  Mons.  Dalera. 
Meantime  he  pretends  to  have  made  a  considerable  discovery,  and  to  demand  this  country  as  if  to 
the  advantage  of  the  Islinois,  a  proceeding  which  is  quite  agreeable,  and  which  he  hopes  may 
compensate  for  his  rebellion.  Secondly,  there  are  only  three  routes  by  which  to  go  there— one  is 
by  lake  Superior,  the  second  by  the  bay  of  the  Puans,  and  the  third  by  the  Islinois  and  the  terri- 
tory that  is  covered  by  my  commission.  The  first  two  lie  under  suspicion,  and  it  will  not  be 
necessary  to  open  to  him  the  third  to  my  disadvantage,  he  not  having  incurred  any  expense,  and 
having  made  great  gain  without  risk,  at  the  same  time  that  I  have  endured  great  fatigues,  perils 
and  losses.  Further,  through  the  Islinois  is  a  detour  of  three  hundred  leagues  for  him.  For  the 
greater  part  of  the  country  of  the  Nadouesioux  is  not  that  which  he  has  discovered.  It  has  been 
known  for  a  long  time,  and  the  R.  P.  Hennepin  and  Michel  Accault  were  there  before  him.  Even 
that  one  of  his  fellow-deserters  who  was  there,  was  one  of  my  soldiers  whom  he  bribed.  Further- 
more this  country  is  not  habitable,  little  adapted  to  cultivation,  having  only  marshes  full  of  wild 
rice  (folle  avoine )  on  which  the  people  live ;  and  there  can  be  derived  from  this  discovery  no 
advantage  whether  it  be  attributable  to  my  men  or  to  Du  Luth,  because  the  streams  are  not 
navigable.  But  the  king  having  granted  us  the  trade  in  buffalo  hides,  this  would  be  ruined  in 
going  to  and  coming  from  the  Nadouesioux  by  any  other  route  than  by  lake  Superior  by  which 
Count  Frontenac  has  power  to  send  him  there  in  search  for  beaver,  in  pursuance  of  the  authority 
which  he  has  to  grant  permits.  But  if  they  go  by  way  of  the  Ouisconsing,  where  for  the  present  the 
chase  of  the  buffalo  is  carried  on,  and  where  I  have  commenced  an  establishment,  they  will  ruin 
the  trade  of  which  alone  I  am  laying  the  foundation  on  account  of  the  great  number  of  buffaloes 
which  are  taken  there  every  year,  almost  beyond  belief. 


LA  SALLE'S  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  FALLS  OF  ST.  ANTHONY. 


Ascending  still  the  JtfJssisstpt,  at  twenty  leagues  above  this  river,  are  found  the  falls  which 
those  whom  I  sent,  and  who  passed  there  first  of  all,  named  from  St.  Anthony.  They  have  the 
height  of  thirty  or  forty  feet,  and  there  the  river  is  also  narrow.  There  is  an  island  in  the 
midst  of  the  fall,  and  the  two  shores  of  the  river  are  no  longer  bordered  by  mountains,  which 
diminish  insensibly  up  to  there  ;*  but  the  land  on  both  sides  is  covered  with  light  timber,  **  as 
we  style  it,  that  is  to  say,  oaks  and  other  hard  woods,  standing  far  apart,  such  as  grow  only  in 
poor  lands.  There  are  also  some  prairies.  Here  the  canoes  are  carried  about  three  or  four  hun- 
dred steps,  and  eight  leagues  above  is  the  river  of  the  Nadoesioux,  ou  the  westf  side.  It  is  narrow 
at  its  entrance  and  drains  a  poor  country  covered  with  shrubs  through  about  fifty  leagues,  where 
it  terminates  in  a  lake  called  lake  of  the  Issati,  which  spreads  over  a  great  marsh  where  grows  the 
wild  rice,  at  the  point  of  its  outlet  in  this  river. 

*  Hennepin  says  the  mountains  extend  only  to  the  mouth  of  the  Wisconsin.       §  Hennepin. 
**  Perhaps  this  bois  clairs  means  deciduous  trees. 

t  This  is  evidently  an  error  of  some  copyist,  as  the  river,  which  is  well  known  as  Bum  river,  is  an  eastern  tribu- 
tary of  the  Mississippi. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  13 

1680,  La  Salk.] 

CAPTURE  OF  ACCAULT  AND  HIS  PARTY. 

The  3Hsnis.ii2)i  comes  from  the  west,  but  it  was  not  followed  because  of  the  adventure 
which  happened  to  B.  P.  Louis,  Michel  Accault  and  their  comrade.  This  affair  happened  in 
this  way.  After  having  pursued  the  course  of  the  Mississipi  till  the  llth  of  April  about 
three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  rowing  along  the  shore  on  the  side  of  the  Islinois,  a  band 
of  a  hundred  Nadouesioux  warriors  who  were  going  to  slaughter  some  of  the  Tchatchaklgona* 
were  descending  the  same  river  in  thirty-three  canoes  made  of  birch  bark.  There  were  with 
them  three  women,  and  one  of  those  slaves  who  serve  the  women,  although  they  are  men, 
whom  the  Islinois  call  Ikoveta.  They  passed  along  on  the  other  side  of  some  islands,  and  so 
several  of  the  canoes  had  descended  below  that  of  the  Frenchmen ;  but  descrying  it  they  all 
gathered  together,  and  those  who  had  gone  below  returning  with  all  haste,  they  easily  encom- 
passed it  about  and  closed  up  the  way.  There  was  one  party  of  them  on  the  land,  who  surrounded 
them  on  that  side.  Michel  Accault,  who  was  the  leader,  presented  them  the  calumet.  They 
accepted  it  and  smoked,  after  having  made  a  circle  on  the  ground  covered  with  straw  where  they 
caused  the  Frenchmen  to  sit  down.  Immediately  two  of  the  old  men  began  to  weep  for  the  death 
of  those  of  their  kinsmen  whom  they  designed  to  avenge  ;  and  after  having  taken  some  tobacco 
they  made  our  men  embark,  and  cross  over  first  to  the  other  side  of  the  river.  They  followed  on, 
after  having  uttered  three  cries,  and  pushed  their  canoes  with  all  haste.  On  disembarking  Michel 
Accault  presented  them  with  twenty  knives  and  a  measure  and  a  half  of  tobacco,  which  they 
accepted.  They  had  already  stolen  a  demi-pique  and  several  other  small  articles.  They  then 
traveled  together  ten  days,  without  giving  any  sign  of  discontent  or  of  evil  design  ;  but  on  the 
22nd  of  April,  having  reached  the  islands  where  they  had  slain  some  Maskcutens,  they  put  the 
two  dead  whom  they  were  going  to  avenge,  and  whose  bones  they  carried  with  them,  between  P. 
Louis  and  Michel  Accault.  This  is  an  ambiguous  ceremony  which  they  perform  before  their 
friends  in  order  to  incite  them  to  compassion,  and  to  cause  them  to  make  presents  to  cover  them 
with,  and  before  their  slaves  whom  they  take  in  war  to  make  them  understand  that  they  must 
expect  a  treatment  like  to  that  which  they  render  to  the  dead.  Michel  Accault  unfortunately  did 
not  understand  this  nation,  and  there  was  not  one  slave  of  the  other  nations  whom  he  did  under- 
stand, which  hardly  ever  happens,  all  the  tribes  in  America  having  a  number  of  those  to  whom 
they  have  granted  life  in  order  to  replace  their  dead,  after  having  sacrificed  a  great  number  to 
satisfy  their  vengeance.  This  enables  them  to  understand  almost  all  the  tribes,  since  they  become 
acquainted  with  three  or  four  languages  of  those  tribes  who  go  farthest  in  war,  such  as  the  Iro- 
quois,  the  Islinois,  the  Akonsa,  the  Nadouesioux  and  Sauteurs.  Accault  understood  all  these 
except  the  Nadouesioux ;  yet  there  are  among  them  a  number  who  have  been  slaves  with  the 
others,  or  who  had  come  from  them  and  have  been  taken  in  war,  but  by  chance  he  did  not  find 
one  of  them  in  this  company  to  interpret  him  to  the  others.  It  was  necessary  to  give  a  full  case 
of  merchandise,  and  the  next  day  twenty-four  hatchets.  At  eight  leagues  below  the  falls  of  St. 
Anthony  they  determined  to  go  by  land  to  their  village,  distant  about  sixty  leagues  from  the 
place  of  disembarking,  not  being  willing  to  carry  the  goods  of  our  men,  nor  to  conduct  them  there 
by  water.  They  made  them  then  give  up  the  rest  of  their  hatchets,  which  they  shared  amongst 
themselves,  promising  to  repay  them  well  at  the  village ;  but  two  days  afterward  they  divided  also 
among  themselves  two  cases  of  merchandise,  and,  falling  into  a  quarrel  concerning  the  division 
both  of  the  merchandise  and  of  the  tobacco,  each  chief  claiming  to  be  the  master,  they  sepa- 
rated in  jealousy  as  they  led  the  Frenchmen  toward  the  village,  where  they  promised  to  make 
satisfaction  with  beaver  skins  which  they  said  they  had  in  great  number. 

THE   PAUTY  AT  M1LLE  LACS. 

There  they  were  received  well,  and  at  once  made  a  banquet  for  Accault,  who  was  in  a  differ- 
ent village  from  that  where  the  R.  P.  Louis  and  the  Picard  were,  but  who  were  there  also  well 
received  except  that,  several  sportive  young  men  having  told  the  Picard  to  sing,  the  fear  that  he 
experienced  made  a  coward  of  him,  since  only  slaves  sing  on  arriving  at  a  village.  Accault,  who 
was  not  there,  was  not  able  to  prevent  it ;  but  they  were  subjected  to  no  other  treatment  like  that 


*IIemiepin  says  Otttaffamis,  and  Parkman  says  J/iai»m. 


14  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[La  Salle,  1680. 

which  they  impose  on  slaves.  They  were  never  tied  ;  and  after  that,  they  promised  the  return  of 
that  which  their  young  men  had  seized,  since  Accault,  who  had  found  some  men  to  whom  he 
could  make  himself  understood,  made  them  comprehend  the  importance  of  it,  when  they  imme- 
diately danced  two  calumets,  and  offered  several  beaver  skins  with  which  to  begin  the  payment ; 
but  as  these  were  too  little  Accault  would  not  be  satisfied.  Six  weeks  afterward,  all  having 
returned  to  the  Ouisconsing  with  the  Nadoesioux  on  a  hunt,  the  E.  P.  Louis  Hennepin  and  the  Picard 
resolved  to  go  to  the  mouth  of  the  river  where  I  had  promised  to  send  messages,  as  I  had  done  by 
six  men,  whom  the  Jesuits  deceived,  telling  them  that  the  B.  P.  Louis  and  his  fellow  travelers 
had  been  slain.  They  allowed  them  to  go  there  alone,  to  show  them  they  were  not  regarded  as 
slaves,  and  that  Du  Luth  is  wrong  in  boasting  of  having  released  them  from  slavery,  since  on  the 
journey  and  as  long  as  their  food  lasted,  the  Frenchmen  had  the  best,  although  they  suffered  great 
hunger  when  the  savages  were  without  food.  Jealousy  was  the  sole  cause  of  the  pillage, 
because,  as  they  were  from  different  villages,  and  but  few  from  that  where  the  Frenchmen  were 
to  go,  they  did  it  in  order  to  secure  their  portion  of  the  merchandise,  of  which  they  feared  they 
would  receive  none  if  they  once  entered  the  village  where  the  Frenchmen  were  to  go ;  but  the 
old  men  blamed  greatly  the  young  men,  and  offered  and  even  began  to  make  the  restitution  that 
Accault  ought  to  have.  They  regarded  the  French  so- little  as  slaves  that  they  gave  to  R.  P. 
Louis  and  the  Picard  a  canoe  to  go  in  search  of  my  messengers.  All  that  Du  Luth  can  say  is,  that 
having  come  to  the  place  where  the  Father  and  the  two  Frenchmen  had  gone  in  a  hunt  from  the 
village,  where,  along  with  them  he  went  for  the  first  time  when  they  returned  there,  he  made  it 
easier  for  them  to  return  sooner  than  they  would  have  done,  because  messengers  whom  I  had  sent 
had  been  dissuaded  from  going  on ;  but  we  should  have  been  in  search  for  them  the  following 
spring  if  we  had  not  learned,  as  we  did  in  the  whiter,  of  their  return  by  way  of  the  Outagamis. 
Accault  found  himself  so  little  a  slave  that  he  was  intending  to  remain  there  until  he  should 
receive  the  payment  that  had  been  promised  him. 

LA  SALLE  JUSTIFIES  THE  EXPEDITION. 

I  do  not  doubt  but  several  things  may  be  said  of  this  expedition. 

(1.)  That  I  ought  to  have  sent  a  man  who  understood  the  language.  To  this  it  is  easy  to 
reply  that  I  did  not  send  Accault  to  the  Nadouesioux  but  to  explore  the  Grand  river,  that  he 
understood  the  language  of  those  who  were  nearest,  such  as  the  Otontanta  the  Aiounouea,  the 
Kikapou  and  the  Maskoutens  Nadouesioux  through  whom  he  was  to  pass  first,  and  to  take  an 
interpreter  from  there  for  going  further  on,  it  being  impossible  to  send  those  who  understood  all 
the  languages. 

It  will  be  said  also  that  in  the  first  expeditions  it  was  not  necessary  to  go  with  so  much 
merchandise,  which  tempts  the  young  men,  already  under  bad  subjection  to  the  elders,  and  leads 
them  to  deeds  which  they  would  not  do  if  they  saw  nothing  which  tempted  them.  To  this  I 
reply  that,  sending  to  those  nations  with  whom  we  had  acquaintance  through  the  Islinois,  and  to 
whom  Accault  was  a  friend,  because  he  had  passed  two  winters  and  a  summer  there,  during 
which  time  he  had  seen  several  of  the  most  important  of  their  villages  where  he  was  to  pass, 
whom  he  had  won  by  little  presents,  there  was  nothing  to  fear,  at  least  in  all  probability — there 
being  no  likelihood  that  they  would  encounter  an  army  of  the  Nadouesioux  three  hundred  leagues 
from  that  country.  (2)  These  voyages  being  difficult,  those  who  undertake  them  do  it  only 
through  the  hope  of  gain,  which  they  could  not  accomplish  without  merchandise.  (3)  Several 
of  those  savages  having  come  to  the  Islinms  while  we  were  there,  and  having  seen  the  merchan- 
dise which  we  had  there,  they  would  be  filled  either  with  anger  or  jealousy,  believing  that  going 
into  their  country  with  but  little  would  be  either  from  a  want  of  friendship  for  them  or  from 
some  evil  design.  Finally,  wishing  to  attract  them  to  come  and  buy  of  our  commodities  and  to 
make  them  accustomed  to  the  use  of  them,  it  would  be  necessary  to  have  a  somewhat  considerable 
quantity  of  them. 

I  have  thought  it  proper  to  give  you  this  account  of  the  adventures  of  this  canoe,  because 
I  do  not  doubt  its  being  spoken  of,  and  if  you  wish  to  confer  with  Father  Louis  Heimepin,  Recol- 
lect, about  it,  who  has  returned  to  France,  it  is  well  to  know  something  of  it,  for  he  will  not  fail 
to  exaggerate  everything ;  it  is  his  character ;  and  to  me  even  he  has  written  as  if  he  had  been  nearly 
burnt  up,  although  he  has  not  been  <:ven  in  danger  of  it ;  but  he  believes  it  is  honorable  in  him  to 
act  in  that  way,  and  he  speaks  more  in  accordance  with  what  he  icishes  than  what  he  knows. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  15 

1688,  La  Hontan.) 

Hennepin's  account  of  the  capture  and  captivity  among  the  Nadoue- 
sioux  is  more  circumstantial  than  that  of  La  Salle,  but  in  the  main  similar 
to  his.  Hennepin,  however,  recounts  various  indignities  and  deprivations 
to  which  they  were  subjected,  regarding  himself  as  a  prisoner  and  a  slave 
while  at  lake  Buade. 

"  In  the  beginning  of  July"  the  Frenchmen  set  out  with  the  Indians  on 
a  grand  buffalo-hunt  down  the  Mississippi.  In  four  days  they  reached  the 
mouth  of  the  St.  Francis,  or  Rum  river,*  where  they  halted  for  the  purpose 
of  making  more  canoes;  while  Hennepin  and  the  Picard  proceeded  down  the 
Mississippi  alone  in  a  poor  canoe  intending  to  reach  the  Wisconsin  river, 
where  La  Salle  had  agreed  to  send  messages  to  them.  It  is  probable,  there- 
fore, that  Hennepin  first  saw  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  on  the  5th  day  of 
July,  1680,f  in  company  with  the  Picard  alone.  On  the  llth  they  were  not 
far  from  the  Wisconsin,  after  some  adventure  and  delay. 

It  is  plain,  also,  that  Hennepin  saw  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  before  he 
encountered  Du  Luth,  and  may  be  accredited  with  the  first  recorded  exam- 
ination of  the  Mississippi  between  the  Wisconsin  river  and  the  Bum  river, 
and  Du  Luth  with  the  first  visit  to  the  St.  Croix  river,  which  he  prob- 
ably descended  from  the  headwaters  of  the  Bois  Brule,  known  then  as  the 
Nemissakouat.  (Plate-pages  5  and  6.) 

LA   HONTAN   IN   MINNESOTA. 

Baron  La  Hontan's  work,  in  which  he  describes  a  voyage  on  the  river 
Long,  made  by  himself  in  the  winter  of  1688-89,  is  largely  fictitious.  He 
states  that  he  traveled  sixty  days  in  winter  on  a  river  500  miles  long,  at 
the  mouth  of  which  are  many  rushes,  which  entered  the  Mississippi  from 
the  west.  Mr.  J.  N.  Nicollet  regards  the  river  that  La  Hpntan  entered  as 
the  Cannon  river.  It  has  also  been  suggested  that  on  ascending  this  river  to 
its  source  he  passed  into  the  Minnesota  river,  through  some  of  the  canoe 
routes  and  lakes  which  cause  the  headwaters  of  the  Cannon  to  interlock 
with  those  of  the  Le  Sueur.  Keating,  the  chronicler  of  Major  Long's 
expedition  to  the  sources  of  the  St.  Peter,  supposed  that  the  Root  river 


*  On  modern  maps  the  name  of  St.  Francis  is  applied  to  the  next  stream  above  the  Rum,  and  that  may  have  been 
the  river  to  which  Hennepin  referred  in  his  Journal,  since  by  a  portage  the  route  by  it  to  lake  Buade  is  much  less  than 
the  course  of  the  Rum  river,  and  the  Indians  may  have  followed  that  route. 

t  The  Minnesota  Historical  Society  celebrated  July^S,  1880.  as  the  Bi-centennial  of  the  discovory  of  the  Falls  of  St 
Anthony. 


16  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Le  Sueur,  1700. 

was  the  one  referred  to  by  La  Hontan,  while  others,  with  perhaps  as  good 
reasons,  think  he  actually  entered  the  Minnesota  river.  The  very  general 
and  vague  description  which  he  makes  of  the  physical  character  of  the 
valley  of  the  Riviere  Longe  will  apply  with  equal  correctness  to  either  of 
these  valleys,  but  the  direction  of  the  river  he  says  he  explored,  as 
represented  on  his  map,  can  only  apply  to  the  Root  river.  The  Root  river 
is  less  likely  to  be  frozen  in  winter  than  either  of  the  others,  owing  to  the 
fact  that  it  is  derived  largely  from  copious  springs  and  subterranean  streams 
that  flow  from  the  rocky  bluffs  between  which  it  runs  (see  the  geology  of 
Fillmore  county),  and  is  a  larger  stream  than  the  Cannon,  and  further  south.* 

LE   SUEUR  IN   THE   MINNESOTA   VALLEY. 

Although  there  is  mention  made  in  the  treatise  of  Nicholas  Perrot,  a 
trader  and  interpreter,  and  later  an  agent  of  the  government  in  the  upper 
Mississippi  region,  on  the  habits,  customs  and  religions  of  the  savages  of  North 
America,  of  the  St.  Croix  and  St.  Peter's  rivers,  there  seems  to  have  been 
no  further  extension  of  knowledge  of  the  geography  of  the  region  till  the 
time  of  Le  Sueur. 

The  first  accredited  exploration  of  the  Minnesota  valley  was  made  by 
Le  Sueur,  who  first  visited  the  upper  Mississippi  in  1683,  with  Perrot,  in 
the  interests  of  trade.  He  built  a  trading-post  on  Isle  Pelee,  a  few  miles 
below  Hastings,  in  1695,  and  in  1699  received  a  commission  from  D'Iberville 
to  visit  and  examine  a  copper  mine  which  he  claimed  to  have  discovered 
in  the  country  of  the  loways.  In  April,  1700,  with  a  single  shallop  and 
about  twenty-five  persons,  he  started  from  the  settlements  on  the  lower 
Mississippi  for  the  mouth  of  the  Minnesota  river,  where  he  arrived  on  the 
19th  of  September ;  and  on  the  last  day  of  the  same  month,  being  stopped 
by  ice  forty -four  leagues  above  its  union  with  the  Mississippi,  he  determined 
to  build  his  fort.  His  narrator,  Penicaut,  who  was  also  his  carpenter,  states 
that  this  place  was  a  league  up  the  Green  river  (now  the  Blue  Earth)  on  a 
point  of  land  a  quarter  of  a  league  distant  from  the  woods.  This  river  was 
so  called  "because  it  is  of  that  color  by  reason  of  a  green  earth,  which, 
loosening  itself  from  the  copper  mines,  becomes  dissolved  in  it  and  makes 


*  Coxo    in  French's  Hist.  Col.  of  Louisiana,  Part  II.,  p.  233,  says  lake   P«pin  was  abate  the    "Long"  river  of 
La  Hontan. 


KHU    MBI   /HUB   i/ffl    Htm-    im    BUI    mi    MI    mini  -mi 


fil  li't  the  dec  I  tun  cat 


. ATI-:  n. 


ue       du     \Cancer 


/6Sj. 

le,  Rc.ut.rtJid  PC  re- — * 
'•*.  £tennef>in 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  17 

1701,  Le  Sueur.] 

it  green."  Four  leagues  above  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Croix,  at  the  mouth  of 
a  small  lake,  Le  Sueur  saw  a  large  mass  of  copper.  "  It  is  on  the  edge  of 
the  water,  in  a  small  ridge  of  sandy  earth,  on  the  west  of  this  lake."*  The 
blue,  or  green,  earth,  which  was  mistaken  for  an  ore  of  copper  by  Le  Sueur, 
was  obtained  in  a  mine  three-quarters  of  a  league  distant  from  the  fort. 
The  fort  was  named  L'Huillier,  from  one  of  the  chief  collectors  of  the 
king,  who  had  assayed  the  ore  in  Paris  in  1696.  Having  spent  the  winter 
at  his  fort,  in  the  spring  of  1701  he  descended  the  Mississippi  with  a  large 
quantity  of  the  ore,  4,000  pounds  of  which  were  sent  to  France.  He 
intended  to  return,  but  in  1703  the  garrison  left  by  him  arrived  at  Mobile, 
in  charge  of  Derague,  having  been  compelled  to  abandon  the  post  on 
account  of  ill  treatment  by  the  Indians,  and  lack  of  supplies.  This  river 
is  further  described  as  being  near  a  range  of  hills  (Keating  says  mountains) 
ten  leagues  long  that  seemed  to  be  composed  of  the  same  substance. 
Charlevoix  says  :  "  After  removing  a  burnt,  black  crust,  as  hard  as  a  rock, 
the  copper  could  be  scraped  with  a  knife."  Penicaut  says :  "  This  mine  is 
situated  at  the  beginning  of  a  very  long  mountain  which  is  upon  the  bank 
of  the  river,  so  that  boats  can  go  right  to  the  mouth  of  the  mine  itself.  At 
this  place  is  the  green  earth,  which  is  a  foot  and  a  half  in  thickness,  and 
above  it  is  a  layer  of  earth  as  firm  and  hard  as  stone,  and  black  and  burnt 
like  coal  by  the  exhalation  from  the  mine.  The  copper  is  scratched  out 
with  a  knife.  There  are  no  trees  upon  this  mountain.  If  this  mine  is 
good,  it  will  make  a  great  trade,  because  the  mountain  contains  more  than 
ten  leagues  running  of  the  same  ground.  It  appears,  according  to  our 
observations,  that  in  the  very  finest  weather  there  is  continually  a  fog 
upon  this  mountain."! 

Mr.  W.  W.  Mather,  who  accompanied  Featherstonhaugh,  says  that  he 
"  found  the  green  earth,  but  it  contained  no  copper."  Mr.  Featherstonaugh 
is  very  positive  in  his  denial  of  the  existence  of  any  copper  in  that  locality, 
and  pronounces  the  whole  account  a  fabrication  by  Le  Sueur. 

It  is  more  probable  that  Le  Sueur  was  honest  in  his  conviction,  but  was 
mistaken  in  the  value  of  the  green  earth  which  he  mined.  Charlevoix, 
La  Harpe  and  Penicaut  agree  in  the  statement  of  the  main  facts,  and  if 

*  Neill's  Minnesota,  p  161. 

t  Translated  by  A.  J  Hill,  in  the  Third  Volume  of  the  Minnesota  Hittorical  CMecUont. 

2 


18  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Ochagach,  1730. 

Le  Sueur  took  a  quantity  to  France  for  assay,  it  is  not  likely  that  he 
wilfully  falsified  the  facts  as  to  its  origin  and  nature.  There  can  be  no 
question  of  the  existence  of  both  green  and  blue  earth  in  that  vicinity. 
The  shales  of  the  Cretaceous  are  common  in  that  part  of  the  state,  and 
there  is  also  a  clayey  deposit,  supposed  to  be  of  the  Cretaceous,  found  lying 
unconformably  in  eroded  places  in  the  Cambrian  limestones  of  that  valley. 
The  hard,  black,  burnt  crust  mentioned,  which,  on  being  scraped,  exhibited 
the  copper,  can  be  no  other  than  the  ironstone  incrustation  that  covers  the 
Cambrian  limestones,  as  seen  at  Mankato,  wherever  the  Cretaceous  clays  lie 
unconformably  over  them. 

OCHAGACH'S  MAP. 

The  oldest  map  of  the  region  west  of  lake  Superior  was  traced  by  a 
chief  of  the  Assiniboines,  named  Ochagach,  for  Verendrye,  in  1730,  and 
was  taken  by  Verendrye  to  the  governor  of  Canada  to  induce  him  to  equip 
an  exploring  expedition  in  search  of  a  passage  to  the  western  ocean.  This 
map  was  sent  to  Paris  and  deposited  in  the  Archives  de  la  Marine.  A 
reduced  transcript  of  this  map  is  given  below  (Fig.  1.),  derived  from  a  fac- 
simile tracing  in  the  Department  of  American  History  of  the  Minnesota 
Historical  Society,  through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Neill.  It  was  reproduced 
on  the  margin  of  Buache's  map  of  1754,  and  its  contents  are  also  incor- 
porated in  Buache's  general  Carte  Physique.  (V.  Plate  4.)  It  gave  rise 
to  the  important  and  extensive  explorations  of  Sieur  Verendrye  and  his 
sons  and  nephew  (Jeremaye),  which  extended  through  several  years  and 
covered  the  valleys  of  the  Assiniboine  and  Saskatchawan,  as  well  as  those 
of  the  upper  Missouri  and  the  Yellowstone,  to  the  "  shining  mountains." 

The  water-course  rudely  represented  on  this  chart,  extending  westward 
from  lake  Superior,  is  that  which  afterward  became  the  international 
boundary.  The  river  marked  "R.  de  fond  du  L.  Superieur"  is  evidently 
that  which  is  now  known  as  Vermilion  river,  north  of  Vermilion  lake,  and 
derived  its  designation  by  Ochagach  from  the  fact  that  it  furnished  the 
main  route,  for  east-bound  canoes,  to  the  head  of  lake  Superior  and  the 
south  shore  of  that  lake ;  and,  for  a  similar  reason,  that  marked  "  Missis- 
sipi"  represents  the  Big  Fork  river.  The  "Fleuve  de  1'ouest"  is  evidently 
the  present  Saskatchawan  river,  flowing  into  lake  Winnipeg  from  the  west, 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH. 


19 


1766,  Carver.] 


and  rising  in  the  Kocky  Mountains.  Plate  IV  however,  represents  the 
river  of  the  west  as  flowing  into  the  Pacific,  rising  in  lake  Brochet  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  sources  of  the  Missouri. 


ya-f  faju-axilfi: 


P 


•fftU. 


£ar&  tf-aG&  fiar- 

/ft'cvert   (3%ancct*  2&s7'£4*ei  tier  tdonf K  &rfa  CV  tyTf^ 


JONATHAN    CARVEE. 

Jonathan  Carver  in  1766  was  the  next  to  contribute  to  the  geography 
and  natural  history  of  Minnesota.  By  this  time  the  route  for  canoes  along 
the  northwestern  boundary  had  become  well  known,  and  was  annually 
traversed  by  hundreds  of  coureurs  des  bois  and  by  thousands  of  Indians 
conveying  furs  to  the  lake  shore,  where  at  Fort  Charlotte,  now  Grand  Port- 
age, they  were  exchanged  for  supplies  from  Montreal,  or  were  despatched 
in  the  light  birch  canoes  to  the  distant  markets  of  Montreal  and  Quebec. 
This  route  had  been  mapped  by  Ochagach  in  1730  for  Verendrye,  and  by 
Jeffrey  in  1762. 

Carver  ascended  the  Mississippi  from  the  mouth  of  the  Wisconsin 
to  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony,  of  which  he  gives  the  fullest  description 
up  to  that  time,  and,  passing  above  the  falls,  reached  the  St.  Francis 
river.  Thence  he  descended,  and  made  his  way  up  the  Minnesota  river 
as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  Waraju,  or  Cottonwood,  where  he  spent  seven 
months  —  the  winter  and  spring  of  1766-67.  Subsequently  descending  the 
Mississippi  to  Prairie  du  Chien,  he  passed  through  Wisconsin  to  lake 


20 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


[Caiver.  17*6 


FIGURE  2. 


NOUVELLE 
Par  Guillnurne  BE  L'ISLE 

cr'f  /'A.  •afitJme&'t/aJi-  dt's  i 


Superior  and  Grand  Portage,  returning  to  Boston  by  way   of  the  north 
shore  of  lake  Superior,  Michillimackinac  and  Detroit. 

Carver's  book*  states  that  he  intended  at  first  to  pass  by  way  of  the 
lake  of  the  Woods  and  lake  Winnipeg,  to  the  "  heads  of  the  river  of  the  West, 
which,  as  I  have  said  before,  falls  into  the  straits  of  Annian,  the  termina- 
tion of  my  intended  progress,"  but  falling  short  of  supplies  for  presents  to 
the  Indians,  and  being  unable  to  obtain  them  of  the  traders  at  Grand 
Portage,  he  was  compelled  to  abandon  his  great  exploration. 


"Travels  through  the  interior  parts  of  North  America,  in  the  years  1706,  1767  and  1768.    By  J.  Carver,  Esq.,  Captain 
of  a  company  of  provincial  troops  during  the  late  war  with  France,  Dublin,  1779. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  21 

1766,  Carver.] 

Passing  through  lake  Pepin,  he  gives  the  usual  description,  adding  the 
following  respecting  the  fauna  : 

CARVER  ON  LAKE  PEPIK  AND  THE  MISSISSIPPI  RIVER. 

Great  numbers  of  fowl  also  frequent  this  lake  and  rivers  adjacent,  such  as  storks,  swans, 
geese,  brants  and  ducks ;  and  in  the  groves  are  found  plenty  of  turkeys  and  partridges.  On  the 
plains  are  the  largest  buffaloes  of  any  in  America.  Here  I  observed  the  ruins  of  a  French 
factory,  where  it  is  said  Captain  St.  Pierre  resided  and  carried  on  a  very  great  trade  with  the 
Naudowessies,  before  the  reduction  of  Canada. 

The  Mississippi,  as  far  as  the  entrance  of  the  river  St.  Croix,  thirty  miles  above  lake  Pepin,  is 
very  full  of  islands,  some  of  which  are  of  considerable  length.  On  these  also  grow  great 
numbers  of  the  maple  or  sugar  tree,  and  around  them  vines  loaded  with  grapes  creeping  to  their 
very  tops.  From  the  lake  upwards  few  mountains  are  to  be  seen,  and  those  but  small. 

CARVER  ON  CARVER'S  CAVE. 

About  thirty  miles  below  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony,  at  which  I  arrived  the  tenth  day  after 
I  left  lake  Pepin,  is  a  remarkable  cave  of  an  amazing  depth.  The  Indians  term  it  Wakon-teebe, 
that  is  the  Dwelling  of  the  Great  Spirit.  The  entrance  into  it  is  about  ten  feet  wide,  the  height 
of  it  five  feet.  The  arch  within  is  near  fifteen  feet  high  and  about  thirty  feet  broad.  The  bottom 
of  it  consists  of  fine,  clear  sand.  About  twenty  feet  from  the  entrance  begins  a  lake,  the  water 
of  which  is  transparent,  and  extends  to  an  unsearchable  distance ;  for  the  darkness  of  the  cave 
prevents  all  attempts  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  it.  I  threw  a  small  pebble  toward  the  interior 
parts  of  it  with  my  utmost  strength ;  I  could  hear  that  it  fell  into  the  water,  and  notwithstanding 
it  was  of  so  small  a  size,  it  caused  an  astonishing  and  horrible  noise  that  reverberated  through  all 
those  gloomy  regions.  I  found  in  this  cave  many  Indian  hieroglyphics,  which  appeared  very 
ancient,  for  time  had  nearly  covered  them  with  moss,  so  that  it  was  with  difficulty  I  could  trace 
them.  They  were  cut  in  a  rude  manner  upon  the  inside  of  the  walls,  which  were  composed  of  a 
stone  so  extremely  soft  that  it  might  be  easily  penetrated  with  a  knife ;  a  stone  everywhere  to  be 
found  near  the  Mississippi.  The  cave  is  only  accessible  by  ascending  a  narrow,  steep  passage  that 
lies  near  the  brink  of  the  river. 

At  a  little  distance  from  this  dreary  cavern  is  the  burying-place  of  several  bands  of  the 
Naudowessie  Indians.  Though  these  people  have  no  fixed  residence,  living  in  tents,  and  abiding 
but  a  few  months  on  one  spot,  yet  they  always  bring  the  bones  of  their  dead  to  this  place,  which 
they  take  the  opportunity  of  doing  when  the  chiefs  meet  to  hold  their  councils  and  to  settle  all 
public  affairs  for  the  ensuing  summer. 

Ten  miles  below  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony  the  river  St.  Pierre,  called  by  the  natives 
Wadapaw  Menesotor,  falls  into  the  Mississippi  from  the  west.  It  is  not  mentioned  by  Father 
Hennepin,  although  a  large,  fair  river ;  this  omission,  I  conclude,  must  have  proceeded  from  a 
small  island  that  is  situated  exactly  at  its  entrance,  by  which  the  sight  of  it  is  intercepted. 
I  should  not  have  discovered  this  river  myself  had  I  not  taken  a  view,  when  I  was  searching  for 

it,  from  the  high  lands  opposite,  which  rise  to  a  great  height.  Nearly  over  against  this  river  I 
was  obliged  to  leave  my  canoe,  on  account  of  the  ice,  and  travel  by  land  to  the  falls  of 
St.  Anthony,  where  I  arrived  on  the  17th  of  November.  The  Mississippi,  from  the  St.  Pierre  to 
this  place,  is  rather  more  rapid  than  I  had  hitherto  found  it,  and  without  islands  of  any  consid- 
eration. 

CARVER  AT  THE  FALLS  OF  ST.  ANTHONY. 

The  falls  of  St.  Anthony  received  their  name  from  Father  Louis  Hennepin,  a  French 
missionary,  who  traveled  into  those  parts  about  the  year  1680,  and  was  the  first  European  ever 
seen  by  the  natives.  This  amazing  body  of  waters,  which  are  about  250  yards  over,  form  a  most 
pleasing  cataract ;  they  fall  perpendicularly  about  thirty  feet,  and  the  rapids  below,  in  the  space 
of  300  yards  more,  rendered  the  descent  considerably  greater;  so  that  when  viewed  at  a 


22 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


[Carver,  1766. 


distance  they  appear  to  be  much  higher  than  they  really  are.  The  above-mentioned  traveler  has 
laid  them  down  at  about  sixty  feet ;  but  he  has  made  a  greater  error  in  calculating  the  height  of 
the  falls_of  Niagara,  which  he  asserts  to  be  600  feet,  whereas,  from  later  observations  accurately 
made,  it  is  well  known  that  it  does  not  exceed  140  feet.  But  thej  good  father,  I  fear,  too 
often  had  no  otherfoundation  for  his  accounts  than  report,  or,  at  best,  a  slight  inspection. 


FIG.  3.  CARVER'S  SKETCH  OF  THE  FALLS  OF  ST.  ANTHOXY,  1766. 


In  the  middle  of  the  falls  stands  a  small  island  about  forty  feet  broad  and  somewhat 
longer,  on  which  grow  a  few  cragged  hemlock  and  spruce  trees,  and  about  half  way  between  this 
island  and  the  eastern  shore  is  a  rock,  lying  at  the  very  edge  of  the  fall  in  an  oblique  position,  that 
appeared  to  be  about  five  or  six  feet  broad  and  thirty  or  forty  feet  long.  These  falls  vaiy  much 
from  all  the  others  I  have  seen,  as  you  may  approach  close  to  them  without  finding  the  least 
obstruction  from  any  intervening  hill  or  precipice. 

The  country  around  them  is  extremely  beautiful.  It  is  not  an  uninterrupted  plain  where 
the  eye  finds  no  relief,  but  composed  of  many  gentle  ascents  which,  in 'the  summer,  are  covered 
with  the  finest  verdure,  and  interspersed  with  little  groves  that  give  a  pleasing  variety  to  the 
prospect.  On  the  whole,  when  the  falls  are  included,  which  may  be  seen  at  the  distance  of  four 
miles,  a  more  pleasing  and  picturesque  view  cannot,  I  believe,  be  found  throughout  the  universe. 
I  could  have  wished  that  I  had  happened  to  enjoy  this  glorious  sight  at  a  more  seasonable  time  of 
the  year,  whilst  the  trees  and  hillocks  were  clad  in  Nature's  gayest  livery,  as  this  must  have  greatly 
added  to  the  pleasure  I  received ;  however,  even  then,  it  exceeded  my  warmest  expectations.  I 
have  endeavored  to  give  the  reader  as  just  an  idea  of  this  enchanting  spot  as  possible  in  the  plan 
annexed ;  but  all  description,  whether  of  the  pencil  or  the  pen,  must  fall  infinitely  short  of  the 
original. 

At  a  little  distance  below  the  falls  stands  a  small  island,  of  about  an  acre  and  a  half,  on 
which  grow  a  great  number  of  oak  trees,  every  branch  of  which,  able  to  support  the  weight,  was 
full  of  eagles'  nests.  The  reason  that  this  kind  of  birds  resort  in  such  numbers  to  this  spot  is  that 
they  are  here  secure  from  the  attacks  either  of  man  or  beast,  their  retreat  being  guarded  by  the 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  23 

1 766  Carver.] 

rapids,  which  the  Indians  never  attempt  to  pass.  Another  reason  is  that  they  find  a  constant 
supply  of  food  for  themselves  and  their  young,  from  the  animals  and  fish  which  are  dashed  to  pieces 
by  the  falls  and  driven  on  the  adjacent  shore. 

Having  satisfied  my  curiosity,  as  far  as  the  eye  of  man  can  be  satisfied,  I  proceeded  on.  still 
accompanied  by  my  young  friend,*  till  I  had  reached  the  river  St.  Francis,  near  sixty  miles  above 
the  falls.  To  this  river  Father  Hennepin  gave  the  name  of  St.  Francis,  and  this  was  the  extent  of  his 
travels,  as  well  as  mine,  toward  the  northwest.  As  the  season  was  so  far  advanced,  and  the  weather 
extremely  cold,  I  was  not  able  to  make  so  many  observations  on  these  parts  as  I  otherwise  should 
have  done. 

It  might  however,  perhaps,  be  necessary  to  observe  that  in  a  little  tour  I  made  about  the 
falls,  after  traveling  fourteen  miles  by  the  side  of  the  Mississippi,  I  came  to  a  river  nearly  twenty 
yards  wide  which  ran  from  the  northeast,  called  Rum  river.  And  on  the  20th  of  November  came 
to  another  termed  Goose  river,  and  about  twelve  yards  wide.  On  the  21st  I  arrived  at  the  St. 
Francis  which  is  about  thirty  yards  wide.  Here  the  Mississippi  itself  grows  narrow,  being  not 
more  than  ninety  yards  over ;  and  appears  to  be  chiefly  composed  of  small  branches.  The  ice 
prevented  me  from  noticing  the  depth  of  any  of  these  rivers.f 

The  country  in  some  places  is  hilly,  but  without  large  mountains,  and  the  land  is  tolerably 
good.  I  observed  here  many  deer  and  carraboes,  some  elk,  with  abundance  of  beavers,  otters  and 
other  furs.  A  little  above  this  to  the  northeast,  are  a  number  of  small  lakes,  called  the  Thousand 
lakes ;  the  parts  about  which,  though  but  little  frequented,  are  the  best  within  many  miles  for 
hunting,  as  the  hunter  never  fails  of  returning  loaded  beyond  his  expectations. 

CARVER  ASCENDS  THE  MINNESOTA. 

On  the  25th  I  returned  to  my  canoe  which  I  had  left  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  St.  Pierre ; 
and  here  I  parted  with  regret  from  my  young  friend  the  prince  of  the  Winnebagoes.  This  river 
being  clear  of  ice  by  reason  of  its  southern  situation,  I  found  nothing  to  obstruct  my  passage. 
On  the  28th,  being  advanced  about  forty  miles,  I  arrived  at  a  small  branch  that  fell  into  it  from 
the  north ;  to  which  as  it  had  no  name  that  I  could  distinguish  it  by,  I  gave  my  own,  and  the 
reader  will  find  it  in  the  plan  of  my  travels  denominated  Carver's  river.  About  forty  miles  higher 
up  I  came  to  the  forks  of  the  Verd  and  Red  Marble  rivers,  which  join  at  some  little  distance  before 
they  enter  the  St.  Pierre. 

The  river  St.  Pierre,  at  its  junction  with  the  Mississippi,  is  about  a  hundred  yards  broad, 
and  continues  that  breadth  nearly  all  the  way  I  sailed  upon  it.  It  has  a  great  depth  of  water,  and 
and  in  some  places  runs  very  briskly.  About  fifty  miles  from  its  mouth  are  some  rapids,  and 
much  higher  up  there  are  many  others. 

I  proceeded  up  this  river  about  two  hundred  miles,  to  the  country  of  the  Nadowessies  of 
the  Plains,  which  lies  a  little  above  the  forks  formed  by  the  Verd  and  Red  Marble  rivers  [i.  e.  The 
Blue  Earth  and  Watonwan  rivers,— N.  H.  W.]  just  mentioned,  where  a  branch  from  the  south 
nearly  joins  the  Messorie  river.!  By  the  accounts  I  received  from  the  Indians  I  have  reason  to 
believe  that  the  river  St.  Pierre  and  the  Messorie,  though  they  enter  the  Mississippi  twelve  hundred 
miles  from  each  other,  take  their  rise  in  the  same  neighborhood,  and  this  within  the  space  of  a 
mile.  The  river  St.  Pierre's  northern  branch  [i.  e.  The  main  river. — N.  H.  W.]  rises  from  a  num- 
ber of  lakes  [Big  Stone  L.— N.  H.  W.]  near  the  Shining  Mountains,  and  it  is  from  some  of  these, 
also,  that  a  capital  branch  [Red  River  of  the  North.— N.  H.  W.]  of  the  river  Bourbon  [Nelson 
river.— N.  H.  W.]  which  runs  into  Hudson's  bay,  has  its  sources.  *  *  *  I  have  learned  that 
the  four  most  capital  rivers  of  North  America,  viz.,  the  St.  Lawrence,  the  Mississippi,  the  river 
Bourbon,  and  the  Oregon,  or  River  of  the  West,  have  their  sources  in  the  same  neighborhood. 
The  waters  of  the  three  former,  are  within  thirty  miles  of  each  other ;  the  latter,  however,  is 
rather  farther  west.? 

*A  young  "prince"  of  the  Winnebago  Indians  whom  be  had  encountered  a  few  miles  below  the  Minnesota  river. 

fThe  distance  to  Rum  river  is  approximately  correct.  The  Goose  river  is  now  the  Crow  river,  and  the  Elk,  -which 
is  now  sometimes  styled  the  St.  Francis  river  (though  Hennepin  applied  the  name  to  the  outlet  of  L.  Buade)  is  the  only 
one  to  which  Carver  can  refer,  said  to  be  30  yards  wid». 

JThe  sources  of  the  Waraju  river  are  near  those  of  the  Bock  river,  the  latter  being  a  branch  of  the  Missouri.  Car- 
ver wintered  at  the  mouth  of  the  Waraju  (or  Cottonwood)  river. 

£This  idea  of  the  proximity  of  the  source  of  the  Oregon  to  those  of  the  other  rivers  mentioned  is  represented  on  the 
map  accompanying  Du  Pratz'  Histoire  de  la  Louisiane, 


24  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Carver,  1766. 

This  shows  that  these  parts  are  the  highest  lands  in  North  America ;  and  it  is  an  instance 
not  to  be  paralleled  on  the  other  three  quarters  of  the  globe,  that  four  rivers  of  such  magnitude 
should  take  their  rise  together,  and  each,  after  running  separate  courses,  discharge  their  waters 
into  dffereut  oceans  at  the  distance  of  two  thousand  miles  from  their  sources. 

CARVER'S  OPINION  OF  THE  MINNESOTA  VALLEY. 

The  river  St.  Pierre,  which  runs  through  the  territories  of  the  Naudowessies,  flows  through 
a  most  delightful  country,  abounding  with  all  the  necessaries  of  life  that  grow  spontaneously,  and 
with  a  little  cultivation  it  might  be  made  to  produce  even  the  luxuries  of  life.  Wild  rice  grows  here 
in  great  abundance ;  and  every  part  is  filled  with  trees  bending  under  their  loads  of  fruit,  such  as 
plnms,  grapes  and  apples ;  the  meadows  are  covered  with  hops,  and  many  sorts  of  vegetables ; 
whilst  the  ground  is  stored  with  useful  roots,  with  angelica,  spikenard,  and  ground-nuts  as  large  as 
hen's  eggs.  At  a  little  distance  from  the  sides  of  the  river  are  eminences  from  which  you  have 
views  that  cannot  be  exceeded  even  by  the  most  beautiful  of  those  I  have  already  described ; 
amidst  these  are  delightful  groves,  and  such  amazing  quantities  of  maples  that  they  would  produce 
sugar  sufficient  for  any  number  of  inhabitants. 

THE  ST.  PETER  SANDSTONE. 

A  little  way  from  the  mouth  of  this  river,  on  the  north  side  of  it,  stands  a  hill,  one  part  of 
which,  that  toward  the  Mississippi,  is  composed  entirely  of  white  stone,  of  the  same  soft  nature  as 
that  I  have  before  described ;  for  such  indeed  is  all  the  stone  in  this  country.  But  what  appears 
remarkable  is,  that  the  color  of  it  is  as  white  as  the  driven  snow,  The  outward  part  of  it  was 
crumbled  by  the  wind  and  weather  into  heaps  of  sand,  of  which  a  beautiful  composition  might  be 
made ;  or,  I  am  of  opinion,  that  when  properly  treated,  the  stone  itself  would  grow  harder  by  time, 
and  have  a  very  noble  effect  in  architecture, 

Near  that  branch  which  is  termed  the  Marble  river,  is  a  mountain ,  from  which  the  Indians 
get  a  sort  of  red  stone,  out  of  which  they  hew  the  bowls  of  their  pipes.  [This,  doubtless,  is  a 
reference  to  the  catlinite  of  Pipestone  county. — N.  H.  W.] 

Carver's  work  contains  a  dissertation  on  the  origin,  manners,  customs, 
religion  and  language  of  the  Indians,  followed  by  a  chapter  on  the  leading 
species  of  animals,  particularly  the  game  animals,  and  on  the  trees,  shrubs, 
roots,  herbs  and  flowers  of  the  interior  parts  of  North  America,  but  as  he 
assigns  none  of  them  to  their  habitats,  they  cannot  be  claimed  as  indigenous 
to  Minnesota,  though  doubtless  most  of  them  are. 

Carver  gives  a  description  and  location  of  many  of  the  lakes  northwest 
from  Grand  Portage,  and  of  some  in  northern  Minnesota,  about  the  head- 
waters of  the  Mississippi  and  the  Eed  river  of  the  North,  but  as  he  did  not 
visit  them,  and  his  account  is  based  wholly  on  descriptions  derived  from  the 
Indians  and  traders,  it  is  quite  incorrect  in  some  particulars.  He  states  that 
"the  most  remote  source"  of  the  Mississippi  river  is  a  lake  not  far  from  Red 
lake,  a  little  to  the  southwest,  called  White  Bear  lake,  of  about  the  same 
size  as  Red  lake.*  It  is  now  known  as  lake  Whipple. 


*The  map  accompanying  Carver's  book  (London  edition)  shows  the  general  inaccuracy  of  Carver  not  only  in 
depicting  his  own  observations,  but  also  in  reproducing  those  of  earlier  writers.  "The  country  of  peace]'  and  the  Red 
Marble  river,  are  so  named  doubtless  from  the  red  quartzyte  and  catlinite  (the  latter  used  for  making  the  peace 


calumet)  about  the  headwaters  of  the  Watonwan  and  Cottouwood  rivers,  and  should  be  represented  on  the  w^st  Fork  of 
the  Verd  river  instead  of  the  east.    The  mountains  of  "The  country  off 
"  Mountains  o?  the  Prairie."    Compare  Keating's  strictures  upon  Carve 


the  Verd  river  instead  of  the  east.    The  mountains  of  "The  country  of  peace"  are  a  poetic  exaggeration,  like  Hiawatha's 

"  jating's  strictures  upon  Carver  in  Long's  Expedition  in  1823,  Vol.  1,  p.  336. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  25 

1805,  Pike.] 

Captain  Carver  did  not  give  up  his  design  of  reaching  the  "  straits  of 
Annian"  through  the  headwaters  of  the  great  streams  flowing  east  and 
west  from  Minnesota,  and  organized  a  party  to  carry  out  the  purpose  in 
which  he  had  failed,  on  his  return  to  England.  This  was  to  be  under  the 
auspices  of  Richard  Wentworth,  Esq.,  member  of  Parliament  for  Stafford, 
and  was  to  set  out  in  1774,  when  the  troubles  incident  to  the  Revolutionary 
war  put  a  stop  to  the  enterprise. 


II.    PERIOD  OF  TERRITORIAL  EXPLORATION,  1783  TO  1858. 

The  war  of  the  Revolution  which  left  the  east  bank  of  the  Mississippi 
in  the  possession  of  the  United  States  and  the  west  bank  in  the  possession 
of  the  French,  operated  not  only  to  terminate  English  and  French  explora- 
tion, but  to  retard  that  of  the  United  States.  It  was  not  till  after  the  cession 
of  Louisiana  by  France  that  the  United  States  government  instituted  meas- 
ures for  the  exploration  of  the  unknown  country  west  of  the  Mississippi, 
when,  in  1805,  Captains  Lewis  and  Clarke  were  dispatched  to  explore  the 
Missouri  river,  and  Lieutenant  Z.  M.  Pike  to  ascend  the  Mississippi  to  its 
source.  Lieut.  Pike  found  the  upper  Mississippi  country  occupied  by  trading 
posts  of  the  Northwest  Fur  Company,  over  which  was  still  flying  the  English 
flag,  a  fact  which  attests  the  isolation  of  that  region  since  the  peace  con- 
cluded in  1783.  One  of  these  posts  was  found  at  Red  Cedar  lake,  (north  of 
Mi  lie  Lacs)  one  at  Sandy  lake  and  two  at  Leech  lake,  whose  influence 
extended  "  from  the  head  of  lake  Superior  to  the  source  of  the  Mississippi 
and  down  Red  river."  This  company  had  employed  Mr.  David  Thompson  as 
explorer  and  geographer  for  many  years,  and  Lieut.  Pike  refers  to  his  having 
established  the  latitude  of  Red  Cedar  lake  (now  Cass  L.)  supposed  to  be 
the  source  of  the  Mississippi,  in  1798,  finding  this  Post  to  be  in  latitude 
47°  38'.  Mr.  Thompson's  maps  and  papers  never  having  been  published. 
Lieut.  Pike  is  to  be  accredited  with  the  first  authenticated  examination  of 
the  Mississippi  valley  from  the  St.  Francis  river  to  Red  Cedar  lake.* 


«  An  account  of  expeditions  to  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi,  and  through  the  western  parts  of  Louisiana         *       » 
P^?r!f"v  ,b,y  °,r='!er  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States  during  the  years  1805,  1806  and  1807,  by  Major  Z 
M.  i  ike.    Jrtinaurlpmu,  181U. 


26  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Morrison,  1804. 

MORRISON  DISCOVERS  ITASCA  LAKE  IN  1804. 

The  country  of  the  upper  Mississippi  was  pretty  well  known  to  the 
coureurs  des  bois  of  the  various  fur  companies  probably,  before  the  advent  of 
Pike,  but  there  is  almost  nothing  preserved  of  all  their  explorations. 
Mr.  William  Morrison,  however,  has  given  in  a  brief  letter  to  the  Minnesota 
Historical  Society*  a  statement  of  his  own  discovery  of  Elk  lake  (now  called 
Itasca)  in  1804,  mentioning  also  Cross  lake,  (Pemidji  lake),  Red  Cedar  lake 
and  Leech  lake  for  the  first  time.  He  also  states  that  he  wintered  at  Rice 
lake,  tributary  to  Rice  river,  a  branch  of  the  Red  river  of  the  North,  in 
1803-4.  In  order  to  reach  it  he  made  a  portage  from  the  Mississippi,  a  short 
distance  below  Elk  lake,  westward,  known  as  the  Portage  of  the  Height  of 
Land,  or  the  dividing  ridge  that  separates  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi  from 
those  that  empty  into  the  Red  river  of  the  North. 

LIEUT.  Z.  M.  PIKE. 

Reaching  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony  Lieut.  Pike  made  a  careful  survey,  and 
wrote  a  description  of  the  portage  route  in  his  journal,  and  a  brief  description 
of  the  falls  in  a  letter  to  General  Wilkinson  at  St.  Louis.  He  added  nothing 
of  value  to  the  natural  history  and  geography  of  the  Mississippi  valley 
below  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony.  With  twenty  soldiers  he  attempted  to  reach 
Leech  lake,  but  by  stress  of  weather  and  early  snow  was  compelled  to  erect  a 
winter  stockade  on  the  west  side  of  the  Mississippi  a  short  distance  below  Pike 
rapids.  Here  having  deposited  the  most  of  his  baggage  and  supplies,  he 
pushed  forward  in  midwinter,  with  indefatigable  energy  and  industry,  with 
a  foot-party,  as  far  as  Sandy  lake.  Thence  he  proceeded  toward  Leech  lake 
(then  denominated  lake  La  Sang  Sue)  by  way  of  the  Willow  river  valley  and 
Pokegama  lake,  where  he  arrived  February  1st,  1806.  A  few  days  later, 
having  visited  the  N.  W.  Co.'s  station  at  Red  Cedar  lake  and  ascertained  its 
latitude  (47°  42'  40"),  where  he  found  a  hospitable  Canadian  named  Roy, 
he  set  out  on  his  return  to  his  stockade,  by  a  different  route,  traveling  south- 
eastwardly  by  way  of  lakes  to  Whitefish  lake,  which  he  states  may  be 
considered  the  main  source  of  Pine  river,  reaching  the  Mississippi  at  the 
mouth  of  a  creek  about  nine  miles  above  the  mouth  of  Pine  river.  Making 


•Minnesota  Historical  Collections,  Volume  I.  p.  417. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  27 

1806,  Pike.] 

a  short  visit  to  Mr.  Grant's  trading-post  on  "Red  Cedar  lake"*  he  left  on 
the  28th  of  February  on  his  descent  to  his  stockade,  where  he  stayed  till 
the  ice  broke  up  in  the  spring,  when  he  returned  to  St.  Louis. 

LIEUTENANT  PIKE  ON  THE  FALLS  OF  ST.  ANTHONY. 

In  order  to  complete  the  history  of  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony  from  the 
time  of  their  discovery  to  the  final  occupancy  of  the  place  by  permanent 
settlements,  with  a  view  to  ascertaining  their  rate  of  recession  by  means  of 
the  islands  which  have  undergone  changes  from  time  to  time,  as  noted  by 
different  visitors,  Lieut.  Pike's  description  is  herewith  given,  as  one  of  the 
most  exact  and  reliable. 

In  the  appendix  to  his  journal  is  found  a  letter  addressed  to  Gen.  Wil- 
kinson, dated  "26th  Sept.  above  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony"  containing  the 

following: 

The  place  where  the  river  falls  over  the  rocks  appears  to  be  about  fifteen  feet  perpen- 
dicular, the  sheet  being  broken  by  one  large  island  on  the  east  and  a  small  one  on  the  west,  the 
former  commencing  below  the  shoot,  and  extending  500  yards  above ;  the  river  then  falls  through 
a  continued  bed  of  rocks,  with  a  descent  of  at  least  50  feet  perpendicular  in  the  course  of  half  a 
mile — from  thence  to  the  St.  Peters,  a  distance  of  eleven  miles  by  water,  there  is  almost  one  con- 
tinued rapid,  aggravated  by  the  interruption  of  twelve  small  islands.  The  carrying  place  has  two 
hills,  one  of  25  feet,  the  other  of  12,  with  an  elevation  of  45",  and  is  about  three-fourths  of  a  mile 
in  length.  Above  the  shoot  the  river  is  of  a  considerable  width,  but  below  (at  this  time)  1  can 
easily  cast  a  stone  over  it.  The  rapids,  or  suck,  comes  about  a  half  a  mile  above  the  shoot,  when 
the  water  becomes  calm  and  deep.  He  adds  that  this  is  merely  a  coup  d'  ceuil. 

On  page  51,  of  the  same  appendix,  he  gives  further  particulars  concern- 
ing the  falls,  viz: 

As  I  ascended  the  Mississippi  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony  did  not  strike  me  with  that  majestic 
appearance  which  I  had  been  taught  to  expect  from  the  description  of  former  travel«rs.  On  an 
actual  survey  I  find  the  portage  to  be  260  poles ;  but  when  the  river  is  not  very  low,  boats  ascend- 
ing may  be  put  in  31  poles  below,  at  a  large  cedar  tree,  which  would  reduce  it  to  229  poles.  The 
hill  over  which  the  portage  is  made  is  69  feet  ascent,  with  an  elevation  at  the  point  of  debarkation 
of  45°.  The  fall  of  the  water  between  the  place  of  debarkation  and  reloading  is  58  feet ;  the 
perpendicular  fall  of  the  shoot  is  16 J  feet.  The  width  of  the  river  above  the  shoot  is  627  yards; 
below  209.  For  the  form  of  the  shoot  see  a  rough  draught  herewith.  In  high  water  the  appear- 
ance is  much  more  sublime,  as  the  great  quantity  of  water  then  forms  a  spray  which  in  clear 
weather  reflects  from  some  positions  the  colors  of  the  rainbow,  and  when  the  sky  is  o'ercast, 
cover  the  falls  in  gloom  and  chaotic  majesty. 

LIEUT.  PIKE  ABOVE  THE  FALLS  OF  ST.   ANTHONY. 

From  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony  to  Rum  river,  the  Mississippi  is  almost  one  continued  chain 
of  rapidsj  with  the  eddies  formed  by  winding  channels.  Both  sides  are  prairie,  and  scarcely  any 
timber  but  small  groves  of  scrub  oak.  Rum  river  is  about  50  yards  wide  at  its  mouth,  and  takes 
its  source  in  Le  Mille  Lac,  which  is  about  thirty-five  miles  south  of  Lower  Red  Cedar  lake. 
The  small  Indian  canoes  ascend  this  river  quite  to  the  lake,  which  is  considered  as  one  of  the  best 

*This  Red  Cedar  lake  in  other  places  is  styled  Lower  Red  Cedar  lake,  and  is  a  few  miles  southwest  of  Aitkin. 


28  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Pike,  ilo6. 

fur-hunting  grounds  for  some  hundreds  of  miles,  and  has  been  long  a  scene  of  rencounters 
between  the  hunting  parties  of  the  Sioux  and  Sauteaux.  The  last  winter  a  number  of  the  Fols 
Avoins  and  Sioux,  and  some  Sauteaux,  wintered  in  that  quarter.  From  Rum  river  to  Leaf  river, 
(called  by  Father  Hennepin  and  Carver  the  river  St.  Francis,  and  was  the  extent  of  their  travels) 
the  prairies  continue  with  a  few  interruptions.  The  timber,  scrub  oak,  with  now  and  then  a 
lonely  pine.  Previous  to  your  arrival  at  Leaf  river  you  pass  Crow  river  on  the  west,  about  30 
yards  wide,  which  bears  from  the  Mississippi  S.  W.  Leaf  river  is  only  a  small  stream  of  not 
more  than  15  yards  over  and  bears  N".  by  W. 

The  elk  begin  to  be  very  plentiful ;  some  buffalo,  quantities  of  deer,  raccoons,  and  on  the 
prairie  a  few  of  the  animals  called  by  the  French  brelaws. 

From  thence  to  Sac  river  [Sank  river]  a  little  above  the  Grand  rapids,  both  sides  of  the 
river  are  generally  prairie,  with  skirts  of  scrub  oak.  The  navigation  still  obstructed  with  ripples, 
but  with  some  intermissions  of  a  few  miles. 

At  the  Grand  rapids  the  river  expands  itself  to  about  3-4  mile  in  width  (its  general  width 
being  not  over  3-5  mile)  and  tumbles  over  an  unequal  bed  of  rocks  for  about  two  miles,  through 
which  there  cannot  be  said  to  be  any  channel ;  for  notwithstanding  the  rapidity  of  the  current,  one 
of  my  invalids  who  was  on  the  W.  shore  waded  to  the  E.  (where  we  were  encamped.)  The  east 
bank  of  the  rapids  is  a  very  high  prairie,  the  west  scrubby  woodland.  The  Sac  river  is  a  consid- 
erable stream  which  comes  in  on  the  west,  and  bears  S.  W.,  and  is  200  yards  wide  at  its  mouth. 

The  quantity  of  game  still  increasing  from  the  Sac  river  to  Pine  creek,  (the  place  where 
I  built  my  stockade  and  left  part  of  my  party)  the  borders  are  prairie,  with  groves  of  pine  on  the 
edge  of  the  bank ;  but  there  are  some  exceptions,  where  you  meet  with  small  bottoms  of  oak, 
ash,  maple  and  lynn.  In  this  distance  there  is  an  intermission  of  rapids  for  about  40  miles  when 
they  commence  again  and  are  full  as  difficult  as  ever.  There  are  three  small  creeks  emptying  in 
on  the  west  scarcely  worthy  of  notice,  and  on  the  east  are  two  small  rivers,  called  Lake  and  Clear 
rivers.*  The  former  quite  a  small  one  bears  N.  W.  and  is  about  15  yards  wide  at  its  mouth ;  and 
about  three  miles  from  its  entrance  is  a  beautiful  small  lake,  around  which  resort  immense  herds 
of  elk  and  buffalo.  Clear  river  is  a  beautiful  little  stream  of  about  80  yards  in  width,  and  heads 
in  some  swamps  and  small  lakes  on  which  the  Sauteaux  of  Lower  Bed  Cedar  lake,  and  Sandy  lake, 
frquently  came  to  hunt.  The  soil  of  the  prairies  from  above  the  falls  is  sandy,  but  would  raise 
small  grain  in  abundance ;  the  bottoms  rich  and  fit  for  corn  or  hemp.  Pine  creekf  is  a  small 
stream  which  comes  in  on  the  west  shore  and  bears  nearly  west.  It  is  bounded  by  large  groves  of 
white  and  red  pine.  From  Pine  creek  to  the  Isle  De  Corbeau,  (or  river  of  that  name)  two  small 
rivers  come  in  on  the  west  shore.  The  first  is  of  little  consequence ;  but  the  second,  called  Elk 
river  is  entitled  to  more  consideration  from  its  communication  with  the  river  St.  Peters.  They 
first  ascend  it  to  a  small  lake,  cross  it,  then  ascend  a  small  stream,  [Long  Prairie  river]  to  a 
large  lake,  [Carlos  lake]  from  which  they  make  a  portage  of  four  miles  west  and  fall  into  the 
Sauteaux  river,  [Little  Chippewa]  which  they  descend  into  the  river  St.  Peters.  On  the  east  side 
is  one  small  stream,  (Nunkesebe  river)  which  heads  toward  Lower  Red  Cedar  lake,  and  is  bounded 
by  hills.  The  whole  of  this  distance  is  remarkably  difficult  to  navigate,  being  one  continued 
succession  of  rapid  shoals  and  falls;  but  there  is  one  deserves  to  be  more  particularly  noticed, 
viz :  the  place  called  by  the  French  Le  shute  de  la  Roclie  Peinture,  which  is  certainly  the  third 
obstacle  in  point  of  navigation  which  I  met  with  in  my  whole  route.  The  shore  where  there  is 
not  prairie  is  a  continued  succession  of  pine  ridges.  The  entrance  of  the  river  De  Corbeau  is  partly 
hid  by  the  island  of  that  name,  and  discharges  its  waters  into  the  Mississippi  above  and  below  it ; 
the  lowest  channel  bearing  from  the  Mississippi  N.  65°  W.  This  (in  my  opinion)  should  be  termed 
the  forks  of  the  Mississippi,  it  being  nearly  of  equal  magnitude  and  heading  not  far  from  the  same 
source ;  although  taking  a  much  more  direct  course  to  their  junction.  It  may  be  observed  on  the 
chart,  that  from  St.  Louis  to  this  place,  the  course  of  the  river  had  been  generally  N.  to  the  W. 
and  that  from  here  it  bore  N.  E.  This  river  affords  the  best  and  most  approved  communication  with 
the  Red  river,  and  the  navigation  is  as  follows.  You  ascend  the  river  De  Corbeau  180J  miles  to  the 
entrance  of  the  river  Des  Feuilles,  which  comes  from  the  N.  W.  This  you  ascend  180  miles  also. 


•Lake  river  is  now  called  Little  Rock  creek,  and  Clear  river  is  the  Platte. 

tNow  called  Swan  river. 

{Pike's  distances  are  generally  too  great. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  29 

1806,  Pike.] 

then  make  a  portage  of  half  a  mile  Into  Otter  Tail  lake  which  is  a  principal  source  of  Red  river. 
The  other  branch  of  the  river  De  Corbeau  [Long  Prairie  R.]  bears  S.  W.  and  approximates  with 
the  St.  Peters.  The  whole  of  this  river  is  rapid,  and  by  no  means  affording  so  much  water  as  the 
Mississippi.  Their  confluence  is  in  lat.  45°  49'  50"  N.  In  this  division  the  elk,  deer  and  buff  alo  were 
probably  in  greater  quantities  than  in  any  other  part  of  my  whole  voyage.  From  thence  to  Pine 
river  the  Mississippi  continues  to  become  narrower  and  has  but  few  islands.  In  this  distance  I 
discovered  but  one  rapid  which  the  force  of  the  frost  had  not  entirely  covered  with  ice.  The 
shores  in  general  presented  a  dreary  prospect  of  high  barren  knobs  covered  with  dead  and  fallen 
pine  timber.  To  this  there  were  some  exceptions  of  ridges  of  yellow  and  pitch  pine,  also  some 
small  bottoms  of  lynn,  elm,  oak  and  ash.  The  adjacent  country  is  (at  least  two-thirds)  covered 
with  small  lakes,  some  of  which  are  three  miles  in  circumference.  This  renders  the  communica- 
tion impassable  in  summer,  except  with  small  bark  canoes.  *  *  *  The  Pine  river  bears  from 
the  Mississippi  north  30°  east,  although  it  empties  in  on  that  which  has  hitherto  been  termed  the 
west  shore.  It  is  80  yards  wide  at  its  mouth,  and  has  an  island  immediately  at  the  entrance.  It 
communicates  with  the  lake  La  Sang  Sue  by  the  following  course  of  navigation:  In  one  day's  sail 
from  the  confluence  you  arrive  at  the  first  part  of  Wliitefish  lake,  which  is  about  six  miles  long  and 
two  wide.  From  thence  you  pursue  the  river  about  two  miles,  and  come  to  the  Second  Whitefish 
lake,  which  is  about  three  miles  long  and  one  wide ;  then  you  have  the  river  three  miles  to  the 
third  lake,  which  is  seven  miles  long  and  two  in  width  (which  I  crossed  on  my  return  from  the 

head  of  the  Mississippi,  on  the of  February,  and  is  in  46°  32'  32"  N.  latitude).    From  thence 

you  follow  the  river  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to  the  fourth  lake,  which  is  a  circular  one  of  about  five 
miles  in  circumference.  From  thence  you  pursue  the  river  one  day's  sail  to  a  small  lake ;  from 
thence  two  days'  sail  to  a  portage,  which  conveys  you  to  another  lake  ;  from  whence,  by  small 
portages  from  lake  to  lake,  you  make  the  voyage  to  Leech  lake.  The  whole  of  this  course  lays 
through  ridges  of  pines  or  swamps  of  pinenet,  sap  pine,*  hemlock,  &c.,  &c.  From  the  river  De 
Corbeau  to  this  place  the  deer  are  very  plenty,  but  we  found  no  more  buffalo  or  elk.  From  this 
spot  to  Bed  Cedar  lake  the  pine  ridges  are  interrupted  by  large  bottoms  of  elm,  ash,  oak  and 
maple,  the  soil  of  which  would  be  very  proper  for  cultivation.  From  the  appearance  of  the  ice 
(which  was  firm  and  equal)  I  conceive  that  there  can  be  but  one  ripple  in  this  distance.  Eed  Cedar 
lake  lays  on  the  east  side  of  the  Mississippi,  at  the  distance  of  6  miles  from  it,  and  very  near  equally 
distant  from  the  river  De  Corbeau  and  lake  De  Sable.  Its  form  is  an  oblong  square,  and  may  be 
ten  miles  in  circumference.  From  this  to  lake  De  Sable,  on  the]  E.  shore,  you  meet  with  Muddy 
river ,t  which  discharges  itself  into  the  Mississippi  by  a  mouth  twenty  yards  wide,  and  bears  nearly 
N.  E.  We  then  meet  with  Pike  river!  on  the  west,  about  77  [17?]  miles  below  Sandy  lake,  and  bears 
nearly  due  north,  up  which  you  ascend  with  canoes  four  days'  sail  and  arrive  at  a  wild-rice 
lake,  which  you  pass  through  and  enter  a  small  stream,  and  ascend  it  two  leagues ;  then  cross  a 
portage  of  two  acres  into  a  lake  seven  leagues  in  circumference ;  then  two  leagues  of  a  river  into 
another  small  lake.  From  thence  you  descend  the  current  N.  E.  [N.  W?]  into  Leech  lake.  The 
banks  of  the  Mississippi  are  still  bordered  by  the  pines  of  the  different  species,  except  a  few  small 
bottoms  of  elm,  lynn  and  maple.  The  game  scarce,  and  the  aborigines  subsist  almost  entirely 
on  the  beaver,  with  a  few  moose  and  the  wild  rice  or  oats. 

Sandy  lake  river  (or  the  discharge  of  said  lake)  is  large,  but  is  only  six  miles  in  length  from 
the  lake  to  its  confluence  with  the  Mississippi.  Lake  De  Sableft  is  about  25  miles  in  circum- 
ference, and  has  a  number  of  small  rivers  running  into  it ;  one  of  those  is  entitled  to  particular 
mention,  viz.,  the  river  Savanna,  which  by  portage  of  three  miles  and  three-quarters,  communicates 
with  the  river  St.  Louis,  which  empties  into  lake  Superior  at  the  Fond  du  Lac,  and  is  the  channel 
by  which  the  N.  W.  Company  bring  all  their  goods  for  the  trade  of  the  upper  Mississippi.  Game 
is  very  scarce  in  this  country.  In  ascending  the  Mississippi  from  Sandy  lake,  you  first  meet  with 
Swan  river  on  the  east,  which  bears  nearly  due  E.  and  is  navigable  for  bark  canoes  ninety  miles  to 
Swan  lake.  You  then  meet  with  the  Meadow  river,||  which  falls  in  on  the  east,  and  bears  nearly 
E.  by  N.,  and  is  navigable  for  canoes  100  miles.  You  then  in  ascending  meet  with  a  very  strong 
ripple,  and  an  expansion  of  the  river,  where  it  forms  a  lake.  This  is  three  miles  below  the  falls 
of  Packegamau,  and  from  which  the  noise  of  the  shoot  might  be  heard.  The  course  of  the  river 
at  the  falls  was  X.  70°  W.,  and  just  below,  the  river  is  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  width,  but  above  the 


"Tamarac  and  baUam  fir;  but  hemlock  does  not  occur.    tRice  River.    J  Willow  river.    gSandy  lake.    (Prairie  river. 


30  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Long,  1817. 

shoot  not  more  than  20  yards.  The  water  thus  collected,  runs  down  a  flat  rock  which  has  an 
elevation  of  about  30  degrees.  Immediately  above  the  fall  is  a  small  island  of  about  50  yards  in 
circumference,  covered  with  sap-pine.*  The  portage,  which  is  on  the  E.  (or  N.)  side  is  no  more 
than  200  yards,  and  by  no  means  difficult.  Those  falls,  in  point  of  consideration  as  an  impedi- 
ment to  navigation,  stand  next  to  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony,  from  the  source  of  the  river  to  the 
gulf  of  Mexico.  The  banks  of  the  river,  to  the  Meadow  river,  have  generally  either  been 
timbered  by  pine,  pinenett,  hemlock,  sap-pine,  or  the  aspen  tree.  From  thence  it  winds  through 
high-grass  meadows  (or  savannas),  with  the  pine  swamps  at  a  distance  appearing  to  cast  a  deeper 
gloom  on  the  borders.  From  the  falls  in  ascending  you  pass  the  lake  Packegamau  on  the  west, 
celebrated  for  its  great  production  of  wild  rice  ;  and  next  meet  with  the  Deer  river  on  the  east,  the 
extent  of  its  navigation  unknown.  You  next  meet  Riviere  Le  Cross,  on  the  east  side,  which  bears 
nearly  north,  and  has  only  a  portage  of  one  mile  to  pass  from  it  into  the  lake  Winipequef  branch  of 
the  Mississippi.  We  next  come  to  what  the  people  of  that  quarter  call  the  Forks  of  the  Mississippi, 
the  right  fork  of  which  bears  N.  W.  and  runs  eight  leagues  to  lake  Winnipeque,  which  is  of  an  oval 
form  of  about  36  miles  in  circumference.  From  lake  Winnipeque  the  river  continues  5  leagues  to 
Upper  Red  Cedar  lakej,  which  may  be  termed  the  upper  source  of  the  Mississippi.  The  Leech 
lake  branch  bears  (from  the  forks)  S.  W.  and  runs  through  a  chain  of  Meadows.  You  pass  Muddy 
lake,  which  is  scarcely  anything  more  than  an  extensive  marsh  of  15  miles  in  circumference;  the 
river  bears  through  it  nearly  N.,  after  which  it  turns  again  W.  In  many  places  this  branch 
is  not  more  than  ten  or  fifteen  yards  wide,  although  15  or  20  feet  deep.  From  this  to  Leech  lake 
the  communication  is  direct,  and  without  any  impediment.  This  is  rather  considered  as  the  main 
source,  although  the  Winnipeque  branch  is  navigable  the  greatest  distance.  To  this  place  the 
whole  face  of  the  country  has  the  appearance  of  an  impenetrable  morass,  or  boundless  savanna. 
But  on  the  borders  of  the  lake  is  some  oak,  and  large  groves  of  sugar  maple,  from  which  the 
traders  make  sufficient  sugar  for  their  consumption  the  whole  year.  Leech  lake  communicates 
with  the  river  De  Corbeau  by  seven  portages,  and  the  river  Des  Feuilles  also,  with  the  Red  river  by 
the  Otter  Tail  lake  on  the  one  side,  and  by  the  Red  Cedar  lake  and  other  small  lakes  to  Red  lake 
on  the  other.  Out  of  these  small  lakes  and  ridges  rise  the  upper  waters  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
Mississippi,  and  Red  river,?  the  latter  of  which  discharges  itself  into  the  ocean  by  lake  Winipie 
and  Hudson's  Bay.  All  those  waters  have  their  upper  sources  within  100  miles  of  each  other, 
which  I  think  plainly  proves  this  to  be  the  most  elevated  part  of  the  N.  E.  continent  of  America. 
But  we  must  cross  (what  is  commonly  termed)  the  Rocky  Mountains,  or  a  spur  of  the  Cordeliers, 
previous  to  our  finding  the  waters  whose  currents  run  westward  and  pay  tribute  to  the  western 
ocean. 

In  this  quarter  we  find  moose,  a  very  few  deer  and  bear,  but  a  vast  variety  of  fur  animals 
of  all  descriptions. 

MAJOR  S.  H.  LONG  AT  THE  FALLS  OF  ST.  ANTHONY. 

In  1817  Major  Stephen  H.  Long,  of  the  United  States  Army,  made  a 
visit  to  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony,  ||  and  has  made  so  correct  a  description  of 
them  that,  by  comparison  with  that  of  Pike,  in  1805,  such  changes  are  seen 
to  have  taken  place  that  some  idea  of  their  rate  of  recession  can  be  gained. 

The  perpendicular  fall  of  the  water  at  the  cataract,  as  stated  by  Pike  in  his  journal,  is 
16  J  feet,  which  I  found  to  be  true  by  actual  measurement.  To  this  height,  however,  four  or 
five  feet  may  be  added  for  the  rapid  descent  which  immediately  succeeds  the  perpendicular  fall 
within  a  few  yards  below.  Immediately  at  the  cataract  the  river  is  divided  into  two  parts  by  an 
island  which  extends  considerably  above  and  below  the  cataract,  and  is  about  500  yards  long. 


*Balsam  Fir.       fWumibigoshish.       JCass  Lake. 

gPike  has  this  footnote:    Red  river  discharges  itself  into  Hudson's  Bay  by  lake  Winipie  and  Nelson's  river. 
(Minnesota  Historical  Collections,  Vol.  II.— Voyage  in  a  six-oared  skiff  to  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony  in  1817,  by 
Major  Stephen  H.  Long,  with  an  introductory  note  by  Edward  D.  Neill. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH  31 

1820,  Cass.] 

The  channel  on  the  right  side  of  the  island  is  about  three  times  the  width  of  that  on  the  left. 
The  quantity  of  water  passing  through  these  is  not,  however,  in  the  same  proportion,  as  about 
one-third  part  of  the  whole  passes  through  the  left  channel.  In  the  broadest  channel,  just  below 
the  cataract,  is  a  small  island  also,  about  fifty  yards  in  length,  and  thirty  in  breadth.  Both  of 
these  islands  contain  the  same  kind  of  rocky  formation  as  the  banks  of  the  river,  and  are  nearly 
as  high.  Besides  these,  there  are  immediately  at  the  foot  of  the  cataract,  two  islands  of  very 
inconsiderable  size,  situated  in  the  right  channel  also.  The  rapids  commence  several  hundred 
yards  above  the  cataract,  and  continue  about  eight  miles  below.  The  fall  of  the  water,  beginning 
at  the  head  of  the  rapids,  and  extending  two  hundred  and  sixty  rods  down  the  river  to  where  the 
portage  road  commences,  below  the  cataract,  is,  according  to  Pike,  fifty-eight  feet.  If  this  esti- 
mate be  correct  the  whole  fall  from  the  head  to  the  foot  of  the  rapids  is  not  probably  much  less 
than  one  hundred  feet.  But  as  I  had  no  instrument  sufficiently  accurate  to  level,  where  the  view 
must  necessarily  be  pretty  extensive,  I  took  no  pains  to  ascertain  the  extent  of  the  fall.  The 
mode  I  adopted  to  ascertain  the  height  of  the  cataract  was  to  suspend  a  line  and  plummet  from 
the  table  rock  on  the  south  side  of  the  river  which  at  the  same  time  had  very  little  water  passing 
over  it,  as  the  river  was  unusually  low.  The  rocky  formations  at  this  place  were  arranged  in  the 
following  order  from  the  surface  downward :  A  coarse  kind  of  limestone  in  thin  strata  contain- 
ing considerable  silex ;  a  kind  of  soft  friable  stone  of  a  greenish  color  and  slaty  fracture,  probably 
containing  lime,  alumina  and  silex ;  a  very  beautiful  stratification  of  shell  limestone,  in  thin  plates, 
extremely  regular  in  its  formation  and  containing  a  vast  number  of  shells,  all  apparently  of  the 
same  kind.  This  formation  constitutes  the  table  rock  of  the  cataract.  The  next  in  order  is  a 
white  or  yellowish  sandstone  so  easily  crumbled  that  it  deserves  the  name  of  sand-bank  rather 
than  that  of  a  rock.  It  is  of  various  depths,  from  ten  to  fifty  or  seventy-five  feet,  and  is  of  the 
same  character  with  that  found  at  the  caves  before  mentioned.  The  next  in  order  is  a  soft,  friable 
sandstone,  of  a  greenish  color,  similar  to  that  resting  upon  the  shell  limestone.*  These  stratifica- 
tions occupy  the  whole  space  from  the  low-water  mark  nearly  to  the  top  of  the  bluffs.  On  the 
east,  or  rather  north  side  of  the  river,  at  the  falls  are  high  grounds  at  the  distance  of  half  a  mile 
from  the  river,  considerably  more  elevated  than  the  bluffs,  and  of  a  hilly  aspect. 

GOVERNOR   LEWIS   CASS'   EXPEDITION   TO  THE   UPPER  MISSISSIPPI. 

In  1820  Gov.  Lewis  Cass,  of  Detroit,  conducted  an  exploring  expedition 
from  Detroit  to  the  upper  Mississippi  region,  coasting  the  shores  of  lakes 
Huron  and  Superior  in  canoes.  From  the  head  of  lake  Superior  he  fol- 
lowed the  route,  then  much  traveled,  for  canoes,  by  portaging,  to  Sandy 
lake  and  the  upper  Red  Cedar  lake,  the  latter  of  which  was  denominated 
Cass  lake,  by  Mr.  H.  R.  Schoolcraft,  the  chief  narrator  of  the  expedition.! 
This  lake  was  considered  by  him,  as  by  Lieut.  Pike,  the  chief  head  of 
navigation  of  the  Mississippi. 

In  passing  the  falls  of  Pokegama,  Mr.  Schoolcraft  made  the  observation, 
that  "  the  Mississippi  at  this  point  forces  its  way  through  a  quartzy  rock, 
during  which  it  sinks  its  level,  as  estimated,  twenty  feet,  in  a  distance  of 
about  three  hundred  yards.  There  is  no  perceptible  cascade,  or  abrupt  fall. 


•Major  Long  here  seems  to  have  made  an  error  similar  to  that  of  Keating  at  Fort  Snelling,  taking  fallen  fragments 
to  be  in  situ, 

fSummary  narrative  of  an  exploratory  expedition  to  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi  in  1820,  resumed  and  com- 
pleted by  the  discovery  of  its  origin  in  Itasca  lake  in  1832,  with  appendixes.  By  Henry  E.  Schoolcraft. 


32  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Schoolcraft,  1820. 

but  the  river  rushes  with  the  utmost  velocity  down  a  highly  inclined  rocky 
bed  toward  the  northeast."  "  Immediately 

above  the  fall  is  a  small  rocky  island  bearing  a  growth  of  spruce  and 
cedars." 

Schoolcraft  states  that  the  Mississippi,  instead  of  having  its  source  in 
Cass  lake,  or  even  in  Turtle  lake,  enters  Cass  lake  from  the  south  at  a  dis- 
tance of  eight  or  ten  miles  from  the  mouth  of  Turtle  river.* 

Mr.  Schoolcraft's  geological  and  mineralogical  resume  of  the  expedition 
is  quite  full,  but  embraces  much  territory  beyond  the  limits  of  Minnesota. 
He  is  the  first  to  give  a  geological  account  of  the  lower  valley  of  the  St. 
Louis  river,  but  his  statements  about  its  tributaries  being  from  "  the  north- 
west of  the  Rainy  lakes,"  and  Vermilion  lake  tributary  to  its  volume,  while 
in'keeping  with  a  general  looseness  in  his  statements,  show  still  a  lack  of 
geographical  knowledge  of  that  region.  He  estimates  its  descent  from  Knife 
falls,  through  the  "  Cabotian  Mountains,"  at  about  418  feet.  He  says  that 
the  red  sandstone  at  Fond  du  Lac  is  succeeded,  up  the  river  further,  by 
"  trap,  argillite  and  grauwacke."  *  *  *  "  The  river  is  continually  in  a 
foam  for  nine  miles,  and  the  wonder  is  that  such  a  furious  and  heavy  volume 
of  water  should  not  have  prostrated  everything  before  it.  The  sandstone, 
grauwacke,  and  the  argillite,  the  latter  of  which  stands  on  its  edges,  have 
opposed  but  a  feeble  barrier  ;  but  the  trap  species,  resisting  with  the  firm- 
ness, as  it  has  the  color,  of  cast  -  iron,  stand  in  masses  which  threaten  the 
life  and  safety  of  everything  that  may  be  hurled  against  them.  I  found  a 
loose  specimen  of  sulphuret  of  lead,  and  some  common  quartz,  in  place  in 
the  slate  rock,  a  vein  of  chlorite  slate,  and  a  locality  of  coarse  graphite,  to 
reward  my  search." 


*Reaulting  from  the  expedition  of  Gov,  Cass,  were  several  scientific  papers,  which  at  the  date  of  their  publication 
were  valuable  additions  to  the  natural  history  of  the  region,  viz: 

1.  Results  of  observations  for  latitude  and  longitude  during  the  expediton  of  1820.    By  Capt.  David  B.  Douglass. 

2.  Report  on  the  copper  mines  of  lake  Superior.    H.  R.  Schoolcraft. 

3!    Observations  on  the  Mineralogy  and  Geology  of  the  country  embracing  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi  river  and 
the  Great  Lake  Basins.    By  Henry  R.  Schoolcraft. 

4.  Report  in  reply  to  a  resolution  of  the  U.  S.  Senate  on  the  value  and  extent  of  the  mineral  lands  on  lake  Supe- 
rior.    By  Henry  K.  Schoolcraft. 

5.  Rapid  glances  at  the  Geology  of  Western  New  York,  beyond  the  Rome  summit,  in  1820.    By  Henry  R.  School- 

'  6.    A  memoir  on  the  Geological  position  of  a  fossil  tree  in  the  secondary  rocks  of  Illinois,  1822.    By  Henry  R. 

7  List  of  plants  collected  by  rapt.  D.  B.  Douglass,  at  the  sources  of  U»e  Mississippi  river.    From  the  4th  Volume 
of  Silliman's  Journal  of  Science.    By  Dr.  John  Tol  rey . 

8  A  letter  embracing  notices  of  the  Zoology  of  the  Northwest,  addressed  to  Dr.  Mitchell,  on  the  return  of  the 

>C  9  '^Species  of  Bivalves  collected  by  Mr.  Schoolcraft  and  Capt.  Douglass  in  the  Northwest.     From  the  Cth  Volume 
of  the  American  Journal  of  Science.    D.  H.  Barnes. 

10  Fresh  water  shells  collected  by  Mr.  School  raft  in  the  valleys  of  the  Fox  and  Wisconsin  rivers.     From  the  5th 
Volume  of  the  American  Philosophical  Transactions.     By  Isaac  Lea. 

11  Summary  remarks  respecting  the  Zoological  species  noticed  in  the  expedition.    By  Dr.  Samuel  L.  Mitchell. 

12  Xu»  biuartu*.      Medical  Repository.  Vol .21.    By  Dr.  Samuel  L.  M.tchell. 

13~    Srfuru*  Iridccem-striaUui.    Medical  Repository,  Volume  21.    By  Dr.  Samuel  L  Mitchell. 

H'    Proleus  of  the  lakes.    Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  Vol  4.    Dr.  Samuel  L.  Mitchell. 

15     Memoranda  on  Climatic  Phenomena  and  the  Distribution  of  Solar  Heat,  in  1820.    By  Henry  R.  Schoolcraft. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  33 

1823,  Keating.] 

SCHOOLCRAFT   AT   LITTLE   FALLS   AND   8AUK   RAPIDS. 

In  descending  the  Mississippi  below  the  Pakagama,  the  first  stratum  of  rock,  which 
rises  through  the  delta  of  the  river,  occurs  between  the  mouth  of  the  Nokasippi  and  Elm  rivers 
below  the  influx  of  the  Great  De  Corbeau.  This  rock,  which  is  greenstone  trap,  rises  conspic- 
uously in  the  bed  of  the  stream  in  a  rocky  isle  seated  in  the  rapid  called— I  know  not  with  what 
propriety— the  BIG  FALLS  or  Grand  Chute.  The  precipitous  and  angular  falls  of  this  striking 
object  decide  that  the  bed  of  the  stream  is  at  this  point  on  the  igneous,  granitical  and  greenstone 
series.  This  formation  is  seen  at  a  few  points  above  the  water,  until  we  pass  some  bold  and 
striking  eminences  of  shining  and  highly  crystalline  hornblendic  sienite,  which  rises  in  the  eleva- 
tion called  by  us  Peace  Rock,  on  the  left  bank  near  the  Osaukis  rapids.  This  rock  lies  directly 
opposite  to  the  principal  encampment  on  the  27th  of  July,  which  was  on  an  elevated  prairie  on  the 
west  bank.  To  this  point  a  delegation  of  Sioux  had  ascended  on  an  embassy  of  peace  from  Fort 
Snelling  to  the  Chippewas,  having  affixed  on  a  pole  what  the  exploring  party  called  a  bark  letter, 
the  ideas  being  represented  symbolically  by  a  species  of  picture  writing  or  hieroglyphics.  In  allu- 
sion to  this  embassy,  this  locality  was  called  the  Peace  Rock.  This  rock  is  sienite.  It  is  highly 
crystalline,  and  extends  several  miles.  Its  position  must  be,  from  the  best  accounts,  in  north 
latitude  44°  30'.  From  this  point  to  Rum  river,  a  distance  of  seventy  miles,  no  other  point  of 
the  intrusion  of  this  formation  above  the  prairie  soil  was  observed. 

The  rock  at  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony  Mr.  Schoolcraft  regards  as  belong- 
ing "to  the  great  carboniferous  and  metalliferous  formations,  which  for  so 
great  a  length,  and  in  so  striking  a  manner  characterize  both  banks  of  the 
Mississippi  below  St.  Anthony  falls."  The  white  sandstone  at  the  falls  is 
said  to  be  overlain  by  the  "metalliferous  limestone."  The  grains  of  sand- 
rock  are  held  together  by  "the  cohesion  of  aggregation,"  and  embrace, 
sparingly,  "orbicular  masses  of  hornblende."  The  overlying  limestone  is 
the  "same  in  character,  which  assumes  at  some  points  a  siliceous,  and  at 
others  a  magnesian  character.  It  is  manifestly  the  same  great  metalliferous 
rock  which  accompanies  the  lead  ore  of  Missouri  and  mines  of  Peosta  or 
Dubuque."  Eeferring  to  Chimney  and  Castle  rocks,  in  Dakota  county,  Mr. 
Schoolcraft  thinks  they  are  the  result  of  degradation  and  wasting  away,  on 
the  Huttonian  theory,  of  all  but  these,  probably  harder,  portions  of  the  strata. 

KEATING'S  NARRATIVE  OP  MAJOR  LONG'S  EXPEDITION  IN  1823,  TO  THE  SOURCE 

OF  THE  ST.  PETER  RIVER. 

Major  S.  H.  Long,  who  had,  in  1817,  visited  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony,  was 
directed  by  the  United  States  Secretary  of  War,  in  1823,  to  conduct  a  party 
of  exploration  to  the  source  of  the  St.  Peter  river,  and  to  lake  Winnipeg. 
He  was  accompanied  by  a  number  of  scientific  gentlemen  of  Philadelphia, 
including  Prof.  William  Keating  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  who 
embodied  the  notes  and  manuscripts  of  the  various  members  of  the  party, 


34  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Keating,  1823- 

in  a  work  of  two  volumes,  published  in  1825,  in  London.  The  appendix 
embraces  a  general  list  of  animal  species  observed  by  Thomas  Say,  and  a 
list  of  plants  by  Lewis  D.  de  Schweinitz,  also  astronomical  and  meteorological 
data  by  J.  Edward  Colhoun  and  Dr.  Joseph  Lovell,  concluding  with  a  vocab- 
ulary of  Indian  words  by  Mr.  Keating.* 

This  work  may  be  correctly  pronounced  the  first  attempt  to  apply  the 
accurate  methods  of  modern  science  to  the  exploration  of  any  portion  of 
Minnesota.  Although  the  progress  of  the  party  was  much  too  rapid  for 
geological  examinations,  yet  the  collections  made,  the  notes  on  geographical 
features  recorded,  and  the  few  geological  facts  stated,  constitute  a  good 
preliminary  account  of  the  western  portions  of  the  state.  The  party 
returned  to  lake  Superior  from  lake  Winnipeg,  by  way  of  a  route  through 
British  territory  to  the  lake  of  the  Woods  ;  thence  following  the  northern 
boundary  line  to  the  west  end  of  Hunter's  island,  they  again  turned  north- 
ward, and  reached  lake  Superior  at  Fort  William,  by  way  of  the  route  of 
Sir  Alexander  McKenzie.  The  map  accompanying  the  report  is  an  embodi- 
ment of  information  from  several  sources,  besides  the  observations  of  the 
party,  chiefly  the  report  of  Lieut.  Pike  on  the  upper  Mississippi,  Buchett's 
map  of  Upper  and  Lower  Canada,  statements  by  officers  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company,  and  by  Dr.  J.  J.  Bigsby,  of  the  English  Commission  for  deter- 
mining the  boundary  between  the  United  States  and  the  British  possessions. 
On  this  map  are  given  for  the  first  time  the  names  and  positions  of  numer- 
ous streams  in  the  western  part  of  Minnesota,  and  in  eastern  Dakota,  and 
of  some  flowing  north  in  the  northern  part  of  the  state. 

KEATING'S  VISIT  TO  THE  FALLS  OF  ST.  ANTHONY. 

On  the  6th  of  July  we  walkedf  to  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony,  which  are  situated  nine  m  iles 
along  the  course  of  the  river,  seven  by  land)  above  the  fort.  The  first  glimpse  which  we  caught 
of  the  fall  was  productive  of  disappointment,  because  it  yielded  but  a  partial  view  ;  but  this  was 
amply  redeemed  by  the  prospect  which  we  obtained  of  it  when  the  whole  fall  opened  itself  before 
us.  We  then  discovered  that  nothing  could  be  more  picturesque  than  this  cascade.  We  had  been 
told  that  it  appeared  like  a  mere  mill-dam,  and  we  were  apprehensive  lest  a  fall  of  sixteen  feet  would 
lose  all  its  beauty  when  extended  upon  a  breadth  of  several  hundred  yards,  but  we  soon  observed 
that  this  was  by  no  means  the  case.  The  irregular  outline  of  the  fall,  by  dividing  its  breadth, 
gives  a  more  impressive  character.  An  island  stretching  in  the  river,  both  above  and  below  the 
fall,  separates  it  into  two  unequal  parts,  the  eastern  being  two  hundred  and  thirty  yards  wide,  and 
the  western  three  hundred  and  ten.  The  island  itself  is  about  one  hundred  yards  wide.  From 


*Narrative  of  an  Expedition  to  the  Source  of  the  St.  Peter's  river,  lake  Winnepeek,  lake  of  the  Woods,  &c  ,  per- 
formed in  the  year  1823,  under  command  of  Stephen  H.  Long.  Compiled  by  Wra.  H.  Keating.  In  two  volumes. 
London,  1825. 

tFrom  FortSnelllng. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH  35 

1813,  Keating.] 

the  nature  of  the  rock,  which  breaks  into  angular,  and  apparently  rhomboidal  fragments  of  a  huge 
size,  this  fall  is  subdivided  into  several  cascades,  which  adhere  to  each  other,  so  as  to  form  a  sheet 
of  water,  unrent,  but  composed  of  an  alternation  of  retiring  and  salient  angles,  and  presenting  a 
great  variety  of  shapes  and  shades ;  each  of  these  forms  in  itself  a  perfect  cascade;  but  when  taken 
together  in  one  comprehensive  view,  they  assume  a  beauty  of  which  we  could  have  scarcely  deemed 
them  susceptible.  We  have  seen  many  falls,  but  few  which  present  a  wilder  and  more  picturesque 
aspect  than  those  of  St.  Anthony.* 

Prof.  Keating  gives  the  following  section  of  the  bluff  at  Fort  Snelling, 
in  descending  order: 

1.  Limestone,  of  a  distinct  slaty  structure ;  compact,  but  with  a  splintery  uneven  fracture ; 
filled  with  organic  remains  (Producti) ;  of  a  light  grayish-yellow  color ;  8  ft. 

2.  Limestone,  of  a  blue  color,  destitute  of  fossils ;  an  excellent  stone  for  building,  and  good 
for  quicklime.     15—20  ft. 

3.  Sandstone,  constituting  the  principal  mass  of  the  bluff.     This  is  friable,  but  every  frag- 
ment, examined  with  care,  seems  to  be  a  regular  crystal.     Keating  inclines  to  the  opinion  that  it 
must  have  been  from  a  chemical  precipitation,  and  not  from  mere  mechanical  deposition.    The  proc- 
ess of  its  formation  may  have  been  a  very  rapid  one,  such  as  is  obtained  in  the  manufacture  of 
fine  salt ;  and  to  this  may  be  attributed  the  circumstance  of  its  fine  texture.    The  color  is  white — 
sometimes  a  little  grayish,  when  it  resembles  the  finer  varieties  of  Muscovado  sugar.  60  ft. 

4.  Limestone ;  slaty,  striped  with  curved  zones ;  very  argillaceous,  softer  than  the  preced- 
ing ;  structure  quite  earthy ;  color  light  yellow.     10  ft. 

5.  Limestone  ;  bluish,  or  yellowish  gray,  conglomeritic  with  small  black  pebbles  of  quartz  ; 
more  crystalline  than  the  last ;  vesicular ;  rises  four  feet  above  the  level  of  the  river.    7  ft. 

6.  Limestone ;  much  finer  grained  and  more  earthy  than  the  last.    The  bed  of  the  river  near 
the  fort  is  excavated  in  this  limestone.!    4  ft. 

He  remarks  that  at  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony  the  same  section  may  be 
een,  except  that  the  lower  limestones  are  not  there  visible.  The  foregoing 
limestones,  stated  to  lie  below  the  sandstone  at  Fort  Snelling,  must  have 
been  large  fallen  fragments  from  the  top  of  the  bluff,  since  no  subsequent 
observer  has  ever  reported  them.  Mr.  Featherstonhaugh  makes  the  same 
correction. 

KEATING  ON   THE   MINNESOTA  EIVEE. 

At  the  Indian  village  of  Taoapa,  estimated  at  thirty-seven  and  one-half 
miles  from  Fort  Snelling,  probably  the  same  place  as  Shakopee,  Major  Long 
observed  limestone  which  appeared  to  him  to  be  in  situ. 

Keating  mentions  the  rapids  at  Carver,  "caused  by  two  bars  of  sandstone," 
the  first  forming  a  fall  of  four  feet  in  twenty  yards.  Half  a  mile  above  this 
is  a  second  bar.  The  aggregate  fall  is  estimated  to  be  seven  feet.  This 
sandstone  is  seen  in  the  bank,  and  "resembles  that  at  Fort  Snelling.  It 

•Major  Long's  party  forded  the  river  above  the  falls,  walking  on  the  rock  from  the  west  to  the  east  side  Prof 
Keating,  who  was  debilitated  by  a  fever,  succeeded  in  reaching  only  the  island  dividing  the  fall,  and  with  great  difficulty 
returned  to  the  west  bank. 

tOompare  Bulletins  of  the  Minnesota  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  Vol.  1,  p.  91. 


36  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Keating,  1823. 

has  a  fine  crystalline  grain  and  a  color  varying  from  white  to  yellow."* 
Apparently  not  observing  that  this  sandstone  rises  gradually  higher  in 
ascending  the  valley,  he  refers  to  several  "  hills "  located  near  the  river, 
one  of  which,  "composed  principally  of  loose  sand,"  was  estimated  at  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  hight.  At  Camp  Crescent  (old  Travers  des 
Sioux),  Major  Long's  party  abandoned  the  canoes  and  followed  the  trail 
to  Redstone,  thus  cutting  off  the  great  bend  where  the  Blue  Earth  river 
enters  the  Minnesota,  and  losing  the  opportunity  of  examining  the  copper 
mine  of  Le  Sueur. 

Up  to  the  point  of  abandoning  the  canoes  the  banks  of  the  Minnesota 
are  stated  to  be  composed  chiefly  if  not  altogether  of  sandstone.  On  the 
last  day  of  travel  in  the  canoes,  a  bluff  was  seen  rising  sixty  to  eighty  feet, 
consisting  of  white  sandstone,  and  called  White  Rock,  probably  near  Ottawa. 
He  also  observed  at  a  distance  horizontal  ledges  of  rock  that  he  considered 
"the  limestone  that  lies  on  the  sandstone."  This  point  was  probably  at  or 
near  Kasota.  The  only  streams  that  are  regarded  worthy  of  mention  up  to 
Camp  Crescent,  are  the  Elk,  entering  on  the  right  bank,  said  to  be  about 
twenty  miles  above  the  fort,  now  called  Credit  river,  and  "the  small  rivulet 
which  comes  in  from  the  left  bank  about  forty  miles  above  the  fort,  and  which 
is  probably  the  same  as  Carver's  river."  The  forest  was  found  to  consist 
chiefly  of  maple,  white  walnut,  hickory,  oak,  elm,  ash  and  linden,  inter- 
spersed with  grapevines,  &c.,  and  the  absence  of  black  walnut  was  particu- 
larly observed. 

The  party  seem  not  to  have  passed  near  enough  to  the  red  quartzyte 
outcrop  near  New  Ulm  to  have  noticed  it,  since  Keating  makes  no  mention 
of  it.  The  Blue  Earth  is  said  to  take  its  rise  "in  the  Coteau  des  Prairies, 
a  highland  that  stretches  in  a  northerly  direction  between  the  Missouri 
and  the  St.  Peter."  This  is  the  first  mention  of  this  natural  phenomenon 
under  that  name. 

BOULDERS   OF   PRIMITIVE   ROOK  IN  THE   MINNESOTA   VALLEY. 

In  reference  to  the  granite  and  gneiss  of  the  valley  Keating  makes  the 
following  observation: 


*The  sandstone  here  mentioned  by  Keating  i>  the  Jordan  sandstone  lying  below  the  Shakopee  limestone. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  37 

1 823,  Keating.] 

A  feature  which  struck  us  was  the  abundance  of  fragments  of  primitive  rocks  which  are 
strewn  in  this  valley ;  they  were  for  the  most  part  deeply  imbedded  in  the  ground,  and  bore  but 
few  traces  of  attrition ;  their  bulk  was  very  large.  For  a  while  we  doubted  whether  we  were  not 
treading  upon  a  crust  of  a  formation  of  primitive  rocks,  which  pierced  through  the  superincumbent 
formations ;  but  a  close  observation  evinced  such  a  confusion  and  diversity  in  the  nature  of  the 
primitive  blocks,  as  well  as  such  signs  ot  friction,  as  satisfied  us  that  these  were  out  of  place; 
still  they  appeared  to  warrant  the  geologist  in  his  prediction,  that  the  party  was  approaching  to  a 
primitive  formation,  and  that  certainly  the  valley  of  the  St.  Peter  had  been  one  of  the  channels 
through  which  the  primitive  boulders  had  been  removed  from  their  original  site.  This  assertion 
was  fully  substantiated  two  days  afterward  by  the  discovery  of  the  primitive  rocks  in  situ.  A  very 
considerable  swell  between  the  river  and  the  right  bank  of  the  valley  was  supposed  to  be  formed 
by  the  primitive  rocks  rising  to  a  greater  level  than  usual.  If  it  be  occasioned  by  an  accumulation 
of  fragments  and  boulders,  as  the  nature  of  its  surface  might  lead  to  believe,  it  is  a  very  interest- 
ing feature  in  the  valley. 

In  traveling  up  the  valley  of  the  Minnesota  river,  on  the  south  side, 
various  interesting  observations  were  recorded,  respecting  the  fauna  and 
flora  of  the  prairies,  from  which  is  the  following  extract: 

Among  the  birds  observed  on  the  prairie,  besides  the  sand-hill  crane,  are  the  red-bird,  black- 
bird, yellow-headed  black-bird,  the  black-breasted  tern,  the  last  of  which  was  very  abundant. 
Mr.  Say  shot  the  female  of  the  Mergus  cucullatus  and  a  blue-winged  teal.  Among  the  reptiles, 
besides  the  common  garter-snake,  there  was  one  with  lateral  red  spots.  A  coluber  like  the  melan- 
oleueus,  but  spotted,  and  similar  to  that  found  on  the  Missouri,  was  killed  on  these  prairies.  In 
several  of  the  marshes  the  huts  of  the  muskrat  were  found  very  abundant.  The  herbarium  was 
enriched  by  the  addition  of  a  beautiful  specimen  of  the  Lilium  Philadelphicum,  which  was  still 
seen  flowering,  though  it  had  nearly  ceased  to  bloom.  Another  great  ornament  of  the  prairies  is 
the  Lilium  superbum.  The  Gerardia  was  still  occasionally  seen.  This  plant  is,  as  we  were 
informed,  considered  by  the  Indians  to  be  a  specific  against  the  bite  of  a  rattlesnake ;  the  root  is 
scraped  and  the  scrapings  applied  to  the  wound  ;  it  is  said  that,  if  used  upon  a  recent  wound,  a 
single  application  will  suffice.  The  boulders  which  are  so  common  in  the  valley  of  the  St.  Peter, 
are  but  seldom  seen  on  the  prairies. 

No  further  geological  notes  are  made  till  reaching  the  Redwood  river, 
when  he  makes  the  statement  that  its  banks  "are  formed  of  a  fine  white 
sandstone."  It  is  probable  that  he  mistook  at  a  distance,  the  white  kaolin 
bluffs  which  occur  at  that  point,  derived  from  the  decomposition  of  the 
granite  in  situ,  for  sandstone.  There  is  a  little  sand  in  the  Cretaceous  at  that 
point,  but  there  are  no  bluffs  of  white  sand.  The  red  pipestone  was  said  to 
exist  on  its  banks  at  three  days'  journey  from  its  source. 

No  primitive  rock  in  situ  was  noted,  although  it  occurs  at  frequent  inter- 
vals between  New  Ulm  and  Big  Stone  lake,  till  he  reached  a  point  several 
miles  above  Patterson's  rapids.  He  notes  "  a  very  interesting  fragment  of 
rock"  at  the  place  where  the  Redwood  joins  the  Minnesota,  said  to  be  forty 
or  fifty  feet  in  circumference,  evidently  out  of  place,  of  an  enormous  mass, 
and  irregular  hemispherical  form,  cleft  by  lightning.  This  mass  was  said 
to  be  granitic,  presenting  "very  distinctly  the  appearance  of  a  formation  of 


38  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Keating,  1833. 

concentric  shales."    The  rock  at  Patterson's  rapids  was  considered  as  primi- 
tive, but  was  not  carefully  examined. 

GRANITE   IN  THE   MINNESOTA  VALLEY. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  18th  of  July,  Major  Long's  party  first  met  with 
unmistakable  primitive  rock  in  situ,  at  a  point  a  few  miles  below  the  mouth 
of  the  Yellow  Medicine  river.  Of  this  Keating  remarks  : 

When  descending  into  the  valley  from  the  prairie,  with  a  view  to  select  a  suitable  spot  for 
our  evening's  camp,  our  attention  was  suddenly  called  to  the  new  features  which  it  displayed. 
Hjgh  rocks  of  a  rugged  aspect  arose  in  an  insulated  manner  in  the  midst  of  the  widened  valley 
through  which  the  St.  Peter  winds  its  way.  We  spent  the  rest  of  the  afternoon  in  examining 
them,  and  experienced  no  little  satisfaction  in  finding  them  to  be  primitive  rocks  in  situ. 

The  pleasure  we  experienced  sprang  not  from  the  mere  associations  of  home,  connected  with 
the  view  of  a  primitive  formation  which  we  had  not  seen  since  the  first  five  days  of  our  journey; 
but  it  resulted  also,  in  a  great  measure,  from  the  certainty  that  we  had  at  last  arrived  at  what  we 
had  long  been  looking  for  in  vain.  We  had  traced  those  scattered  boulders  which  lay  insulated 
in  the  prairies  from  the  banks  of  the  Muskingum  to  this  place ;  we  had  seen  them  gradually 
increasing  in  size  and  number,  and  presenting  fewer  signs  of  attrition  as  we  advanced  further  on 
our  journey.  Two  days  before,  their  number,  size  and  features  had  induced  the  geologist  of  the 
party  to  predict  our  speedy  approach  to  the  primitive  formations,  and  it  was  a  pleasing  confirma- 
tion of  his  opinions  to  find  these  rocks  really  in  situ,  within  thirty  miles,  in  a  straight  line,  of  the 
place  where  he  had  made  this  assertion.  The  character  of  these  rocks  was  examined  with  care, 
and  found  very  curious.  It  seemed  as  if  four  simple  minerals,  quartz,  fieldspar,  mica  and  amphi- 
bole,  had  united  here  to  produce  almost  all  the  varieties  of  combination  which  can  arise  from  the 
association  of  two  or  more  of  these  minerals ;  and  these  combinations  were  in  such  immediate 
contact  that  the  same  fragment  might,  as  we  viewed  one  or  the  other  end  of  it,  be  referred  to 
different  rocks ;  while,  in  some  places,  granite  was  seen  perfectly  well  characterized,  varying  from 
the  fine  to  the  coarse  grained ;  in  others  a  gneiss,  mica  slate,  greisen  (quarts  and  mica)  compact 
feldspar  (weisstein  of  Werner),  sienite,  greenstone,  and  the  sienite  with  the  addition  of  quartz 
forming  the  amphibolic  granite  of  D'Aubuisson,  were  equally  well  characterized.  The  only  rock 
composed  by  the  union  of  two  of  these  principles  which  we  did  not  observe,  but  which  may  perhaps 
exist  there,  is  the  graphic  granite  (pegmatite,  Hauy).  These  rocks  are  not  very  extensive ;  the 
circumference  of  the  largest  probably  does  not  exceed  one-quarter  of  a  mile ;  they  rise  to  about 
thirty-five  feet  above  the  level  of  the  water.  Their  form  is  irregular ;  their  aspect,  rugged  and 
barren  compared  with  the  fertile  bottom  of  the  valley  ;  their  general  color  is  of  a  dark  gray  ;  they 
appear  to  be  the  summit  or  crest  of  primitive  rocks  which  lie  beneath  this  valley,  and  which  pro- 
trude at  this  place  through  the  superior  strata.  As  the  adjoining  prairies  are  elevated  about  fifty 
feet,  above  the  level  of  the  river,  these  primitive  rocks  are  observable  only  in  the  valley ;  they 
doubtless  constituted  at  one  time  a  continuous  ridge,  but  have  been  divided  into  insulated  masses 
by  the  corroding  action  of  the  stream,  whose  very  circuitous  bed  winds  between  them.  They  extend 
upon  a  distance  of  about  six  miles  in  the  direction  of  the  valley.  After  having  examined  almost 
every  one  of  these  masses,  I  feel  unwilling  to  decide,  with  certainty,  which  of  the  primitive 
combinations  predominates,  for  the  passage  of  the  one  into  the  other  is  more  constant  and  more 
sudden  than  in  any  other  primitive  formation  that  has  ever  come  under  our  notice.  Indeed  we 
know  of  none  with  which  to  compare  it,  except  it  be  that  which  we  observed  at  a  subsequent  period 
of  the  expedition  between  lake  Winnipeek  and  the  lake  of  the  Woods ;  but  even  there  the  features 
were  somewhat  different,  for  they  were  on  a  larger  scale.  The  passages  which  we  there  observed 
were  sometimes  to  be  traced  only  upon  large  masses;  whereas  on  the  St.  Peter  it  would  have  been 
difficult  to  break  off  a  fragment  of  a  cubic  foot  in  size  presenting  an  uniform  character  of  com- 
position. It  is  however  probable,  as  far  as  our  observations  extended,  that  granite  is  th8  pre- 
dominating rock.  These  masses  bear  very  evident  signs  of  a  crystalline  origin,  but  the  process 


HISTOBICAL  SKETCH.  39 

1833,  Keating.] 

must  have  been  a  confused  one.  Tourmaline  is  found  disseminated  throughout  the  rock,  yet  in  no 
great  abundance.  In  one  or  two  spots  where  the  mass  assumed  a  more  slaty  appearance  than  in 
other  places  a  faint  tendency  to  a  stratification,  directed  from  the  north-northeast  to  the  south- 
southwest,  with  a  dip  toward  the  south,  was  observed.  Viewing  the  insulated  masses  from  the 
prairie,  they  appeared  to  be  directed  in  a  transverse  line  through  the  valley,  and  in  a  northeast- 
erly course,  so  that  this  may  be  the  remains  of  a  dike  which  existed  across  the  valley,  but 
which  was  finally  broken.  This  observation  was,  however,  a  partial  one,  and  it  would  be  improper 
to  attach  much  weight  to  it.  When  calling  the  attention  of  our  guide  to  the  difference  between 
these  rocks  and  those  observed  below,  he  appeared  to  have  been  aware  of  it  himself,  and  stated 
that  rock  similar  to  these  extended  down  the  valley  to  about  four  miles  below  Kedwood  rivulet. 
It  was  partly  from  this  circumstance  that  we  inferred  that  Patterson's  rapids  were  probably 
formed  by  a  bar  of  these  rocks  rising  across  the  bed  of  the  river.  This  appeared  to  us  to  be  the 
more  probable  from  the  circumstance  that  a  rapid  known  by  the  name  of  the  Little  falls,  occurs 
just  above  the  place  of  our  encampment  of  the  18th,  and  that  it  is  occasioned  by  a  ledge  of  granite 
rocks  over  which  the  river  passes  at  this  place.  In  the  examination  of  this  spot  two  points 
appeared  to  us  chiefly  to  deserve  our  attention,  in  order  to  avoid  all  source  of  error;  the  first  was 
to  ascertain  that  the  rocks  were  really  in  situ ;  the  second,  that  they  were  primitive  and  crystalline, 
not  conglomerated  or  regenerated  rocks,  such  as  are  sometimes  observed.  But  upon  these  two 
points  we  think  that  not  the  least  doubt  can  be  entertained.  The  immense  mass  of  these 
insulated  rocks,  the  uniform  bight  to  which  they  attain,  the  uniform  direction  in  which  they  lie, 
prove  them  to  be  in  place  ;  while  an  attentive  inspection  of  their  nature  shows  them  to  be  really 
crystalline.  There  is  a  gradual,  though  rapid,  passage  of  the  granite  into  the  sienite,  which 
proves  them  to  be  of  contemporaneous  formation,  and  which  precludes  the  idea  that  the  rock  is 
formed  by  the  union  of  fragments  of  granite,  sienite,  &c.,  cemented  together. 

The  discovery  of  this  granitic  formation  here  appeared  the  more  interesting,  as  its  small 
extent  might  easily  have  prevented  us  from  observing  it.  had  not  chance  brought  us  to  the  river 
at  this  place ;  for  if  we  had  been  traveling  on  the  prairie,  within  half  a  mile  of  the  edge  of  the 
bank,  the  greater  hight  of  the  bluff  would  have  concealed  these  rocky  islands  from  our  view. 
We  feel,  therefore,  unable  to  decide  whether  they  do  not  occur  at  some  other  bends  of  the  river 
which  we  avoided ;  yet  from  the  character  of  the  stream  itself  we  doubt  it.  For  we  find  that  as 
soon  as  these  rocks  protrude  into  the  valley,  they  occasion  rapids  and  falls  in  the  river,  while  other- 
wise its  course  is  smooth.  Had  we  not  seen  the  "  Little  rapids  ",  which  we  passed  on  the  llth, 
we  might  have  been  induced  to  consider  them  as  resulting  from  the  appearance  of  the  primitive 
rocks  at  the  surface,  but  having  examined  with  care  the  sandstone  rocks,  by  which  they  are  pro- 
duced, and  having  ascertained  that  no  other  rapids  are  found  in  the  St.  Peter,  between  these  and 
the  Patterson  falls,  we  are  induced  to  believe  that  this  is  the  only  place  where  granite  may  be  seen 
in  situ.  In  attempting  to  connect  this  primitive  formation  with  those  observed  elsewhere,  we  find 
that  it  lies  in  a  direction  about  W.  S.  W..  at  a  distance  probably  not  exceeding  eighty  miles,  of  the 
"granitic  and  hornblendic  rocks"  which  Mr.  Schoolcraft  states  as  having  seen  "occasionally  rising 
in  rugged  peaks  and  beds"  on  the  Mississippi.*  We  feel ,  however,  disposed  to  consider  all  this 
section  of  our  country  as  reposing  on  this  granite,  and  we  entertain  but  little  doubt  of  its  identity 
with  the  sienitic  granite  observed  at  a  later  period  of  our  journey,  and  which  we  first  struck  near 
fort  Alexander  at  the  mouth  of  the  Winnipeek  river. 

Subsequently  Mr.  Keating  observed  that  these  rocks,  which  were  made 
out  to  be  in  latitude  44°  41'  26"  N.,  did  not  extend  far  in  the  valley.  The 
last  of  them  were  seen  at  about  four  miles  above  the  little  falls,  and  he 
was  assured  by  the  guide  that  they  did  not  recur  for  a  considerable  distance. 
Still  he  observed,  at  a  distance,  a  rocky  island  in  the  bed  of  the  river,  which 
had  the  same  kind  of  rock  as  that  at  Patterson's  rapids;  and  again  at  points 
further  up  the  valley  rocky  knolls  were  observed. 


'Schoolcraft's  Narrative,  p.  288. 


40  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Keating.  1823. 

The  recurrence  of  these  primitive  knobs  disturbs  the  current  of  the  river,  and  renders  the 
navigation  difficult  and  hazardous.  Five  miles  below  the  encampment  of  the  19th  there  is  a 
place  where  the  boats  and  their  loads  are  carried  for  the  distance  of  a  mile ;  from  which  circum- 
stance the  place  is  called  the  Grand  Portage.  By  this  portage  the  canoes  avoid  thirteen  rapids ; 
these,  with  twenty-six  other  rapids,  constitute  all  the  obstructions  to  the  navigation  of  the  river  from 
its  source  to  its  mouth.  In  a  good  stage  of  the  waters,  there  are,  however,  but  two  portages,  of 
which  this  is  one.  Among  the  tributaries  passed  that  day  only  one  deserves  to  be  mentioned.  It 
is  called  the  Pejehata  Zeze  Watapan  (yellow  medicine)  It  is  about  the  same  size  as  the  Redwood, 
and  rises,  in  like  manner,  at  the  base  of  the  Coteau  des  prairies.  Nearly  opposite  to  it  a  small 
stream  falls  in  ;  the  Indians  call  it  the  Chataba  (that  hatches  sparrow-hawks);  the  traders  term  it 
L\Eau  de  Vie.  On  our  map  we  have  retained  the  name  Epervier,  which  being  in  use  among  some 
of  the  traders,  and  intelligible  both  to  French  and  English  travelers,  appears  likely  to  prevail. 

The  foregoing  exposures  were  wholly  below  Lac  qui  Parle,  which  is 
said  to  be  a  short  day's  journey  further  up,  consisting  of  an  expansion  of 
the  river,  similar  to  lake  Pepin,  about  seven  and  a  half  miles  long,  and 
from  one-quarter  to  three-quarters  of  a  mile  wide.  Mention  is  made  of 
the  Chippewa  river,  coming  in  from  the  north,  said  to  interlock  with  the 
headwaters  of  the  Red  river,  also  of  "  Beaver  rivulet "  (Lac  qui  Parle  river) 
which,  with  steep  and  high  banks  consisting  of  loose,  white  sand,  joins  the 
St.  Peter  near  the  foot  of  Lac  qui  parle.  Of  the  countiy  about  Lac  qui 
parle  Keating  notes  that  the  elevation  evidently  became  greater  as  they 
advanced,  but  with  no  hills  of  any  magnitude,  the  only  ascents  being  the 
river  bluffs,  which  sometimes  reach  or  exceed  one  hundred  feet.  The  sur- 
rounding undulated  plains  were  destitute  of  wood,  the  only  trees  seen 
skirting  along  the  water-courses.  Above  the  lake  the  bluffs  are  said  to 
diminish  in  hight,  not  being  more  than  forty  feet,  the  high  prairie  some- 
times blending  gradually  with  the  river  valley.  Above  the  lake  the  St. 
Peter  was  found  to  be  only  a  rivulet  from  twenty  to  thirty  feet  wide,  very 
much  obstructed  with  high  grass  and  wild  rice,  and  stagnant  water.  Five 
leagues  higher  the  Spirit  Mountain*  creek  joins  the  St.  Peter  from  the 
south,  so  named  from  a  hill  near  which  it  is  said  to  rise.  Near  the  mouth 
of  this  stream  the  primitive  rock  is  again  noted  scattered  here  and  there 
across  the  valley,  one  exposure  in  particular  being  remarkable  for  the 
beauty  of  its  feldspar,  which  is  described  as  "very  lamellar,  with  an  easy 
cleavage,  and  intermixed  with  quartz,  giving  it  almost  the  appearance  of 
graphic  granite."  Big  Stone  lake  is  described,  as  the  "  last  expansion  of 
the  river,  improperly  called  a  lake." 

•Yellow  Bank  river. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  41 

1823,  Keating.] 

THE   COTEAU   DBS   PRAIRIES. 

Although  the  party  did  not  visit  the  Coteau  des  Prairies,  Prof.  Keating 
makes  'some  interesting  notes  on  its  character  and  direction,  which  may 
be  summarized  briefly  thus:  Its  hight  above  the  St.  Peter,  at  Big  Stone 
lake,  is  thought  to  be  not  short  of  1,000  feet.  According  to  the  best  infor- 
mation he  could  obtain,  "  this  ridge  commences  about  the  49th  parallel  of 
north  latitude,  and  between  the  98th  and  99th  degrees  of  west  longitude 
from  Greenwich.  It  proceeds  in  a  direction  nearly  south  south-east,  passes 
east  of  the  group  of  small  lakes  called  Devil's  lake,  divides  the  tributaries 
of  the  St.  Peter  from  those  of  the  Missouri,  and  extends  southerly  as  far 
as  the  head  of  the  Blue  Earth,  where  it  gradually  widens  and  sinks  to  the 
level  of  the  surrounding  country."  He  mentions  a  second  ridge  or  coteau, 
commencing  at  the  southern  bend  of  Mouse  river,  running  in  a  direction 
nearly  parallel  with  that  of  the  other,  from  near  the  48th  parallel  to  beyond 
the  44th  parallel,  in  a  southeasterly  course  for  about  eighty  miles,  when  it 
turns  to  the  west  of  south  and  likewise  sinks  and  disappears,  the  valley  of 
the  James  river  being  between  the  two  ridges.  Mr.  Keating  was  informed 
that  no  rocks  can  be  seen  composing  the  Coteau,  but  that  it  presents  a 
uniformly  smooth,  prairie-like  appearance,  the  ascent  being  gradual  aud 
easy  on  both  sides.  He  however  was  of  the  opinion  that  it  is  formed 
by  an  elevation  of  the  granite  rocks  above  their  usual  level,  although, 
perhaps,  covered  as  with  a  mantle  by  the  secondary  and  alluvial  rocks, 
predicting  that  if  its  whole  course  were  to  be  followed  "from  the  Assini- 
boine  to  the  Blue  Earth  "  the  geologist  would  be  rewarded  by  the  discovery 
of  the  "granite  formations,  if  not  along  the  whole  of  its  crest,  at  least  in 
some  of  the  ravines  which  head  near  it."  Above  Big  Stone  lake  the  St.  Peter 
is  said  to  divide  itself  into  two  branches,  coming  from  the  west,  heading  in 
the  Coteau,  one  of  which  comes  from  west  by  south  for  abont  twelve  miles. 
The  northern,  and  larger  branch,  has  its  source  in  Polecat  lake,  about 
twenty-four  miles  distant,  west  by  north,  from  the  point  where  they  join 
Big  Stone  lake.  That  lake  is  one  and  a  half  miles  long,  and  half  a  mile  wide, 
and  frequently  dry.  There  are  many  indications  in  the  narrative  that 
this  hasty  reconnoissance  of  the  Minnesota  valley  was  not  satisfactory  to 
Prof.  Keating. 


42  THE  GEOLOGY  OP  MTSrSTESOTA. 

[Keating,  1813. 

In  the  Red  River  valley  Keating  mentions  numerous  salt  springs,  one 
being  situated  at  the  confluence  of  Red  Lake  river  with  the  Red  river  of  the 
North;  states  that  although  the  soil  of  the  prairies  is  occasionally  sandy, 
it  is  generally  argillaceous  and  rather  dry,  yielding  along  the  river  valley 
and  its  tributaries  a  good  grass,  though  at  a  distance  a  rather  scanty  growth, 
but  being  extremely  fertile  wherever  trees  were  seen  to  be  growing  ;  and 
attributes  to  the  annual  fires  that  run  over  the  prairies  the  principal  agency 
in  keeping  the  country  treeless. 

ON  THE  NORTHERN  BOUNDARY. 

Respecting  the  northern  boundary  of  Minnesota,  Prof.  Keating  gives 
the  first  geological  information,  besides  naming  for  the  first  time  several  of 
the  principal  rivers  in  that  part  of  the  state.  Ascending  the  Winnipeg  river 
from  lake  Winnipeg  he  found  a  great  contrast  between  the  adjacent  country 
and  that  through  which  he  had  been  traveling  hitherto.  The  country  is 
rocky  very  soon  after  leaving  lake  Winnipeg,  with  the  crystalline  rocks 
common  to  the  northern  part  of  Minnesota,  there  being  between  lake 
Winnipeg  and  the  lake  of  the  Woods  several  alternations  from  red  granite 
and  gneiss  to  slate  and  schists.  The  timber  which  sets  in  with  this  change 
in  the  character  of  the  rocks,  consists  of  a  great  abundance  of  evergreens, 
deciduous  trees  being  rather  the  exception.  The  conifers  were  found  to 
be  tamarack,  juniper,  spruce,  white  pine,  pitch  pine  &c.,  interspersed  with 
spots  where  aspen  and  birch  were  found  common,  and  other  spots  of  hazel, 
willow  and  cherry.  The  rocks  and  the  general  characters  of  the  country  at 
the  lake  of  the  Woods  were  stated  to  be  similar  to  those  of  the  Winnipeg 
river.  The  lake  is  filled  with  islands,  all  resting  on  the  solid  rock  which 
was  found  to  be  generally  a  greenish  or  micaceous  slate.  One  island,  known 
as  Red  Rock  island,*  was  of  a  reddish  granite.  The  direction  of  the  "strata" 
of  the  mica  slate  was  stated  to  vary  from  N.  60°  to  N.  80°  E.  and  the  angle 
of  inclination  to  vary  from  65°  or  70°  to  perpendicular;  but  it  is  quite  prob- 
able that  Keating  here  refers  to  the  direction  and  dip  of  the  slaty  cleavage. 
Although  no  limestone  in  situ  is  reported  by  Keating,  he  refers  to  the  fact 
that  Dr.  Bigsby,  whom  he  met  on  the  British  Northern  Boundary  Com- 


•Subsequently  named  Keating  Island  by  Mr.  G.  M.  Dawson. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  43 

1823,  Keating.] 

mission,  states  that  it  exists  on  the  shore  of  the  lake.*  In  Rainy-lake  river 
he  mentions  two  places  only,  where  canoes  are  lightened  and  towed  up,  the 
current  of  this  river  being  generally  steady  and  of  greater  depth.  The  face 
of  the  country  also  changed  very  perceptibly,  becoming  more  cheerful,  and 
the  grass  "  of  a  livelier  green."  At  its  mouth  the  banks  of  the  stream  are 
low  and  marshy;  beyond  this  eastward  they  rise  somewhat,  but  do  not 
become  hilly;  the  river  having  often  a  pebbly  bed,  leading  to  an  anticipa- 
tion of  limestone  rocks  in  situ.  The  rocks,  however,  seldom  appeared  in 
place  along  the  river,  and  when  seen  consisted  of  mica  slate  and  syenite  ; 
the  slate  containing,  according  to  Dr.  Bigsby,  the  mineral  staurotide.f  The 
fall  at  Rainy  Lake  fort  is  surpassed  by  two  or  three  only  of  those  on  Win- 
nipeg river.  "  The  whole  of  the  waters  of  the  lake  discharge  themselves 
into  the  river  by  these  falls,  the  hight  of  which  is  about  twenty-five  feet. 
The  beauty  of  the  spot  depends  much  on  the  wildness  of  the  rocky  scenery, 
occasioning  a  foaming  or  dashing  of  waves  that  are  very  striking.  The  rock 
is  chiefly  sienite,  in  which  we  thought  we  could  distinguish  a  tendency  to 
a  stratification  directed  about  northeast  and  inclining  about  65°  to  the 
southeast.  This,  however,  may  have  been  a  local  feature.  The  principal 
growth  about  the  lake  is  the  pitch  pine,  white  pine  and  spruce.  The  soil  is 
rather  light,  but  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  fort  it  is  excellent ;  potatoes 
and  wheat  are  cultivated,  together  with  maize,  pease,  pumpkins,  beans,  water 
and  musk  melons,  &c.,  &c.  The  wild  strawberry  seemed  to  be  more  abun- 
dant there  than  elsewhere.  Our  soldiers  were  kept  busy,  while  encamped  at 
the  fort,  in  fishing  for  the  pike  and  freshwater  salmon,  which  are  found  in 
great  abundance  and  excellence  at  the  falls."  Throughout  Rainy  lake  are 
many  small  islands,  which,  according  to  Keating,  are  based  on  a  rock  which 
for  the  most  part  is  a  mica-slate,  with  strata  directed  north  70°  east,,  and 
nearly  vertical ;  but  in  a  few  places  may  be  seen  granite  and  syenite,  the 
lake  thus  resembling  in  most  of  its  characters  the  physical  features  of  the 
lake  of  the  Woods.  East  of  Rainy  lake  the  party  pursued  the  boundary 
line  canoe-route  as  far  as  the  east  end  of  Sturgeon  island  and  there  diverged 
northward,  reaching  Fort  William  through  a  region  of  successive  lakes,  and 
a  rocky  country,  descending  what  was  known  as  Dog  river,  but  now  as 
Kamanistigoia. 


*Dr.  J.  J.  Bigsby  reports  limestone  in  situ  on  the  shores  of  the  southwest  part  of  the  lake,  "some  miles  off  in  a  low 
country,  and  buried  beneath  mounds  of  quartzose,  sand,  clay,  and  immense  assemblages  of  blocks  from  the  north." 

t  See  Bigsby's  List  of  minerals  and  organic  remains,  in  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  (1)  VIII,  p.  60,  and  Jour.  Qeol.  Soe.  London, 


44  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Long,  1823. 

MAJOR   LONG'S   RESUME    OP   THE    EXPEDITION. 

In  a  general  topographical  report  of  the  expedition  Major  Long  men- 
tions the  chief  physical  features  of  the  country  traversed,  repeating  many 
of  the  facts  given  by  Keating  in  his  journal.  The  Coteau  des  Prairies,  he  says, 
is  a  very  remarkable  feature  in  the  aspect  of  the  country  about  the  head- 
waters of  the  Minnesota  river.  He  regards  it  not  only  as  the  dividing  ridge 
between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Missouri  rivers,  but  as  a  "grand  dike," 
obstructing  the  latter  in  its  progress  eastward.  Its  elevation  he  gives  at 
one  thousand  feet  above  the  common  level  of  the  country.  He  mentions  a 
second  ridge  west  of  the  main  one,  with  the  James  river  between  them,  the 
two  being  thirty  or  forty  miles  apart.  Of  the  Red  river  he  says  it  is  navi- 
gable for  canoes,  and  even  for  pirogues  of  two  tons  burden,  from  its  mouth 
to  its  source,  as  also  to  the  sources  of  several  of  its  tributaries  when  swollen 
by  freshets.  "On  such  occasions  canoes  have  been  known  to  pass  from  lake 
Travers,  its  source,  into  the  St.  Peter,  and  back  again,  without  inconven- 
ience." He  estimates  the  descent  from  lake  Traverse  to  lake  Winnipeg  at 
200  feet,  and  that  from  the  lake  of  the  Woods  at  400  feet.  Lake  Winnipeg  he 
places  at  630  feet  above  the  ocean,  Rainy  lake  1100  feet,  and  lake  of  the 
Woods  at  1040  feet,  and  the  general  elevation  of  the  country  containing 
the  sources  of  the  streams  tributary  to  lakes  Superior  and  Winnipeg,  and 
to  the  Mississippi  river,  at  1200  feet. 

BELTRAMI   DISCOVERS   THE   JULIAN   SOURCES  OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI. 

In  Major  Long's  party  for  the  exploration  of  the  St.  Peter's  river,  was 
an  educated  Italian  gentleman,  a  political  exile,  of  a  romantic  and  senti- 
mental cast  of  mind,  named  J.  C.  Beltrami,  who,  having  joined  the  expedi- 
tion at  Fort  Snelling,  accompanied  it  as  far  as  "Pembinar,"  where,  considering 
himself  rather  discourteously  treated  by  Major  Long,  and  wishing  to  signalize 
his  visit  to  the  Northwest  by  some  noteworthy  discovery  on  his  own  account, 
he  parted  from  Major  Long  and  reached  the  upper  Mississippi  at  Red  Cedar 
lake,  by  way  of  Bloody  river,*  Red  lake,  and  Turtle  lake,  and  descended  it 
as  far  as  New  Orleans,  where  he  published  his  notes  in  French,!  at  a  date 


•Now  the  Red  Lake  river. 

t  La  Deeouverte  des  Sources  du  Mississippi  et  de  IK  riviere  Sanglante.    One  volume  Ivo.  328  p.,  New  Orleans,  18S4 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH. 


1823,  Bcltrami.] 


45 


considerably  earlier  than  the  appearance  of  any  of  the  official  papers  ot 
Major  Long,  and  several  years  earlier  than  Keating's  "Narrative.'"  It  was 
subsequently  enlarged  and  reprinted  in  London  in  English.*  Although  his 
"  letters,"  constituting  as  they  do  a  gossipy  and  literary  curiosity  in  the  field 
of  exploration,  maybe  justly  styled  a  romance  in  the  discovery  of  the  upper 
Mississippi,  and  although  they  are  characterized  by  numerous  errors,  both 
historical  and  geographical,  as  well  as  ethnological  and  zoological,  they 
still  give  some  additional  information  respecting  the  geography  of  the 
upper  Mississippi  and  Red  lake.  The  Minnesota  legislature  having  set 
aside  a  large  tract,  under  the  name  of  Beltrami  county,  covering  the  Julian 
sources  of  the  Mississippi,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  names  applied  by  Mr. 
Beltrami  to  the  lakes  and  streams  he  visited  may  be  preserved  in  the  future 
settlement  of  the  region,  which,  however,  is  still  nearly  as  wild  and  unin- 
habited as  when  Mr.  Beltrami  passed  through  it. 

FIGURE  4. 


BELTRAMI'S   MAP   OF  THE   JULIAN   SOURCES. 
[Fac-simile.] 


The  above  fac-simile  of  that  portion  of  Beltrami's  map  embracing  the 
region  of  the  Julian  sources  of  the  Mississippi,  coincides  with  his  statement 


with  a  < 
court  in 


»  Europe  and  America,  leading  to  the  discovery  of  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi  and  Bloody  river 

' by  J- c- Beltrami- E5tl- formerly  Jud 


46  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Beltrami,  1813. 

that  he  traveled  almost  due  south  from  Red  lake  to  Red  Cedar  lake.  But 
in  fact  Red  Cedar  lake  is  considerably  to  the  eastward  of  Red  lake,  and  his 
course  of  travel  was  necessarily  about  southeast.  The  river  which  he  first 
struck  in  traveling  from  "  Pembinar"  was  the  Thief  river.  His  map  names 
it  Valeuse,  and  his  book  Robbers'  river.  His  Indian  guides  found  here  their 
canoe  which  they  had  secreted  for  a  murderous  foray  on  the  Sioux  the 
previous  week.  Before  reaching  Red  lake  he  was  attacked  by  the  Sioux, 
and  one  of  his  Chippewas  was  wounded  in  the  arm.  This  caused  them  to 
desert  him  and  pursue  the  route  by  land  to  Red  lake.  Then  he  started 
alone  to  drag  the  canoe  containing  his  baggage  to  the  lake  by  a  cord,  being 
unable  to  paddle  it  in  the  manner  of  the  Indian.  Meeting  a  party  of  Indians 
descending  the  "  Bloody"  river,  he  prevailed  on  one  of  their  number  to  con- 
duct him  to  the  lake.  Employing  there  a  bois  bruU,  he  ascended  the  stream 
that  led  him  to  Turtle  lake,  first  making  a  long  portage,  to  avoid  an  exten- 
sive wind-fall  which  had  thrown  many  large  forest  trees  across  the  stream. 
To  the  southwest  of  Red  lake  he  visited  and  named  a  series  of  eight  small  lakes, 
which  all  communicate  with  each  other,  of  which  Gravel  river  (Kahasini- 
lague)  is  the  outlet  into  Red  lake.  These  he  named  Alexander,  Lavinius, 
Everard,  Frederica,  Adela,  Magdalena,  Virginia  and  Eleonora,  names  of  a 

• 

family  to  which  he  was  "  united  by  the  most  cordial  friendship."  On  the 
western  side  the  lake  receives  the  river  Broachus  (Kinongeo)  and  that  of 
the  Great  Rock  (Kisciacinabed).  The  next,  on  the  south  shore,  are  the 
Gravel  river  and  the  Gold  Fish  river  (Kiogokague),  also  the  Great  Portage 
(Madaoanakan).  On  the  southeast  is  the  Cormorant  river  (Cacakiscin). 
The  northern  portion  of  Red  lake  receives  the  Sturgeon  river  (Amenikanions) 
which  communicates  by  means  of  two  portages,  with  lake  Superior  and  the 
waters  of  Hudson's  bay.  He  regarded  the  Great  Portage  river  as  the  real 
continuation  of  the  Bloody  river  and  cites  the  opinion  of  the  Indians  to 
that  effect.  "According  to  the  theory  of  ancient  geographers  the  sources  of 
a  river  which  are  most  in  a  line  with  its  mouth  should  be  considered  as  its 
principal  sources,  and  particularly  when  they  issue  from  a  cardinal  point 
and  flow  to  one  directly  opposite."  For  the  purpose  of  ascending  this  river 
he  was  compelled  to  make  a  portage  of  twelve  miles,  beginning  on  the  lake 
between  it  and  Gold  Fish  river.  A  small  lake,  about  half  way  on  this 
portage,  he  styled  Avernus,  and  another  near  the  end  of  the  portage  he 


HISTOKICAL  SKETCH.  47 

1823,  Beltrami.] 

named  lake  of  the  Pines,  "  from  the  immense  number  of  those  trees  with 
which  it  is  surrounded."  Its  outlet  is  into  the  series  of  eight  lakes  that  are 
discharged  by  Gravel  river.  From  this  lake  he  made  another  portage  of 
four  miles  and  reached  the  Grand  Portage  river.  Ascending  this  river  he 
passed  two  lakes  which  he  denominated  Manomeny-Kany-aguen,  or  Wild 
Rice  lakes.  These  were  formed  by  the  enlargement  of  the  waters  of  the 
river.  The  third  lake,  formed  in  the  same  way,  the  Indians  called  Puposky- 
wiza-Kany-aguen,  or  end  of  the  shaking  lands,  nearly  all  the  region  traversed 
from  the  lake  of  the  Pines,  being  so  low  and  nearly  level  as  almost  to  float 
upon  the  water.  About  six  miles  further  south  the  real  source  of  the  Bloody 
river  was  found.  It  "  springs  out  of  the  ground  in  the  middle  of  a  small 
prairie,  and  the  little  basin  into  which  it  bubbles  up  is  surrounded  by 
rushes.  We  approached  the  spot  within  fifty  paces  in  our  canoe." 

LAKE   JULIA. 

Making  a  short  portage  from  this  spring,  over  a  hill,  Mr.  Beltrami 
approached  a  wonderful  lake.  It  is  situated  on  a  hill,  with  no  higher  land 
about  it,  in  "the  whole  extent  of  the  clearest  and  widest  horizon."  Mr. 
Beltrami's  florid  description  is  in  these  words  :  "  All  places  around  it  are, 
on  the  contrary,  considerably  lower.  I  have  made  long  excursions  in  all  its 
environs,  and  have  been  unable  to  perceive  any  volcanic  traces,  of  which 
its  banks  are  equally  destitute.  Yet  its  waters  boil  up  in  the  middle ;  and 
all  my  sounding  lines  have  been  insufficient  to  ascertain  their  depth  ;  which 
may  be  considered  as  indicating  that  they  spring  from  the  bottom  of  some 
gulf,  the  cavities  of  which  extend  far  into  the  bowels  of  the  earth;  and 
their  limpid  character  is  almost  a  proof  that  they  become  purified  by  filtra- 
ting through  long  subterraneous  sinuosities;  so  that  time  may  perhaps 
have  effaced  the  exterior  and  superficial  traces  of  a  volcano,  and  the  basin 
of  the  lake  have  been,  nevertheless,  its  effect  and  its  crater.  Whither  do 
these  waters  go?  This  I  conceive  may  be  more  easily  answered,  although 
there  is  no  apparent  issue  for  them." 

From  this  lake  with  no  visible  outlet  he  supposes  there  is  a  filtration 
northward  so  as  to  supply  the  water  of  lake  Puposky,  thus  becoming  the 
source  of  Bloody  river,  and  also  southward,  where  they  appear  in  a  little 
basin  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  about  eighty  feet  in  circumference,  thus  becom- 


48  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Beltrami,  1823. 

ing  also  "the  actual  sources  of  the  Mississippi."  This  remarkable  lake, 
which  he  styled  lake  Julia,  is  described  as  "about  three  miles  around,  in  the 
shape  of  a  heart,  and  it  may  be  truly  said  to  speak  to  the  very  soul.  Mine 
was  not  slightly  moved  by  it.  It  is  but  justice  to  draw  it  from  the  silence 
in  which  geography,  after  so  many  expeditions,  still  suffered  it  to  remain, 
and  to  point  it  out  to  the  world  in  all  its  honorable  distinction." 

The  stream  from  the  small  basin  that  has  been  noticed,  on  the  south 
side  of  the  hill,  runs  directly  south,  and  after  three  miles  reaches  Turtle 
lake.  "  The  majestic  river,  which  embraces  a  world  in  its  immense  course, 
and  speaks  in  thunder  in  its  cataracts,  is  at  these,  its  sources,  nothing  but  a 
timid  Naiad,  stealing  cautiously  through  the  rushes  and  briars  which 
obstruct  its  passage.  The  famous  Mississippi,  whose  course  is  said  to  be 
twelve  hundred  leagues,  and  which  bears  navies  on  its  bosom,  and  steam- 
boats superior  in  size  to  frigates,  is  at  its  source  merely  a  petty  stream  of 
crystalline  water,  concealing  itself  among  reeds  and  wild  rice  which  seem 
to  insult  over  its  humble  birth." 

TURTLE   LAKE. 

Turtle  lake,  including  its  bays,  he  estimates  at  more  than  one  hundred 
miles  in  circumference.  The  first  lake  below  he  christened  Jeroniine,  from 
the  countess  to  whom  his  letters  were  addressed.  Another,  seven  or  eight 
miles  further  east-southeast,  he  named  Monteleone.  A  stream  coming  into 
the  Mississippi  from  the  northwest  the  Indians  styled  Scisaiaguay,  or  Heron 
river.  He  passed  up  this  tributary,  and  found  it  drained  a  number  of  small 
basins,  the  highest  of  which  he  named  lake  Torrigiani,  "from  the  stately 
and  spreading  trees  which  overhang  its  banks."  From  this  he  made  a  port- 
age northward  and  came  to  another  lake  of  an  oval  form,  which  he  named 
Antonelli,  four  or  five  miles  across.  This  discharges  into  Turtle  lake  near 
the  point  at  which  the  Mississippi  leaves  it. 

Descending  below  Turtle  lake  he  passed  four  lakes,  which  he  named 
Providence  lakes,  on  account,  as  he  says,  of  the  fields  of  wild  rice  which 
Providence  has  formed  there,  the  ears  of  which  resemble  those  of  the 
land  of  promise.  The  river,  throughout,  to  Bed  Cedar  lake,  is  described  as 
having  a  deep,  steady  and  uniform  channel  and  current,  the  land  all  being 
low  and  frequently  submerged  or  shaking. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  49 

1823,  Beltrami, ; 

BELTRAMl's    OPINION    OF   THE    ITASCAN    SOURCE. 

Mr.  Beltrami  heard  of  the  Itascan  branch  of  the  upper  Mississippi,  but  he 
regarded  it  as  a  subordinate  tributary,  and  did  not  pursue  it.  Had  he  not 
rested  his  claim  to  the  discovery  of  the  true  source  of  the  Mississippi,  con- 
fidently on  the  principle  stated,  he  certainly  would  have  penetrated  to  its 
"western  sources".  He  was  a  man  of  zeal,  adventure,  energy  and  ambition, 
and  never  would  have  left  the  region  without  visiting  what  he  styles  Doe 
Jake,  had  he  supposed  there  was  a  possibility  of  doubting  the  actuality  and 
correctness  of  his  discovery.  This  western  branch  he  learned  of  under 
the  name  of  the  River  of  lake  Traverse,  and  says  that  above  lake  Traverse 
(Pemidji),  it  issues  from  a  lake  "which  receives  no  tributary  stream,  and 
seems  to  draw  its  waters  from  the  bosom  of  the  earth.  It  is  here,  in  my 
opinion,  that  we  shall  fix  the  western  sources  of  the  Mississippi." 

Respecting  the  geology  of  the  country,  a  single  extract  from  Mr.  Bel- 
trami's  pen  will  show  at  once  the  amount  and  character  of  the  information 
he  gives  us.  The  following  is  his  comment  on  the  valley  of  the  Redwood 
river,  near  its  mouth,  where  the  expedition  passed. 

BELTRAMl  AT  THE  MOUTH  OF  THE  REDWOOD  RIVER. 

We  now  reached  a  valley  of  the  most  lovely  and  interesting  character.  Never  did  a  more 
striking  illusion  transport  my  imagination  back  to  the  classic  lands  of  Latium  and  Magna  Graecia. 
Rocks  scattered,  as  if  by  art,  over  the  plain,  on  plateau,  and  on  hills,  were,  at  a  little  distan3e, 
perfect  representations  of  every  varied  form  of  the  ruins  of  antiquity.  In  one  place  you  might 
think  you  saw  thermal  substructures,  or  those  of  an  amphitheatre,  a  circus,  or  a  forum;  in  another 
the  remains  of  a  temple,  a  cenotaph,  a  basilicon,  or  a  triumphal  arch.  I  took  advantage  of  the 
time  which  chance  procured  me,  to  survey  this  enchanted  ground;  but  I  went  alone,  that  the  deli- 
cious reverie  it  threw  me  into  might  not  be  broken  by  cold  heartedness  or  presumption.  My  eyes 
continually  met  new  images;  at  length  they  rested  on  a  sort  of  tomb,  which  for  some  time  held  me 
motionless.  A  thousand  afflicting  recollections  rushed  to  my  heart;  I  thought  I  beheld  the  tomb 
of  Virtue  and  of  Friendship;  I  rested  my  head  upon  it,  and  tears  filled  my  eyes.  The  spot  was  of 
a  kind  to  soften  and  embellish  grief,  and  I  should  have  long  given  myself  up  to  its  sweet  influence 
had  I  not  been  with  people  who  had  no  idea  of  stopping  for  any  thing  but  a  broken  saddle,  or  some 
such  important  incident. 

The  rocks  are  granitic,  and  of  so  beautiful  and  varied  a  quality,  that  the  tricking  dealers  of 
the  Piazza  Navona,  at  Rome,  would  sell  them  to  the  most  enthusiastic,  and, — in  their  own 
opinion, — the  most  learned  antiquarians,  as  oriental  and  Egyptian  porphyry  or  basalt,  which 
are  now  generally  admitted  to  be  merely  granite  more  elaborated  by  time  and  water. 

BELTRAMI  AT  THE  FALLS  OF  ST.  ANTHONY. 

What  a  new  scene  presents  itself  to  my  eyes,  my  dear  Madam  I  How  shall  I  bring  it  before 
you  without  the  aid  of  either  painting  or  poetry?  I  will  give  you  the  best  outline  I  can,  and  your 
imagination  must  fill  it  up.  Seated  on  the  top  of  an  elevated  promontory,  I  see,  at  half  a  mile  dis- 

4 


50  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Schoolcraft,  1833. 

tance,  two  great  masses  of  water  unite  at  the  foot  of  an  island  which  they  encircle,  and  whose  majestic 
trees  deck  them  with  the  loveliest  hues,  in  which  all  the  magic  play  of  light  and  shade  are  reflected 
on  their  brilliant  surface.  From  this  point  they  rush  down  a  rapid  descent  about  200  feet  long, 
and,  breaking  against  the  scattered  rocks  which  obstruct  their  passage,  they  spray  up  and  dash 
together  in  a  thousand  varied  forms.  They  then  fall  into  a  transverse  basin,  in  the  form  of  a 
cradle,  and  are  urged  upwards  by  the  force  of  gravitation  against  the  side  of  a  precipice,  which 
seems  to  stop  them  but  a  moment,  only  to  increase  the  violence  with  which  they  fling  themselves 
down  a  depth  of  twenty  feet.  The  rocks  against  which  these  great  volumes  of  water  dash,  throw 
them  back  in  white  foam  and  glittering  spray ;  then,  plunging  into  the  cavities  which  this  mighty 
fall  has  hollowed,  they  rush  forth  again  in  tumultuous  waves,  and  once  more  break  against  a 
great  mass  of  sandstone  forming  a  little  island  in  the  midst  of  their  bed,  on  which  two  thick 
maples  spread  their  shady  branches. 

SCHOOLCRAFT   AT   ITASCA   LAKE   IN    1832. 

In  1832  Mr.  Henry  R.  Schoolcraft  conducted  an  expedition  to  the  source 
of  the  Mississippi  river,  pursuing  nearly  the  same  route  from  Sault  St.  Mary, 
as  in  1820.  From  Upper  Red  Cedar  lake  he  passed  up  the  Mississippi  under 
the  guidance  of  a  Chippewa  chief  named  Ozawindib,  accompanied  by  Dr. 
Douglass  Houghton,  afterward  state  geologist  of  Michigan,  Lieut.  James 
Allen,  U.  S.  A.,  and  Rev.  W.  T.  Boutwell,  and  a  sufficient  number  of  packers 
and  canoe-men.  Mr.  Schoolcraft  regarded  himself  as  the  discoverer  of  the 
true  source  of  the  river,  and  in  the  absence  of  published  accounts  by  other 
travelers  it  was  a  just  claim.  Still  there  is  no  doubt  that  among  the 
coureurs  des  bois  of  the  fur  companies  there  were  several  who  knew  well 
that  the  Mississippi  could  not  be  followed  further  than  to  Itasca  lake.  Mr. 
Schoolcraft's  claim  was  generally  scouted  among  the  white  residents  of  the 
northwest  who  were  at  all  conversant  with  the  country  during  the  previous 
twenty-five  years.  The  statement  of  Mr.  Morrison  of  his  visit  to  the  lake 
in  1804  has  already  been  referred  to,  and  to  him  it  is  just  to  accord  the 
discovery  of  the  source  of  the  great  river,  although  first  published  so  late  as 
1856.  Mr.  Schoolcraft's  expedition,  however,  enjoyed  the  zest,  as  it  received 
the  popular  acceptance,  of  a  first  discovery,  and  he  fully  described  the 
route  he  took,  giving  several  names  to  lakes  before  unknown.  He  named 
the  first  lake  west  of  Cass  lake,  formed  by  the  expansion  northward  of  the 
Mississippi,  lake  Andrusia.  This  is  in  T.  146,  R.  31.  The  next,  which 
enlarges  toward  the  south,  situated  in  T.  146,  R.  32,  he  styled  the  Twin 
of  lake  Andrusia.  Its  Indian  name  was  Pamitascodiac,  preferable  to  that 
which  he  applied.  A  few  miles  above  this  point  begin  a  series  of  rapids, 
ten  in  number,  styled  Metoswa  rapids.  The  Indian  name  Pemidjegumaug 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  51 

1832,  Schoolcraft.] 

(now  lake  Pemidji),  which  is  the  Chippewa  for  Lac  Trovers,  Mr.  School- 
craft  saw  a  good  reason  for  rejecting  in  favor  of  Queen  Anne,  whose  name 
he  applied  to  that  lake.  The  little  lake  immediately  south  of  it  he  dedi- 
cated to  Washington  Irving.  Half  a  mile  above  this  he  reached  what  he 
styled  the  "primary  forks  of  the  Mississippi,"  that  from  the  west,  or  Itascan 
fork,  bearing  the  larger  volume  of  water.  Under  the  guidance  of  Oza- 
windib,  the  party  took  the  southern  fork,  through  which,  by  a  series  of 
lakes,  they  attained  a  point  nearly  east  from  Itasca  lake.  They  then  made 
a  grande  portage  over  the  drift  hills  intervening,  to  Itasca  lake,  descending 
the  other  fork  to  Pemidji  lake  the  following  day.  He  bestowed  the 
name  of  Marquette  on  the  first  of  the  lakes  of  the  south  fork,  and  on  the 
second  that  of  La  Salle.  The  third  lake,  of  larger  dimensions,  deemed  by 
Lieut.  Allen  to  be  ten  miles  long,  he  named  Plantagenet.  Passing  the 
junction  of  the  Naiwa  river  and  at  the  same  time  ascending  a  rapid  by 
means  of  a  portage  trail  of  about  two  miles,  the  stream  was  again  struck  at 
a  point  a  few  miles  below  Assawa  or  Perch  lake.  A  short  distance  above 
this  lake  the  party  left  the  south  fork,  by  portage  to  Itasca  lake,*  the  eleva- 
tion passed  over  being  estimated  at  1695  feet  above  the  gulf  of  Mexico. 

In  descending  the  other  fork  of  the  river,  from  Itasca  lake,  Mr.  School- 
craft  found  the  outlet  to  be  "  quite  a  brisk  brook,  with  the  mean  width  of 
ten  feet  and  the  depth  of  one  foot."  After  passing  some  severe  rapids  he 
mentions  a  river  by  the  name  of  Chemaun,  entering  on  the  right  bank, 
which  nearly  doubles  the  volume  of  the  stream.  Further  down  enters  a 
stream,  with  a  lake  near  its  mouth,  which  the  Indians  styled  Piniddiwin 
(or  Carnage)  river,  but  which  he  denominated  De  Soto  river.  Both  these 
streams  enter  the  Mississippi  in  T.  146,  R.  35.  A  small  stream  below,  orig- 
inating in  a  lake,  in  T.  146,  R.  34,  coming  in  on  the  left,  he  designated 
Allenoga,  "  putting  the  Iroquois  local  terminal  in  oga  to  the  name  of  the 
worthy  officer  who  traced  out  the  first  true  map  of  the  actual  sources  of  the 
Mississippi.''  He  also  applies  names  to  a  series  of  lakes  between  Leech  lake 
and  the  headwaters  of  the  Crow  Wing  river,  but  his  descriptions  cannot  be 
made  to  agree  with  any  published  maps  of  that  country,  particularly  in 
respect  to  distances  traveled,  and  the  sizes  of  the  lakes,  although  they  are 

^"Having  previously  got  an  inkling  of  some  of  their  mythological  and  necromantic  notions  of  the  origin  and  mutations 
of  the  country  uhich  permitted  the  use  of  a  female  name  for  It,  I  denominated  it  Rasca."  -Schoolcraft  Disc.  Sources  Miss 
Mr.  Neill  lias  stated  on  the  authority  of  Rev.  W.  T.  Boutwell,  who  accompanied  the  expedition,  that  the  name  Itasca 
waa  derived  by  Schoolcraft  from  the  Latin  words  veritas  and  caput,  meaning  true  source. 


52  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Allen,  1832. 

represented  on  the  map  accompanying  his  Narrative,  published  in  1834. 
Like  nearly  all  pioneer  travelers  he  over-estimates  distances.  The  following 
names  he  applies  to  lakes  between  Leech  lake  and  the  mouth  of  Shell  river, 
and  they  should  be  perpetuated  on  the  settlement  of  the  country,  viz.: 
Warpool,  Little  Long,  lake  of  the  Mountain,  lake  of  the  Isle,  Longwater 
lake  (the  source  of  this  branch  of  Crow  Wing  river),  Little  Vermilion,  Birch, 
Lac  Pie,  Assowa,  Lac  Vieux  Desert,  Long  Rice,  Allen,  llligan  and  Douglass. 
Schoolcraft  descended  the  Crow  Wing  river  to  its  union  with  the  Missis- 
sippi, being  the  first  to  explore  it,  and  to  render  an  account  of  its  course.* 

LIEUT.  JAMES   ALLEN'S    REPORT   OF    SCHOOLCRAFT's    EXPEDITION   OF    1832  TO  THE 

SOURCE  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  RIVER. 

Lieut.  Allen's  reportf  is  accompanied  by  a  map  of  the  country  from  the 
Red  river  of  the  North  to  the  Bois  Brule  river  of  Wisconsin,  extending  from 
lake  Pepin  to  Red  lake.  On  this  map  the  Cloquet  river  is  named  Rapid  river. 
The  principal  sources  of  the  St.  Louis  river  are  represented  to  come  from 
Vermilion  lake  and  White  Wood  lake,  the  latter  probably  being  intended 
for  what  is  now  known  as  Basswood  lake.  The  branches  of  the  St.  Croix 
river  from  the  west,  in  descending  order,  are  Pine  river,  Nenandag  river, 
Fowle  river,  Kettle  river,  Snake  river,  and  three  others  above  St.  Croix  lake. 
One  also  joins  St.  Croix  lake  from  the  west.  Ascending  the  Mississippi  river 
above  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony,  the  following  are  represented  as  its  eastern 
tributaries,  Raccoon  river  (now  Coon  creek  in  Anoka  county),  Rum  river, 
Leaf  or  St.  Francis  river,  Elk  river,  Clear  river,  Long  river  (having  its  source 
in  Long  lake  situated  west  of  Mille  Lacs),  Muddy  creek,  West  Savanna 
river,  Swan,  Trout,  Prairie  and  Deer  rivers;  the  last  being  the  first  stream 
above  Pokegama  falls.  The  western  branches  above  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony, 

*  Resulting  from  this  expedition  were  the  following  scientific  papers: — 

1.  Limits  of  the  range  of  the  Cervus  tylvestris,  in  the  northwestern  part  of  the  United  States.     By  Henry  K.  School- 
craft.     [Northwest  Journal.] 

2.  Description  of  the  Fringilia  vespertina,  discovered  by  Mr.  Schoolcraft  in  the  Northwest,    By  William  Cooper. 
[An.  N.  Y.  Lye  Nat.  Hist.] 

3.  List  of  shells  collected  by  Mr.  Schoolcraft  in  the  western  and  northwestern  territory.      By  William  Cooper. 

4.  List  of  species  and  localities  of  plants  collected  in  the  northwestern  expeditions  of  Mr.  Schoolcraft,  of  1831  and 
1833.     By  Douglass  Houghtor..  M.  D. 

5.  A  report  on  the  existence  of  deposits  of  copper  in  the  geological  basin  of  lake  Superior     By  Dr.  D.  Houghton. 

6.  Remarks  on  the  occurrence  of  native  silver  and  ores  of  silver  in  the  stratification  of  the  basins  of  lakes  Huron 
and  Superior.    ByHeniyR  Schoolcraft. 

7.  A  general  summary  of  the  localities  of  minerals  observed  in  the  Northwest  in  1831  and  1832.    By  Henry  R. 
Sehoolcraft. 

8.  Geological  outline  of  the  Taquiinenon  valley  of  Jake  Superior.    By  Henry  R.  Schoolcraft. 

9  Suggestions  respecting  the  geological  epoch  of  the  deposit  of  sandstone  rock  at  St.  Mary's  falls.  Ry  Henry  R. 
Schoolcralt. 

Of  the  above,  those  not  otherwise  noted,  are  in  the  appendix  to  Schoolcraft's  work,  Discovery  of  the  Sources  of  the 
Mississippi. 

fAmerican  State  Papers  Vol.  V.  Military  Affairs  p.  312. 


HISTOKICAL  SKETCH.  53 

1832,  Allen.  | 

so  far  as  named,  are  Rice  (probably  Shingle  creek  in  Hennepin  county), 
Crow,  Sac,  Elk,  Swan,  Crow  Wing,  Pine,  and  Willow.     The  Crow  Wing  has 
a  northern  tributary  near  its  mouth  called  Salt  river,  coming  from  Gull 
lake.     The  Shell  river  rises  in  Shell  lake,  and  the  Leaf  river  is  not  named. 
Although  his  journal  alludes  to  Leaf  river,  giving  it  a  size  nearly  as  large  as 
the  Crow  Wing  where  they  join,  and  states  its  source  is  in  Leaf  lake  fifty 
miles  above  its  mouth,  yet  neither  is  represented  on  his  map.     He  has 
incorrectly  named  it  "  Shell  river,"  which  really  joins  the  Crow  Wing  much 
higher  up,  as  represented  by  Schoolcraft,  and  later  by  Nicollet.     A  large 
tributary  of  the  St.  Peter's  river  from  the  north  is  Beaver  river,  undoubtedly 
the  Pomme  de  Terre  (or  Tipsinah)  river.     Big  Stone  lake  is  named  Big  Salt 
lake,  and  the  Minnesota  river  above  that  lake  is  called  Cold  creek.     The 
head  of  the  Coteau  is  styled  "Thunder  Nest  Mountains,"  and  a  series  of 
"  salt  ponds  "  is  represented  just  to  the  east.  The  eastern  branches  of  the  Red 
river  of  the  North  are  the  Chippewa,  the  Wild  Rice,  Plum,  Sand  Hill  and 
Red  Lake  rivers.     The  map  is  characterized  by  the  representation  of  marked 
hill-ranges,  sometimes  called  mountains.     The  great  moraine  of  western 
Minnesota  is  shown  from  a  point  north  of  Cass  lake  southward  to  near  the 
source  of  the  Crow  river,  under  the  name,  "  Dividing  Ridge  between  the 
Mississippi  and  Red  rivers."     The  "  Cabotian  Mountains"  begin  between  the 
Cloquet  river  and  lake  Superior  and  extend  southwestwardly  across  the 
St.  Louis  river,  forming  the  Dalles,  and  several  miles  further.     A  range 
designated  "  Pine  hills  ",  extends  from  the  upper  St.  Croix  lake  westward 
nearly  to  the  source  of  Snake  river.    The  Nemadji,  or  Left  Hand  river, 
entering  lake  Superior  near  Superior  City,  is  named  "  La  Riviere  a  Gauche." 
Red  Cedar  lake  is  near  the  Mississippi  northwest  of  Mille  Lacs,  and  Red  lake 
is  between  *fc  and  Long  lake  toward  the  southwest,  and  empties  into  the 
Mississippi  by  a  small  stream. 

Lieut.  Allen  further  defines  the  geography  of  the  upper  Mississippi  in 
his  journal,  mentioning  various  streams  and  lakes  that  are  not  put  down  on 
his  map.  In  first  making  the  "grand  portage"  through  the  Cabotian 
mountains,  he  describes  it  as  running  back  from  the  river  in  some  places 
four  or  five  miles  but  touching  it  at  "  La  Roche  Galet."  The  rock  in  the 
river  at  the  upper  end  of  the  portage  is  described  as  "coarse,  hard,  argillite 
rock,"  and  the  country  through  which  it  passes  as  rich,  and  timbered  with 


54  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Allen,  1835. 

birch,  pine  and  sugar  maple.  "  Three  miles"  above  the  grand  portage  begins 
the  portage  a  couteau,  or  knife  portage,  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  beginning 
at  a  small  island  of  argillyte  which  rises  abruptly  to  the  hight  of  100  feet, 
in  the  midst  of  the  river  at  the  foot  of  a  strong  rapid.  This  portage  is 
stated  to  be  a  mile  and  a  half  long.  "  Nine  and  a  half  miles"  above  the  knife 
portage  he  mentions  continued  rapids  through  argillyte  rock  for  about  four 
miles.  The  St.  Louis  river  of  the  map  he  styles  Fond  du  Lac  river  in  his 
journal.  The  country  on  the  portage  to  the  West  Savanna  river  is  described 
as  very  swampy,  but  divided  by  a  ridge  of  higher  land  timbered  with  sugar 
maple,  birch  and  linn,  running  southeastwardly,  about  a  mile  and  a  half 
from  the  West  Savanna  river.  It  is  less  than  half  a  mile  wide,  and  is  suc- 
ceeded by  swamps  again  on  its  west  or  Mississippi  side,  which  extend  with 
some  alternating  ridges  of  higher  land  to  the  West  Savanna  river.  The 
highest  point  on  the  portage  is  about  150  feet  above  the  Savanna  rivers. 
Sandy  lake  overflows  with  the  Mississippi,  and  the  great  flood  covers  the 
country  for  many  miles  around.  At  "  Pacagama  falls  "  the  descent  of  the 
river  is  between  twenty  and  thirty  feet  in  the  distance  of  a  hundred  yards, 
and  is  nowhere  perpendicular,  but  the  channel  is  much  contracted.  In  one 
place  the  whole  water  runs  down  the  surface  of  a  smooth,  plain  rock  for  a 
distance  of  forty  feet,  with  a  pitch  of  about  twelve  degrees.  The  river  is 
here  said  to  break  through  a  low  ridge  that  traverses  its  course  perpen- 
dicularly in  a  northeast  and  southwest  direction,  the  rock  being  of  granular 
quartz.  At  a  small  stream  which  joins  the  Mississippi  a  short  distance  above 
the  falls,  from  the  west,  commence  the  great  swamps  and  savannas  which 
border  the  Mississippi  on  one  or  both  sides  for  a  great  distance  above.  By 
way  of  Lac  la  Crosse  (remarkable  for  the  fine  whitefish  it  afforded)  and  a  small 
river  extending  three  or  four  miles  to  another  little  lake,  he  left  the  Missis- 
sippi, at  last,  making  a  portage  of  800  yards  to  Little  Winnipeg  lake,  through 
which  the  Mississippi  runs.  A  few  miles  further  up  he  reached  Big  Winnipeg 
lake,  from  which  he  says  there  is  a  short  portage  to  a  river  of  Rainy  lake, 
probably  the  Big  Fork  river.  Red  Cedar  lake,  the  former  name  of  Cass  lake, 
derived  its  name  from  a  little  high  island  called  Red  Cedar  island. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  55 

1831,  Allen.] 

LIEUT.    ALLEN   AT   THE   SOURCE   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI,     AND    ON    THE    GROW   WING 

RIVER. 

In  company  with  Mr.-Schoolcraft,  Lieut.  Allen  left  Cass  lake  under  the 
guidance  of  Yellow  Head,  an  Indian  of  the  Cass  lake  band,  for  the  explora- 
tion of  the  Mississippi  river  to  its  source.  Passing  Lac  Travers,  now  lake 
Pemidji,  which  he  describes  as  a  beautiful  lake  about  ten  miles  long  from 
north  to  south  and  about  half  as  broad,  surrounded  by  pine  woods  which 
rise  into  high  hills  on  the  noi'th  and  northwest,  forming  a  part  of  the  chain 
dividing  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi  from  those  of  the  Red  river,  he 
followed  a  broad  channel,  100  yards  long,  and  reached  another  small  lake. 
Half  a  mile  above  this  he  reached  the  forks  of  the  river,  the  branches 
being  nearly  of  the  same  width,  but  the  right  hand  branch  having  the 
most  water  discharge.  He  ascended  the  left  branch,  and  in  about  twelve 
miles  reached  lake  Rahbahkanna,  or  Resting  lake,  which  is  four  miles  in 
diameter  and  nearly  round.  Ascending  the  river  still  further,  a  distance 
estimated  by  him  between  fifty  and  sixty  miles,  he  reached  Usaw-way,  or 
Perch,  lake,  which  is  about  two  miles  long  and  half  a  mile  broad.  From 
this  lake  he  set  out  overland  to  Lac  la  Biche,  which  was  supposed  to  be  the 
source  of  the  larger  fork  of  the  Mississippi,  making  a  portage  of  six  miles, 
and  struck  the  lake  near  the  end  of  its  southeastern  bay.  The  portage 
passed  over  a  rough  country,  two  or  three  hundred  feet  above  the  lake, 
with  tamarack  swamps  and  Banks'  pine,  the  latter  growing  in  a  poor  and 
sandy  soil,  hung  with  lichens  and  without  animal  life.  Mr.  Schoolcraft 
hoisted  a  flag  on  a  high  staff,  on  the  island,  and  left  it  flying.  Lac  la  Biche 
is  said  to  be  about  seven  miles  long  and  from  one  to  three  broad,  but  of 
irregular  shape,  conforming  to  the  bases  of  the  pine  hills  which  for  a  great 
part  of  its  circumference  rise  abruptly  from  its  shore.  Its  shores  are 
formed  of  boulders  of  primitive  rock  but  have  no  rock  in  place.  School- 
craft  island  is  150  yards  long  and  50  yards  broad.  The  Indian  who  acted 
as  guide  declared  this  lake  to  be  the  "true  source  and  fountain  of  the  long- 
est and  largest  branch  of  the  Mississippi."  He  had  hunted  all  round  it,  and 
said  there  was  a  little  creek  too  small  for  the  smallest  canoes  to  ascend, 
emptying  into  the  south  bay  of  the  lake  and  having  its  source  "at  the  base 
of  a  chain  of  high  hills,  which  we  could  see  not  two  miles  off."  "To  the 


56  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Allen,  1832. 

west  he  saw  distinctly  "a  range  of  almost  mountains,  covered  with  pine, 
which  was  undoubtedly  the  chain  dividing  us  from  the  waters  of  the  Red 
river."  Respecting  the  "Julian  sources"  Lieut.  Allen  says:  "There  is,  how- 
ever, a  little  stream,  Turtle  river,  entering  Cass  lake  from  the  north,  iu  the 
route  of  traders  to  Turtle  lake  and  Red  lake,  but  it  is  a  very  small  and  insig- 
nificant stream,  and  is  only  forty-five  miles  in  length."  On  leaving  Lac  la 
Biche  he  found  the  Mississippi  twenty  feet  broad  and  two  feet  deep  with  a 
current  two  miles  per  hour.  It  soon  ran  through  a  chain  of  high  pine  hills, 
where  the  channel  contracted  very  much  and  numerous  rapids  occurred,  ot 
very  great  fall  over  boulders  of  primitive  rock,  the  river  running  for  a  dis- 
tance in  a  deep  ravine. 

Lieut.  Allen  made  a  series  of  portages,  and  traverses  of  little  lakes, 
from  the  south  end  of  Leech  lake  "to  Long  lake,  the  source  of  Crow  Wing 
river.  These  portages  were  all  short,  and  over  pine  ridges,  with  yellow  and 
pitch  pine;  the  lakes  were  deep,  clear  and  beautiful,  with  pine  hills  coming 
down  to  the  water.  The  lakes  had  neither  inlet  nor  outlet,  and  from  the 
summits  of  the  hills  several  could  be  seen  at  once.  Long  lake  is  only  the 
beginning  of  a  chain  of  eleven  pretty  little  lakes  near  together,  from  two 
to  five  miles  in  length,  from  which  the  Crow  Wing  takes  its  rise. " 

In  descending  the  Crow  Wing  river  Lieut.  Allen  mentions  the  Leaf 
and  the  Shell  rivers,  but  gets  their  names  interchanged;  also  the  Long 
Prairie  river,  but  he  does  not  name  it  on  his  map. 

LIEUT.  ALLEN   ON  THE   MISSISSIPPI. 

At  the  "little  falls"  he  describes  the  river  as  forming  a  chute,  and  con- 
tracted from  300  yards  to  fifty  yards,  the  fall  amounting  to  ten  feet  in  sixty, 
"  through  a  formation  of  talcous  slate  rock,  the  first  rock  we  had  seen  in 
place  since  leaving  the  falls  of  Pacagama.  A  little  further  down  we  passed 
Pike  rapids,  and  the  site  of  Pike's  blockhouse,  where  Lieut.  Pike  wintered 
his  command  in  1805-'6 ;  and  a  little  further  a  chain  of  rapids  called  the 
'  grand  rapids,'  where  the  river  runs  over  an  extensive  rock  formation  of 
granular  quartz."  He  also  mentions  another  rapid  at  the  mouth  of  Elk 
river,  and  the  "big  falls"  at  the  mouth  of  Sac  river,  and  a  short  distance 
above  tne  latter  the  mouth  of  the  Little  Sac,  or  Wattah,  river  ;  also,  the 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  57 

1835,  Featherstonhaugh.] 

"  mouth  of  the  St.  Francis,  or  Parallel,  river,  a  considerable  stream  running 
parallel  with  the  Mississippi,  and  navigable  for  canoes  150  miles."  The 
Rum  river,  on  the  same  side,  is  said  to  be  navigable  for  canoes  150  miles  to 
"  Mil  Lac,  a  lake  almost  as  large  as  Cass  lake." 

The  whole  descent  at  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony,  including  the  rapids,  he 
estimated  at  eighty  feet,  the  perpendicular  fall  at  eighteen  feet. 

LIEUT.  ALLEN  ON  THE  ST.  CKOIX  RIVER. 

The  St.  Croix  enters  the  Mississippi  by  a  mouth  seventy-five  yards  broad,  opposite  an  island 
of  the  latter,  and  fifty  miles  below  Fort  Snelling.  Its  right  bank  at  the  mouth  is  a  perpendicular 
rock  eight  or  ten  feet  high  (calcareous  sandrock)  and  the  left  is  a  low  acute  point.  A  few 
hundred  yards  from  the  mouth  it  opens  into  a  long,  narrow  lake,  lake  St.  Croix,  which  seems  to 
fill  or  lie  in  a  valley,  the  hills  rising  to  form  its  banks,  on  each  side,  in  green  gentle  slopes.  * 

*  A  few  miles  above  where  I  encamped,  the  river  is  traversed  by  a  primitive  rock 
which  for  a  distance  of  one  or  two  hundred  yards,  confines  the  channel  within  perpendicular 
walls  fifty  feet  high,  and  rises  in  a  high  abrupt  little  island  in  the  middle  of  the  stream,  but 
occasions  no  rapid.  Above  this  the  banks  are  high  and  steep,  but  not  rocky,  till  within  a  mile  of 
the  falls,  when  the  channel  becomes  suddenly  contracted  to  from  fifteen  to  thirty  yards,  by  rocks 
forming  mural  precipices  on  each  side  fifty  and  a  hundred  feet  high,  between  which  the  river, 
though  very  deep,  is  urged  with  great  velocity.  This  rock  and  the  narrow  channel  continues, 
with  a  few  interruptions  of  caves  and  fissures,  one  mile  up,  to  the  falls,  where  the  river  is  but 
forty  feet  broad,  and  rushes  with  great  force  and  violence  down  a  fall  of  fifty  feet  in  three 
hundred  yards.  The  whole  of  this  rock  is  greenstone  trap,  and  its  surface  presented  to  the  river 
in  high  cliffs  is  exceedingly  rugged  and  broken,  prismatic  fragments  being  continually  detached 
from  it  and  tumbled  down. 

In  the  further  ascent  of  the  St.  Croix  river  to  the  upper  St.  Croix  lake, 
Lieut.  Allen  encountered  great  difficulties,  on  account  of  being  abandoned 
by  Mr.  Schoolcraft  and  his  party,  and  on  account  of  the  almost  intermina- 
ble rapids.  His  description  of  this  stream  above  the  falls  of  St.  Croix  con- 
firms Duluth's  assertion  as  quoted  by  La  Salle,  that  in  descending  it  he 
"had  passed  forty  leagues  of  rapids.'1 

G.  W.  FEATHERSTONHAUGH,  TJ.  8.  GEOLOGIST. 

In  the  summers  of  1834  and  1835,  an  English  gentleman,  under  the  title 
of  U.  S.  Geologist,  was  commissioned  by  Col.  J.  J.  Abert,  of  the  bureau  of 
topographical  engineers,  with  loose  and  apparently  aimless  instructions,  to 
execute  rambling  explorations  in  the  western  country.  The  first  year  he 
visited  the  Red  river  of  Arkansas,  and  the  second  he  proceeded  to  the 
vicinity  of  that  'elevated  ridge  which  separates  the  Missouri  river  from  the 
St.  Peter's.  From  the  latter  expedition  resulted  two  works — one  entitled 
"  Report  of  a  geological  reconnoissance  made  in  1835,  from  the  seat  of  govern- 


58  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Featherstonhaugh,  1835. 

ment  by  the  way  of  Green  bay  and  the  Wisconsin  territory  to  the  Coteau 
des  Prairies,  an  elevated  ridge  dividing  the  Missouri  from  the  St.  Peter's 
river,"  printed  by  order  of  the  Senate  in  1836,  and  the  other  "A  Canoe 
Voyage  up  the  Minnay  Sotar,"  published  in  London  in  1847. 

The  latter  is  taken  up  largely  with  personal  and  journalistic  details, 
and  the  former  with  a  statement  of  geological  principles,  as  understood  by 
English  geologists  of  that  day.  In  his  geological  report  proper  Mr.  Feath- 
erstonhaugh ascribes  the  existence  of  lake  Pepin  to  the  entrance  of  the 
Chippewa  river,  nearly  at  right  angles  to  the  Mississippi,  damming  up  the 
water  above  it ;  mentions  Castle  rock  as  an  instance  of  how  "  the  mineral 
level  has  been  reduced,"  and  gives  an  illustration  of  it,  in  which  it  appears 
very  much  as  it  does  at  the  present  day;  visited  Fountain  cave  near  St.  Paul, 
and  describes  it  under  the  impression  that  it  is  that  visited  by  Carver;  speaks 
of  the  "  carboniferous  limestone  "  at  Fort  Snelling,  correcting  Mr.  Keating's 
error  in  supposing  fallen  pieces  of  limestone  from  the  top  of  the  bluff  were 
in  situ  at  the  level  of  the  river,  and  gives  the  following  account  of  the  falls 

of  St.  Anthony: 

• 

FEATHERSTONHAUGH   AT  THE  FALLS  OF  ST.  ANTHONY. 

An  island  about  450  yards  long  divides  the  Mississippi  into  two  parts  at  the  falls  of  St. 
Anthony,  which  have  a  very  irregular  outline,  owing  to  the  soft  sandstone  being  washed  out  une- 
qually in  places,  and  the  superincumbent  strata  of  limestone  falling  down  in  large  blocks ;  these 
are  piled  up  in  large  quanities  on  the  bed  of  the  river  immediately  at  the  foot  of  the  falls.  That 
part  of  the  river  on  the  north  side  of  the  island  is  about  220  yards  wide.  There  is  a  very  fine, 
smooth  section  of  the  rocks  here  to  the  water,  about  ninety  feet  high.  I  should  think  the  fall 
would  not  average  more  than  twenty  feet.  The  immense  slabs  which  have  fallen  from  the  lime- 
stone beds  at  the  top  are  covered  with  producta,  mixed  with  spirifers  and  cardia.  On  the  south 
side  of  the  river  the  line  of  the  falls  is  a  very  irregular  curvature,  and  measures  about  450  yards 
to  the  island  ;  the  hight  of  the  fall  does  not  appear  so  great  on  this  side,  owing  perhaps  to  the 
bed  of  the  river  being  so  much  choked  up  with  the  fallen  slabs.  It  is  a  wild  rocky  scene,  but 
deficient  in  interest  as  a  waterfall  on  account  of  its  want  of  hight.  To  a  geologist,  however,  it  is 
exceedingly  interesting,  finding  here  the  uninterrupted  continuation,  for  one  thousand  miles,  of 
the  carboniferous  limestone  with  its  characteristic  fossils.  At  the  south  side  of  the  falls  1  got 
some  exceedingly  fine  ones,  including  beautiful  specimens  of  delphinula,  bellerophon,  nautilus, 
euomphalus,  &c. 

FEATHERSTONHAUGH   ASCENDS   THE   MINNESOTA  RIVER. 

Mr.  Featherstonhaugh's  geological  notes  on  the  Minnesota  river  may  be 
summarized  somewhat  as  follows.  Mentioning  Carver's  river,  he  says : 
"  Something  short  of  fifty  miles  from  the  fort  there  is  a  short  rapid  with 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  59 

1835,  Feathentonhiugh.] 

a  strong  current.  Above  this  is  another  rapid,  with  sandstone  in  place  on 
the  right  bank,  the  same  as  at  the  fort."  This  is  probably  the  rapid  near 
Carver. 

Further  up  the  Bois  Franc  district,  a  stream  comes  in  from  the  left  bank  called  Wee-tah 
Wakatah,  or  Tall  island,*  and  about  five  miles  higher  up  some  ledges  of  horizontal  fawn-colored 
limestone  jut  out  on  the  right  bank,  very  cherty  and  somewhat  vesicular ;  near  the  surface  it  takes  a 
reddish  salmon-color,  resembling  very  much  some  beds  I  had  previously  seen  on  the  Wisconsin  and 
upper  Mississippi.  Within  a  few  yards  of  these  ledges,  and  north  of  them,  a  beautiful  pellucid  stream 
comes  in,  containing  the  purest  water  I  had  seen  in  the  country.  1  could  not  learn  that  any  name 
had  been  given  to  it,  and  as  it  is  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  first  calcareous  rock  I  had  met 
with  in  place  here,  and  its  purity  rendering  it  a  very  rare  stream  in  a  country  where  all  are  turbid, 
I  named  it  Abert's  run,  after  Col.  Abert,  of  the  United  States  army,  and  chief  of  the  topographi- 
cal bureau.t 

Eight  or  nine  miles  below  Traverse  des  Sioux  is  Myah  Skah,  or  White 
Rock,:}:  where  he  mentions  an  escarpment  consisting  of  forty  feet  of  granular 
sandstone  surmounted  by  ten  feet  of  fawn-colored  limestone,  the  same  as 
that  at  Abert's  run.  This  sandstone,  he  says,  is  formed  of  semi-transparent 
grains  loosely  adhering,  with  nodules  here  and  there,  where  they  are 
cemented  by  a  paste  of  clear  siliceous  matter;  the  whole  making  a  hard 
flinty  mass  resembling  siliceous  oolite.  At  the  j  unction  of  the  limestone  with 
the  sandstone  he  notes  a  seam  of  marly,  mineral  matter  "  containing  a  great 
deal  of  silicate  of  iron,"  of  a  bluish  -  green  color.  About  two  miles  above 
Moon  creek§  (or  camp  Crescent,  of  Keating)  he  saw  the  sandstone  and  lime- 
stone again  in  place  ;  again,  at  a  point  three  miles  higher,  a  long  bluff 
twenty-five  feet  in  hight.  Five  miles  further  the  White  Earth  bluff  occurs, 
where  he  mentions  multitudes  of  large  boulders  on  the  prairie,  some  of 
which  he  estimates  at  100  tons'  weight.  Beyond  this  point,  having  passed 
an  island  about  400  yards  long,  the  current  becoming  very  strong,  with  bold 
bluffs  and  many  boulders,  he  judged  that  the  river  had  worked  its  way 
through  a  ridge.  Sixteen  miles  beyond  this  point  he  estimated  the  bluffs 
at  150  feet  in  hight,  and  found  the  current  of  the  river  swift,  this  being  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Makato,  or  Blue  Earth  river. 

In  searching  for  the  supposed  copper  mines  of  Le  Sueur,  under  the 
guidance  of  his  interpeter,  Milor,  he  could  ascertain  nothing,  not  even  a 
traditional  report,  of  anything  like  a  copper  mine  in  that  region.  The 


*  High  Island  creek,  four  miles  north  of  Henderson. 

f  The  inaccuracies  of  Mr.  Fcatherstonhaugh's  description,  even  with  the  aid  of  his  small  map.  render  it  impossible 
to  state  what  stream  is  here  meant ;  but  the  bluff  of  rock  seems  to  be  that  situated  at  Rocky  point,  Sec.  30,  Blakely. 

:  Near  Ottawa. 

\  Keating  ascribes  the  name  Crucenttoa,  bend  in  the  Minnesota  river,  but  Mr.  Featherstonhaugh  says  it  Is  due  to  a 
•eries  of  half-moon  turns  in  the  little  creek  that  enters  from  the  east  a  short  distance  below  the  Traverse  des  Sioux. 


60  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Featherstonhaugh,  1835. 

Indians  concurred  in  saying  that  there  were  some  bluffs  a  few  miles  beyond 
the  St.  Peter's  where  they  procured  a  blue  earth  with  which  to  paint  them- 
selves; and  this  point  was  so  precisely  described  that  he  had  no  difficulty 
in  finding  it.  In  passing  up  he  evidently  regarded  the  Le  Sueur  as  the  main 
stream,  and  refers  to  the  fork  now  styled  the  Blue  Earth,  as  "  a  fork  of  the 
river  from  the  left  bank."  This  he  ascended,  finding  little  current,  and  at  a 
place  estimated  at  two  miles  from  the  fork,  came  to  a  bluff  about  150  feet 
high  on  the  left  bank,  containing  the  blue-earth  locality.  "On  climbing  it 
I  found  the  same  horizontal  limestone  and  siliceous  sandstone  common  to 
the  whole  country.  •  Toward  the  top  was  a  broad  seam  of  bluish  clay  inter- 
mixed in  places  with  silicate  of  iron,  being  a  continuation  of  the  deposit  I 
had  seen  before  at  Myakah,  and  valuable  only  for  the  savages  to  paint  them- 
selves with.  From  this  bluff  I  advanced  in  a  westerly  direction  about  two 
miles,  over  a  part  of  the  country  grown  up  with  small  poplars,  hazels,  wild 
roses  and  grass,  in  the  hope  of  seeing  the  Coteau  des  Prairies,  and  of  making 
arrangements  to  proceed  to  it  from  this  quarter;  but  I  saw  nothing  of  the 
kind  from  any  eminence  which  I  could  gain,  and  having  in  my  hand,  and 
reading  on  the  spot,  what  had  been  said  by  M.  Le  Sueur,  his  mountains  and 
his  copper  mines,  I  found  myself  obliged  to  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
these  discoveries  were  fables  invented  to  give  himself  influence  at  the  court 
of  France.  Before  I  left  the  northwest  country,  and  after  I  had  visited  the 
Coteau  des  Prairies,  I  found  it  was  distant  at  least  sixty  miles  from  this  spot, 
which  leaves  only  the  bluffs  of  the  river  to  represent  the  mountains  spoken 
of  in  the  manuscript  of  La  Harpe."* 

Twenty  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  Blue  Earth,  he  states  that  the 
Minnesota  "  has  made  a  recent  cut-off  and  abandoned  its  old  bed  ;  not  far 
from  this  place  a  large  mass  of  sandstone  is  in  place  in  the  middle  of  the 
river."  Swan  lake  lies  nearly  five  miles  north  of  this  place. 

FEATHERSTONHAUGH   DESCRIBES   THE   QUARTZYTE   AT   REDSTONE. 

"About  twenty-five  miles  above  Makato  some  red  earth  bluffs  occur 
on  the  left  bank,  with  numerous  boulders.  From  this  point  the  general 
appearance  of  the  soil  and  country  begins  to  vary,  and  announces  a  change 


•The  deposit  containing  the  pigment  he  places  in  that  seam  "which  divides  the  limestone  from  the  sandstone," 
when  describing  this  locality  in  the  •'  Canoe  Voyage." 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  61 

1835,  Featherstonhaugh.J 

in  the  formations,  and  five  miles  further  some  rocky  bluffs  come  in  on  the 
left  bank,  the  lower  beds  of  which  are  a  brick  red  color  and  of  a  fine  grain. 
On  landing  and  leaving  the  bank  I  found  the  country  covered  with  beds  of 
red  gritstone  of  a  very  hard  quality,  inclined  about  fifteen  degrees.  These 
rocks  are  full  of  potholes,  some  of  them  a  foot  in  diameter  and  eight  inches 
deep,  and  are  as  smooth  as  metal.  The  carboniferous  limestone  formation 
seems  to  terminate  here,  and  to  be  stopped  by  a  conglomerate  resembling 
in  its  mineralogical  characters  the  upper  beds  of  the  Old  Red  sandstone. 
The  river  has  in  old  times  passed  over  these  rocks,  worn  the  pot-holes,  and 
made  them  so  glassy  smooth." 

He  mentions  the  first  granite  met,  known  as  "  little  rock,"  and  says  that 
no  other  kind  of  rock  was  seen  in  place  during  his  further  progress  toward 
the  northwest. 

THE   COTEAU   DBS   PRAIRIES. 

He  estimated  the  Coteau  to  rise  450  feet  above  the  level  of  the  general 
prairie;  the  ascent  being  so  gentle  that  one  is  hardly  aware  of  going  up  hill. 
The  ascent  perhaps  continues  two  and  a  half  miles,  and  is  not  more  than  at 
the  rate  of  160  feet  to  the  mile.  "The  Coteau  itself  is  only. another  upland 
prairie,  somewhat  more  diversified  than  that  I  had  left  behind,  having 
numerous  small  wooded  lakes  on  its  surface,  which  have  a  very  picturesque 
appearance.  From  the  plateau  here  there  is  an  extensive  view  of  the  prairies 
below,  with  the  lakes.  The  prairies  in  every  direction  are  bounded  only  by 
the  horizon;  a  few  occasional  trees  indicate  stagnant  water.  It  is  two  good 
days'  march  from  here  to  the  Shyan,  and  eight  further  to  Pembina,  on  Red 
river  of  lake  Winnipeg,  the  whole  of  it  over  a  prairie  country  with  many 
small  lakes  and  occasional  wood.  The  Nid  de  Tonnere,  or  Nest  of  Thunder, 
a  name  derived  from  some  Indian  tradition,  comprehends  a  small  tract  of 
country  with  a  very  irregular  surface,  where  knolls,  depressions  and  small 
wooded  lakes  prevail.  The  sand-hills  I  have  before  spoken  of  as  lying  in 
front  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies,  extend  into  this  vicinity  and  still  further 
to  the  northwest.  Farther  to  the  northwest  are  several  saline  lakes,  one  of 
which,  named  Saline  lake  on  the  map,  is  about  ten  miles  long.  On  the 
shores  of  these  lakes  crystallized  salt  is  found  in  dry  seasons,  when  the  sur- 
face has  been  much  evaporated;  muriate  of  lime  appears  to  be  mixed  with 


62  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Catlin,  1837. 

it.  As  there  is  no  rock  in  place  around  here,  conjectures  only  can  be  formed 
upon  the  nature  of  the  subjacent  beds.  *******  -^ne  Coteau 
des  Prairies,  about  which  very  little  has  been  known,  is  a  very  broad  ridge 
of  land  dividing  the  waters  tributary  to  the  Missouri  from  those  which  dis- 
charge themselves  into  the  St.  Peter's  and  into  the  Red  river  of  lake  Win- 
nipeg. Its  general  direction  is  about  north-northwest  and  south-southeast, 
though  in  places  in  appears  to  be  irregular.  To  the  south  it  comes  down  to 
the  sources  of  the  Makato,  whilst  to  the  north  it  terminates  for  a  while  near 
the  sources  of  the  Psee,  where  a  flat  country  comes  in.  intersected  by  the 
Shyan  and  the  Goose  rivers.  Lac  du  Diable  is  in  this  area  with  Turtle  river. 
Here  the  Coteau  rises  again,  to  the  north,  but  it  is  called  the  '  Pembina  hills' 
by  the  traders;  these  extend  beyond  the  Assinaboin  river  and  die  away 
about  Flat  lake,  near  seventy  miles  from  lake  Winnipeg.  East  of  the  Pem- 
bina hills  there  are  salt  springs,  and  from  the  somewhat  vague  accounts  I 
received  from  the  Indians,  there  is  coal  in  their  vicinity.  A  very  respectable 
trader  informed  me  he  had  once  picked  up  some  bituminous  coal  on  the 
shore  of  lake  Traverse.'' 

GEORGE    CATLIN    AT   THE    RED    PIPESTONE   QUARRY. 

Although  Mr.  Catlin  is  best  known  as  an  Indian  delineator,  he  has  also  left 
a  brief  geological  description  of  the  pipestone  country.*  He  was  the  first 
to  carry  a  sample  of  the  red  pipestone  away  with  him,  and  take  measures 
to  have  it  subjected  to  chemical  examination.  Such  examination  was  made 
by  Dr.  C.  T.  Jackson,  of  Boston,  who  gave  the  substance  the  mineralogical 
name  of  catlinite.^ 

Mr.  Catlin  had  plans  laid  for  visiting  the  pipestone  quarry  in  1835, 
when  at  Fort  Snelling,  but  hearing  of  the  expedition  of  Mr.  Featherston- 
haugh,  under  government  directon  to  explore  the  Coteau  des  Prairies,  he 
abandoned  his  project.  Subsequently  hearing  that  that  gentleman  did  not 


•American  Journal  of  Science,  First  Series,  Vol.  38,  p.  138. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  63 

1837,  Catlin.J 

visit  the  quarry,  he  carried  out  his  design,  starting  from  New  York,  "a  dis- 
tance of.  2, 400  miles,  for  which  purpose  I  devoted  eight  months,  traveling 
at  a  considerable  expense,  and  for  a  great  part  of  the  way  with  much 
fatigue  and  exhaustion." 

Starting  on  horseback  from  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony,  in  company  with 
"a  young  gentleman  from  England  of  fine  taste  and  education,"  and  under 
the  guidance  of  a  faithful  Indian,  he  followed  the  usual  route  along  the 
south  side  of  the  Minnesota  river  to  the  Traverse  des  Sioux,  where  he 
crossed  the  river;  he  recrossed  it  at  a  point  about  thirty  miles  above  the 
mouth  of  the  "  Terre  Bleue,"  near  the  mouth  of  the  Waraju,  and  thence, 
leaving  the  Minnesota,  pursued  a  course  "a  little  north  of  west,"  steering  for 
the  Coteau  des  Prairies.  He  represents  the  vast  prairie  that  he  passed  over 
as  one  of  the  most  beautiful  countries  in  the  world,  for  a  distance  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty  or  one  hundred  and  thirty  miles.  It  everywhere 
showed  the  richest  soil,  and  an  abundance  of  good  water  which  flowed  from 
a  thousand  living  springs. 

For  many  miles  in  the  distance  before  us  we  had  the  Coteau  in  view,  which  looked  like  a  blue 
cloud  settling  down  in  the  horizon  ;  and  when  we  had  arrived  at  its  base,  we  were  scarcely  sensible 
of  the  fact,  from  the  graceful  and  almost  imperceptible  swells  with  which  it  commences  its  eleva- 
tion above  the  country  about  it.  Over  these  swells,  or  terraces,  gently  rising  one  above  the  other, 
we  traveled  for  a  distance  of  forty  or  fifty  miles,  when  we  at  length  reached  the  summit,  and  also 
the  pipestone  quarry,  the  object  of  our  campaign.  From  the  base  of  this  majestic  mound  to  its  top, 
a  distance  of  forty  or  fifty  miles,  there  was  not  a  tree  or  a  bush  to  be  seen  in  any  direction.  The 
ground  was  even  where  covered  with  a  green  turf  of  grass,  about  five  or  six  inches  high ;  and  we 
were  assured  by  our  Indian  guide  that  it  descended  to  the  west,  toward  the  Missouri,  with  a  sim- 
ilar inclination,  and  for  an  equal  distance,  divested  of  everything  save  the  grass  that  grows  and 
the  animals  that  walk  upon  it. 

On  the  very  top  of  this  mound  or  ridge,  we  found  the  far-famed  quarry,  or  fountain,  of  the 
Red  Pipe,  which  is  truly  an  anomaly  in  nature.  The  principal  and  most  striking  feature  of  this 
place  is  a  perpendicular  wall  of  close-grained,  compact  quartz,  of  twenty-five  or  thirty  feet  in 
elevation,  running  nearly  north  and  south,  with  its  face  to  the  west,  exhibiting  a  front  of  nearly 
two  miles  in  length,  when  it  disappears  at  both  ends  by  running  under  the  prairie,  which  becomes 
there  a  little  more  elevated,  and  probably  covers  it  for  many  miles,  both  to  the  north  and  south. 
The  depression  of  the  brow  of  the  ridge  at  this  place  has  been  caused  by  the  wash  of  a  little  stream, 
produced  by  several  springs  on  the  top  of  the  ridge,  a  little  back  from  the  wall,  which  has  gradu- 
ally carried  away  the  superincumbent  earth,  and  having  bared  the  wall  for  a  distance  of  two  miles, 
is  now  left  to  glide  for  some  distance  over  a  perfectly  level  surface  of  quartz  rock,  and  then  to 
leap  from  the  top  of  the  wall  into  a  deep  basin  below,  and  from  thence  to  seek  its  course  to  the 
Missouri,  forming  the  extreme  source  of  a  noted  and  powerful  tributary  called  the  Big  Sioux. 

This  beautiful  wall  is  perfectly  stratified  in  several  distinct  horizontal  layers,  of  light,  gray 
and  rose,  or  flesh-colored,  quartz  ;  and  through  the  greater  part  of  the  way,  both  on  the  front  of 
the  wall,  and  over  acres  of  its  horizontal  surface,  it  is  highly  polished,  or  glazed,  as  if  by  ignition. 

At  the  base  of  this  wall,  and  running  parallel  to  it,  there  is  a  level  prairie  of  half  a  mile  in 
width,  in  any  and  all  parts  of  which  the  Indians  procure  the  red  stone  for  their  pipes  by  digging 
through  the  soil  and  several  slaty  layers  of  the  red  stone  to  the  depth  of  four  or  five  feet.  From 
the  very  numerous  marks  of  ancient  and  modern  digging,  or  excavations,  it  would  appear  that  this 


64  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Catlin,  1837. 

place  has  been,  for  many  centuries,  resorted  to  for  the  red  stone,  and  from  the  great  number  of 
graves  and  remains  of  ancient  fortifications  in  the  vicinity  (as  well  as  from  their  actual  traditions) 
it  would  seem  that  the  Indian  tribes  have  long  held  this  place  in  high  superstitious  estimation,  and 
also  that  it  has  been  the  resort  of  different  tribes,  who  have  made  their  regular  pilgrimages  here 
to  renew  their  pipes. 

It  is  evident  that  these  people  set  an  extraordinary  value  on  the  red  stone,  independently  of 
the  fact  that  it  is  more  easily  carved  and  makes  better  pipes  than  any  other  stone  ;  but  whenever 
an  Indian  presents  a  pipe  made  of  it,  he  gives  it  as  something  from  the  Great  Spirit ;  and  some 
of  the  tribes  have  a  tradition  that  the  red  men  were  all  created  from  the  red  stone,  and  that  it 
thereby  is  "  a  part  of  their  flesh."  Such  was  the  superstition  of  the  Sioux  on  this  subject,  that  we 
had  great  difficulty  in  approaching  it,  being  stopped  by  several  hundred  of  them,  who  ordered  us 
back  and  threatened  us  very  hard,  saying  that  no  white  man  had  ever  been  to  it,  and  that  none 
should  ever  go.  *  *  *  *  * 

The  red  pipe-stone  will,  I  suppose,  take  its  place,  amongst  interesting  minerals ;  and  the 
"  Coteau  des  Prairies,"  will  become  hereafter  an  important  theme  for  geologists,  not  merely  from 
the  fact  that  it  is  the  only  known  locality  of  that  mineral,  but  from  other  phenomena  relating  to 
it.  The  single  fact  of  such  a  table  of  quartz  resting  in  perfectly  horizontal  strata  on  this  elevated 
plateau  is  of  itself,  as  I  conceive,  a  very  interesting  subject  for  investigation,  and  one  which  calls 
upon  the  scientific  world  for  a  correct  theory  with  regard  to  the  time  when,  and  the  manner  in 
which,  this  formation  was  produced.  That  it  is  a  secondary  and  sedimentary  deposit,  seems 
evident ;  and  that  it  has  withstood  the  force  of  the  diluvial  current,  while  the  great  valley  of  the 
Missouri,  from  this  very  wall  of  rocks  to  the  Rocky  mountains,  has  been  excavated  and  its  debris 
carried  to  the  ocean,  I  confidently  infer  from  the  following  remarkable  fact. 

At  the  base  of  the  wall,  and  within  a  few  rods  of  it,  and  on  the  very  ground  where  the 
Indians  dig  for  the  red  stone,  rests  a  group  of  five  stupendous  boulders  of  gneiss  leaning  against 
each  other,  the  smallest  of  which  is  twelve  or  fifteen  feet,  and  the  largest  twenty-five  feet  in  diam- 
eter, weighing,  unquestionably,  several  hundred  tons.  These  blocks  are  composed  chiefly  of 
feldspar  and  mica,  of  an  exceedingly  coarse  grain  (the  feldspar  often  occurring  in  crystals  of  an 
inch  in  diameter).  The  surface  of  these  boulders  is  in  every  part  covered  with  a  gray  moss,  which 
gives  them  an  extremely  ancient  and  venerable  appearance,  while  their  sides  and  angles  are 
rounded  by  attrition  to  the  shape  and  character  of  most  other  erratic  stones  which  are  found 
throughout  the  country. 

That  these  five  immense  blocks,  of  precisely  the  same  character,  and  differing  materially 
from  all  other  specimens  of  boulders  which  I  have  seen  in  the  great  valleys  of  the  Mississippi  and 
Missouri,  should  have  been  hurled  some  hundreds  of  miles  from  their  native  bed,  and  lodged  in 
so  singular  a  group  on  this  elevated  ridge,  is  truly  matter  of  surprise  for  the  scientific  world,  as 
well  as  for  the  poor  Indian,  whose  superstitous  veneration  for  them  is  such  that  not  a  spear  of 
grass  is  broken  or  bent  by  his  feet  within  three  or  four  rods  of  the  group  ;  where  he  stops,  and  in 
humble  supplication,  by  throwing  plugs  of  tobacco  to  them,  solicits  their  permission  (as  the  guar- 
dian spirit  of  the  place)  to  dig  and  carry  away  the  red  stone  for  his  pipes.  The  surface  of  the 
boulders  I  found  in  every  part  entire  and  unscratched  by  anything,  and  even  the  moss  was  every- 
where unbroken,  which  undoubtedly  remains  so  at  this  time,  except  where  I  applied  the  hammer 
to  obtain  some  small  specimens,  which  I  brought  away  with  me.* 

The  fact  alone  that  these  blocks  differ  in  character  from  all  other  specimens  which  I  have 
seen  in  my  travels,  amongst  the  thousands  of  boulders  which  are  strewed  over  the  great  valley  of 
the  Missouri  and  Mississippi,  from  the  Yellowstone  almost  to  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  raises  in  my  mind 
an  unanswerable  question  as  regards  the  location  of  their  native  bed,  and  the  means  by  which 
they  have  reached  their  isolated  position  like  five  brothers,  leaning  against  and  supporting  each 
other,  without  the  existence  of  another  boulder  of  any  description  within  fifty  miles  of  them. 
There  are  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  boulders  scattered  over  the  prairies,  at  the  base  of 
the  Coteau  on  either  side,  and  so  throughout  the  valley  of  the  St.  Peter's  and  Mississippi,  which 
are  also  subjects  of  very  great  interest  and  importance  to  science,  inasmuch  as  they  present  to  the 
world  a  vast  variety  of  characters,  and  each  one, although  strayed  from  its  original  position,  bears 
incontestable  proof  of  the  character  of  its  native  bed.  The  tract  of  country  lying  between  the 

*  In  a  specimen  with  which  we  are  favored  by  Mr.  Catlin,  the  feldspar  is  in  distinct  crystals,  is  tinted  red,  and 
greatly  abounds;  the  quartz  is  gray  and  white,  and  the  mica  black,  while  the  moss  covers  nearly  half  the  mass.— Eds. 


HISTOEICAL  SKETCH.  65 

1837,  Catlin.] 

• 

St.  Peter's  river  and  the  Coteau,  over  which  we  passed,  presents  innumerable  specimens  of  the 
kind,  and  near  the  base  of  the  Coteau,  they  are  strewed  over  the  prairie  in  countless  numbers, 
presenting  almost  an  incredible  variety  of  rich  and  beautiful  colors,  and  undoubtedly  traceable 
(if  they  can  be  traced,)  to  separate  and  distinct  beds.  Amongst  these  beautiful  groups  it  was 
sometimes  a  very  easy  matter  to  sit  on  my  horse  and  count  within  my  sight  some  twenty  or  thirty 
different  varieties  of  quartz  and  granite  in  rounded  boulders,  of  every  hue  and  color,  from  snow 
white  to  intense  red  and  yellow  and  blue,  and  almost  to  a  jet  black,  each  one  well  characterized 
and  evidently  from  a  distinct  quarry.  With  the  beautiful  hues  and  almost  endless  characters  of 
these  blocks,  I  became  completely  surprised  and  charmed,  and  I  resolved  to  procure  specimens  of 
every  variety,  which  I  did  with  success  by  dismounting  from  my  horse  and  breaking  small  bits 
from  them  with  my  hammer,  until  I  had  something  like  a  hundred  different  varieties  containing 
all  the  tints  and  colors  of  the  painter's  pallet.  These  I  at  length  threw  away,  as  I  had  on  several 
former  occasions  other  minerals  and  fossils,  which  I  had  collected  and  lugged  along  from  day  to 
day,  and  sometimes  from  week  to  week. 

Whether  these  varieties  of  quartz  and  granite  can  all  be  traced  to  their  native  beds,  or 
whether  they  all  have  originals  at  this  time  exposed  above  the  earth's  surface,  are  generally  matters 
of  much  doubt  in  my  mind.  I  believe  that  the  geologist  may  take  the  varieties  which  he  may  gather 
at  the  base  of  the  Coteau  in  one  hour,  and  travel  the  continent  of  North  America  all  over  without 
being  able  to  put  them  all  in  place  ;  coming  at  last  to  the  unavoidable  conclusion  that  numerous 
chains  or  beds  of  primitive  rocks  have  reared  their  heads  on  this  continent,  the  summits  of  which 
have  been  swept  away  by  the  force  of  the  diluvial  currents;  and  their  fragments  jostled  together 
and  strewed  about,  like  foreigners  in  a  strange  land,  over  the  great  valleys  of  the  Mississippi  and 
Missouri,  where  they  will  ever  remain  and  be  gazed  upon  by  the  traveler  as  the  only  remaining 
evidence  of  their  native  ledges,  which  have  again  been  submerged  or  covered  with  diluvial  deposits. 

There  seems  not  to  be,  either  on  the  Coteau,  or  in  the  great  valleys  on  either  side,  so  fai  as  I 
have  traveled,  any  slaty  or  other  formation  exposed  above  the  surface,  on  which  grooves  or 
scratches  can  be  seen,  to  establish  the  direction  of  the  diluvial  currents  in  those  regions;  yet  I 
think  the  fact  is  pretty  clearly  established  by  the  general  shapes  of  the  valleys,  and  the  courses  of 
the  mountain  ridges  which  wall  them  in  on  their  sides. 

The  Coteau  des  Prairies  is  the  dividing  ridge  between  the  St.  Peter's  and  the  Missouri  rivers; 
its  southern  termination  or  slope  is  about  in  the  latitude  of  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony,  and  it 
stands  equi-distant  between  the  two  rivers,  its  general  course  bearing  two  or  three  degrees  west  of 
north,  for  the  distance  of  two  or  three  hundred  miles,  when  it  gradually  slopes  again  to  the  north, 
throwing  out  from  its  base  the  headwaters  and  tributaries  of  the  St.  Peter's  on  the  east ;  the  Red 
river  and  other  streams  which  empty  into  the  Hudson's  bay  on  the  north  ;  "  La  Eiviere  Jacques  " 
and  several  tributaries  to  the  Missouri  on  the  west ;  and  the  Red  Cedar,  the  loway  and  the  Des 
Moines  on  the  south. 

This  wonderful  anomaly  in  nature,  which  is  several  hundred  miles  in  length,  and  varying 
from  fifty  to  an  hundred  in  width,  is  undoubtedly  the  noblest  mound  of  its  kind  in  the  world.  It 
gradually  and  gracefully  rises  on  each  side,  by  swell  after  swell,  without  tree,  or  bush,  or  rocks 
(save  what  are  to  be  seen  at  the  pipestone  quarry),  and  is  everywhere  covered  with  green  grass, 
affording  the  traveler,  from  its  highest  elevations,  the  most  unbounded  and  sublime  views  of — 
nothing  at  all,  save  the  blue  and  boundless  ocean  of  prairies  that  lie  beneath  and  all  around  him, 
vanishing  into  azure  in  the  distance,  without  a  speck  or  spot  to  break  their  softness. 

The  direction  of  this  ridge  clearly  establishes  the  course  of  the  diluvial  current  in  this 
region,  and  the  erratic  stones  which  are  distributed  along  the  base  I  attribute  to  an  origin  several 
hundred  miles  northwest  from  the  Coteau.  I  have  not  myself  traced  the  Coteau  to  its  highest 
points,  nor  to  its  northern  extremity,  but  on  this  subject  I  have  closely  questioned  a  number  of 
travelers  who  have  traversed  every  mile  of  it  with  their  carts,  and  from  thence  to  lake  Winnipec 
on  the  north,  who  uniformly  tell  me  that  there  is  no  range  of  primitive  rocks  to  be  crossed  in 
traveling  the  whole  distance,  which  is  one  connected  and  continuous  prairie. 

The  surface  of  the  sides  and  the  top  of  the  Coteau  is  everywhere  strewed  over  with  granitic 
sand  and  pebbles,  which,  together  with  the  fact  of  five  boulders  resting  at  the  pipestone  quarry, 
shows  clearly  that  every  part  of  the  ridge  has  been  subject  to  the  action  of  these  currents,  which 
could  not  have  run  counter  to  it  without  having  disfigured  or  deranged  its  beautiful  symmetry. 


66  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Lea,  1836. 

The  glazed  or  polished  surface  of  the  quartz  rocks  at  the  pipestone  quarry,  I  consider  a  very 
interesting  subject,  and  one  which  will  hereafter  produce  a  variety  of  theories  as  to  the  manner  in 
which  it  has  been  formed  and  the  causes  which  have  led  to  such  singular  results.  The  quartz  is 
of  a  close  grain  and  exceedingly  hard,  eliciting  the  most  brilliant  sparks  from  steel,  and  in  most 
places  where  it  is  exposed  to  the  sun  and  air,  its  surface  has  a  high  polish,  entirely  beyond  any 
result  which  could  have  been  produced  by  diluvial  action,  being  perfectly  glazed  as  if  by  ignition. 
I  was  not  sufficiently  particular  in  my  examination  to  ascertain  whether  any  parts  of  the  surface 
of  these  rocks  under  the  ground,  and  not  exposed  to  the  action  of  the  air,  were  thus  affected, 
which  would  afford  an  important  argument  in  forming  a  correct  theory  with  regard  to  it ;  and  it 
may  also  be  a  fact  of  similar  importance  that  the  polish  does  not  extend  over  the  whole  wall  or 
area,  but  is  distributed  over  it  in  sections,  often  disappearing  suddenly  and  reappearing  again, 
even  where  the  character  and  exposure  of  the  rock  are  the  same  and  unbroken.  In  general,  the 
points  and  parts  most  projecting  and  exposed,  bear  the  highest  polish  ;  which  would  naturally  be 
the  case,  whether  it  was  produced  by  ignition  or  by  the  action  of  the  air  and  sun.  It  would  seem 
almost  an  impossibility  that  the  air  in  passing  these  projections  for  centuries,  could  have  produced 
so  high  a  polish  on  so  hard  a  substance,  and,  in  the  total  absence  of  all  igneous  matter,  it  seems 
equally  unaccountable  that  this  effect  could  have  been  produced  by  fire.  I  have  broken  off  speci- 
mens and  brought  them  home,  which  have  as  high  a  polish  and  luster  on  the  surface  as  a  piece  of 
melted  glass;  and  then  as  these  rocks  have  certainly  been  formed  where  they  now  lie,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  this  strange  effect  has  been  produced  either  by  the  action  of  the  air  or  by  igneous 
influence,  and  if  by  the  latter  cause,  we  can  come  to  no  other  conclusion  than  that  these  results  are 
volcanic  ;*  that  this  wall  has  once  formed  the  side  of  an  extinguished  crater,  and  that  the  pipestone, 
lying  in  horizontal  strata,  was  formed  by  the  lava  which  issued  from  it.  I  am  strongly  inclined  to 
believe,  however,  that  the  former  supposition  is  the  correct  one,  and  that  the  pipestone,  which  dif- 
fers from  all  known  specimens  of  lava  and  steatite,  will  prove  to  be  a  subject  of  great  interest, 
and  worthy  of  careful  analysis. 

The  first  plate-page  is  designed  to  show  at  a  glance  the  history  of  geo- 
graphical exploration  in  Minnesota,  from  the  time  of  the  earliest  French 
exploration  to  the  date  of  Catlin's  visit  to  the  pipestone  quarry.  Plate-page 
No.  2  is  a  reduced  copy  of  Franquelin's  map  of  1688,  being  the  oldest  known 
map  of  the  region  west  of  lake  Superior. 

LIEUT.  ALBERT    M.  LEA   ON    THE    BLACK    HAWK   PURCHASE. 

Lieut.  A.  M.  Lea's  map,  accompanying  his  report  on  the  "Black  Hawk 
purchase,"  entitled  "  Notes  on  the  Iowa  District  of  Wisconsin  Territory," 
1836,  shows  the  southern  and  southeastern  counties  of  Minnesota,  and  the 
tributaries  of  the  Mississippi  river  as  far  north  as  the  foot  of  lake  Pepin. 
The  Whitewater  river,  by  this  map,  joins  the  Embarras  river  just  before 
the  latter  reaches  the  Mississippi.  A  tributary  of  the  Whitewater  from 
the  south  is  named  Swallow  creek.  Lake  Albert  Lea  is  there  styled  Fox 
lake.  Fountain  lake  he  styled  Chapeau  lake.  A  branch  of  the  Blue  Earth 
river  is  represented,  and  Council  lake  as  one  of  its  tributaries.  This  is 
probably  Walnut  lake,  of  Faribault  county.  The  head  of  Lime  creek  is 

*Tliese  smoothed  surfaces  are  due  to  the  polishinR  effect  of  sand  and  dust  driven  by  the  high  winds.— N.  II.  W. 


, .   -   , -.   -  ,-s 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  67 

1836,  Nicollet.] 

Trail  lake,  with  a  smaller  one  flowing  into  it  from  the  northwest.  North- 
west from  Chapeau  lake,  and  between  its  two  affluents  from  the  northwest 
is  "Paradise  Prairie."  A  "trading  house"  is  represented  at  lied  Wing's 
village,  at  the  foot  of  lake  Pepin.  Lieut.  Lea's  brief  general  notes  pertain 
wholly  to  the  region  south  of  Minnesota,  though  his  return  ti-ail  passes 
through  our  southern  counties. 

JEAN   N.    NICOLLET. 

From  1836  to  1843,  Mr.  Jean  N.  Nicollet  prosecuted  the  geographical 
exploration  of  the  upper  Mississippi.  He  died  while  his  report,  intended  to 
show  the  result  of  his  labors,  was  undergoing  print  and  revision.*  It  is 
accompanied  by  a  map,  which,  up  to  that  time,  was  the  most  complete  and 
correct  of  the  upper  Mississippi  region.  It  covered  not  only  the  whole  ot 
Minnesota  but  also  Iowa,  about  one-half  of  Missouri  and  much  of  Dakota, 
Wisconsin  and  Illinois.  It  has  been  pronounced  by  high  authority!  "one  of 
the  greatest  contributions  ever  made  to  American  geography.''  That  part 
of  his  map  covering  Minnesota,  where  the  greater  part  of  his  time  was  spent, 
and  where  he  brought  out  the  most  interesting  and  matured  results,  is 
reproduced  in  plate-page  No.  7.  He  not  only  expresses  the  names  ol 
streams  and  lakes,  but  gives  the  first  representation  of  the  striking  topo- 
graphical features  of  the  western  and  northern  portions  of  the  state.  Without 
any  just  idea  of  the  origin  of  the  immense  "erratic  deposite"  which  charac- 
terizes the  western  and  northern  part  of  the  state,  he  has,  with  tolerable 
correctness,  delineated  the  course  of  a  series  of  knolls  and  hills,  made  up  of 
drift,  under  the  names,  Plateau  du  Coteau  des  Prairies,  Coteait  du  Grand  Bois. 
HiyJit  of  Land,  Missabay  Hif/htx,  which  extend  through  Minnesota  and  mark 
the  continuous  limit  of  the  ice-sheet  at  the  time  of  the  last  glacial  epoch. 
He  aims  to  locate  correctly,  by  astronomical  observations,  the  numerous 
streams  and  lakes,  and  the  main  geographical  features  of  the  state,  filling 
in  by  eye-sketching,  and  by  pacing,  the  intermediate  objects.  His  methods, 
allowing  for  the  imperfection  of  his  appliances,  and  the  meagerness  of  his 
outfit  and  supplies,  were  established  on  the  same  principles  as  the  most 
approved  geodetic  surveys  of  the  present  day.  It  would,  perhaps,  have  been 


*  Report  intended  to  illustrate  a  Map  of  the  Hydrographical  Basin  of  the  Upper  Mississippi  river,  made  by  J.  N.  Nicollet, 
while  in  employ  under  the  Bureau  of  the  Corps  of  Topographical  Engineers.  Feb.  16,  1H1,  Washington.  Senate  docu- 
ment No.  237.  26th  Congress,  2d  Session. 

tGen.  G.  K.  Warren,  Pac.  R.  R.  Reports.    Vol.  XL,  p.  41. 


68  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Nicollet,  1839. 

well  if  the  methods  of  Nicollet  could  have  been  adhered  to  in  the  further 
surveying  and  mapping  of  the  western  territories.  Their  geography  would 
have  been  less  rapidly  developed,  but  it  would  have  been  done  more  cor- 
rectly. Nicollet' s  map  embraces  a  multitude  of  names,  including  many  new 
ones,  which  he  applied  to  lakes  and  streams.  These  are  not  represented  on 
the  general  historical  map,  but  may  be  seen  on  referring  to  Nicollet's  map 
as  reproduced. 

Mr.  Nicollet  makes  but  few  references  to  the  geology  and  natural 
history  of  the  region  he  surveyed,  his  main  purpose  being  geographical 
information.  Lieut.  J.  C.  Fremont  was  his  principal  aid.  He  also  employed 
Mr.  Charles  Geyer  as  a  practical  botanist,  whose  collections  were  named  by 
Prof.  John  Torrey.  His  fossils  were  named  by  himself,  or  by  the  assistance 
of  Vanuxem  and  Conrad  of  the  New  York  Geological  Survey,  then  lately 
instituted. 

MR.  NICOLLET  ON  THE  COTEAU  DES  PKAIRIES. 

The  basin  of  the  upper  Mississippi  is  separated  in  a  great  part  of  its  extent  from  that  of  the 
Missouri,  by  an  elevated  plain,  the  appearance  of  which,  seen  from  the  plain  of  the  St.  Peter's,  or 
that  of  the  river  Jacques,  looming  as  it  were  a  distant  shore,  has  suggested  for  it  the  name  of  Coteau 
des  Prairies.  Its  more  appropriate  designation  would  be  that  of  plateau,  which  means  something 
more  than  is  conveyed  to  the  mind  by  the  expression,  a  plain. 

Its  northern  extremity  is  in  latitude  46°,  extending  to  43° ;  after  which  it  loses  its  distinctive 
elevation  above  the  surrounding  plains,  and  passes  into  rolling  prairies.  Its  length  is  about  two 
hundred  miles,  and  its  general  direction  N.  N.  W.and  S.  S.  E.  Its  northern  termination,  (called 
Tete  du  Coteau,  in  consequence  of  its  peculiar  configuration,)  is  not  more  than  fifteen  to  twenty 
miles  across ;  its  elevation  above  the  level  of  the  Big  Stone  lake  is  890  feet,  and  above  the  ocean 
1916  feet.  Starting  from  this  extremity  {that  is,  the  head  of  the  Coteau,)  the  surface  of  the  plateau 
is  undulating,  forming  many  dividing  ridges  which  separate  the  waters  flowing  into  the  St.  Peter's 
and  the  Mississippi  from  those  of  the  Missouri. 

Under  the  forty-fourth  degree  of  latitude,  the  breadth  of  the  Coteau  is  about  forty  miles, 
and  its  mean  elevation  is  here  reduced  to  1450  feet  above  the  sea.  Within  this  space  its  two  slopes 
are  rather  abrupt,  crowned  with  verdure  and  scolloped  by  deep  ravines  thickly  shaded  with 
bushes,  forming  the  beds  of  rivulets  that  water  the  subjacent  plains. 

The  Coteau  itself  is  isolated,  in  the  midst  of  boundless  and  fertile  prairies,  extending  to  the 
west,  to  the  north,  and  into  the  valley  of  the  St.  Peter's. 

The  plain  at  its  northern  extremity  is  a  most  beautiful  tract  of  land,  diversified  by  hills, 
dales,  woodlands  and  lakes,  the  last  abounding  in  fish.  This  region  of  country  is  probably  the 
most  elevated  between  the  gulf  of  Mexico  and  Hudson's  bay.  From  its  summit,  proceeding  from 
its  western  to  its  eastern  limits,  grand  views  are  afforded.  At  its  eastern  border,  particularly, 
the  prospect  is  magnificent  beyond  description,  extending  over  the  immense  green  turf  that  forms 
the  basin  of  the  Bed  river  of  the  North,  the  forest-capped  summits  of  the  hauteurs  des  terres  that 
surround  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi,  the  granitic  valley  of  the  upper  St.  Peter's,  and  the 
depressions  in  which  are  lake  Traverse  and  the  Big  Stone  lake.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  in 
future  times  this  region  will  be  the  summer  resort  of  the  wealthy  of  the  land.  * 

The  other  portions  of  the  Coteau,  ascending  from  the  lower  latitudes,  present  pretty  much 
the  same  characters.  This  difference,  however,  is  remarkable :  that  the  woodlands  become 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  69 

1838,  Nicollet.J 

scarcer,  whilst  the  open  prairies  increase  in  extent.  It  is  very  rarely  only  that  groves  are  met 
with,  to  which  the  NdakotaJis,  or  Sioux,  have  given  the  name  of  Tchan  Witah,  or  Wood  islands. 
When  these  groves  are  surrounded  by  water  they  assume  some  resemblance  to  oases,  and  hence  I 
have  assigned  this  name  to  some  of  them  on  my  map. 

These  oases,  possessed  of  a  good  soil,  well  wooded,  offering  an  abundance  of  game,  and 
waters  teeming  with  fish,  offer  inducements  for  permanent  settlements.  In  this  region  there  are 
frequent  instances  of  a  marsh,  or  lake,  furnishing  waters  to  different  hydrographical  basins— a 
fact  observed  by  the  Sioux,  and  which  they  express,  in  the  compound  word  of  their  dialect,  mini 
dkipan  kaduza;  from  mini,  water,  akipan,  division,  share,  and  kaduza,  to  flow,  to  run  out. 

There  are,  besides,  other  fine  lakes,  that  would  furnish,  on  their  borders,  eligible  sites  for 
such  villages  as  were  formerly  occupied  by  some  of  the  Ndakotah  tribes,  previous  to  the  war  of 
extermination  waged  against  them  by  the  Sac  and  Fox  Indians.  Among  them  may  be  numbered 
the  series  of  lakes  designated  as  the  Shetek,  Benton,  Titan-kahi,  Poinsett,  Abert,  Spirit,  and 
Tizaptonan  lakes. 

Whatever  people  may  fix  their  abode  in  this  region  must,  necessarily,  become  agriculturists 
and  shepherds,  drawing  all  their  resources  from  the  soil.  They  must  not  only  raise  the  usual 
agricultural  products  for  feeding,  as  is  now  but  too  generally  done  in  some  parts  of  the  west,  but 
they  will  have  to  turn  their  attention  to  other  rural  occupations,  such  as  tending  sheep  for  their 
wool;  which  would  greatly  add  to  their  resources,  as  well  as  finally  bring  about  a  more 
extended  application  of  the  industrial  arts  among  them.  *  The  plateau 

of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies  is  composed  in  a  great  measure,  of  the  materials  belonging  to  what  I 
have  named  the  erratic  deposite,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  nature  of  the  soils,  the  physiognomy  of 
the  ridges  and  hillocks  that  diversify  its  surface,  the  deep  ravines  by  which  it  is  flanked,  and  the 
innumerable  erratic  blocks  strewed  over  the  borders  of  its  lakes. 

We  have  no  data  by  which  to  determine  the  inferior  limits  of  this  deposite ;  still  there  is 
reason  to  think  that  it  rests  upon  such  primary  rocks  as  show  themselves  along  the  line  of  rapids 
of  the  upper  St.  Peter's,  consisting  of  granite,  sienite  and  other  metamorphic  rocks.  Nevertheless, 
over  the  vast  extent  of  this  plateau,  there  is,  apparently,  but  one  spot  where  the  subjacent  rock 
makes  its  appearance,  and  this  is  at  the  Indian  red  pipestone  quarry,  so-called. 

NICOLLET  AT  THE  BED  PIPESTONE  QUARRY. 

The  Indians  of  all  the  surroimding  nations  make  a  regular  annual  pilgrimage  to  it  unless 
prevented  by  their  wars  or  dissensions.  The  quarry  is  on  the  lands  of  the  Sissiton  tribe  of  Sioux. 

The  idea  of  the  young  Indians,  who  are  very  fond  of  the  marvellous,  is,  that  it  has  been 
opened  by  the  Great  Spirit,  and  that  whenever  it  is  visited  by  them,  they  are  saluted  by  lightning 
and  thunder.  We  may  cite  as  a  coincidence,  our  own  experience  in  confirmation  of  this  tradition. 
Short  of  half  a  mile  from  the  valley,  we  were  met  by  a  severe  thunder-storm,  during  which  the 
wind  blew  with  so  much  force  as  to  threaten  the  overthrowing  of  Mr.  Eenville's  wagon ;  and  we 
were  obliged  to  stop  for  a  few  minutes  during  the  short  descent  into  the  valley. 

If  this  mode  of  reception  was  at  first  to  be  interpreted  as  an  indication  of  anger  on  the  part 
of  the  Great  Spirit  for  our  intrusion,  we  may  add  that  he  was  soon  reconciled  to  our  presence  ;  for 
the  sun  soon  after  made  his  appearance,  drying  both  the  valley  and  our  baggage.  The  rest  of  the 
day  was  spent  in  pitching  our  tent  on  the  supposed  consecrated  ground,  and  in  admiring  the 
beautiful  effects  of  lights  and  shadows  produced  by  the  western  sun  as  it  illumined  the  several 
parts  of  the  bluff,  composed  of  red  rock  of  different  shades,  extending  a  league  in  length,  and 
presenting  the  appearance  of  the  ruins  of  some  ancient  city  built  of  marble  and  porphyry.  The 
night  was  calm  and  temperate,  of  which  we  took  advantage  to  make  astronomical  observations. 
********** 

The  valley  of  the  "  Red  Pipestone"  extends  from  N.  N.  W.  to  S.  S.  E.  in  the  form  of  an  ellipsis, 
being  about  three  miles  in  length,  with  a  breadth  at  its  smaller  axis  of  half  a  mile.  It  is  cradle- 
shaped,  and  its  slope  to  the  east  is  a  smooth  sward,  without  trees  and  without  rocks.  Its  slope  to 
the  west  is  rugged,  presenting  a  surface  of  rocks  throughout  its  whole  length,  that  form  a  very 
picturesque  appearance,  and  would  deserve  a  special  description  if  this  were  the  place  to  do  so. 
But  I  am  now  more  particularly  interested  in  defining  its  geological  features. 


7(1  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Nicolkt,  1838. 

The  principal  rock  that  strikes  the  attention  of  the  observer  in  this  remarkable  inland  bluff, 
is  an  indurated  (metamorphic)  sandrock,  or  quartzyte,  the  red  color  of  which  diminishes  in 
intensity  from  the  base  to  the  summit.  It  is  distinctly  stratified;  the  upper  beds  being  very  much 
weather-worn  and  disintegrated  into  large  and  small  cubic  fragments. 

The  whole  thickness  of  this  quartzyte,  which  immediately  overlies  the  bed  of  the  red  pipe- 
stone  is  26i  feet.  Its  strata  appear  to  have  a  small  dip  to  the  N.  E.  The  floor  of  the  valley, 
which  is  higher  than  the  red  pipestone,  is  formed  by  the  inferior  strata  of  the  quartzyte,  and  in 
the  spring  of  the  year  is  most  generally  under  water;  the  action  of  which  upon  the  rock  is  apparent 
in  the  great  quantity  of  fragments  strewed  over  the  valley,  so  as  to  render  it  uncomfortable  to 
walk  over  them.  The  creek  by  which  the  valley  is  drained,  feeds  in  its  course  three  distinct  small 
basins  at  different  elevations,  that  penetrate  down  as  far  as  the  red  pipestone. 

This  red  pipestone,  not  more  interesting  to  the  Indian  than  it  is  to  the  man  of  science,  by  its 
unique  character,  deserves  a  particular  description.  In  the  quarry  of  it  which  I  had  opened,  the 
thickness  of  the  bed  is  one  foot  and  a  half ;  the  upper  portion  of  which  separates  in  thin  slabs, 
whilst  the  lower  ones  are  more  compact.  As  a  mineralogical  species  it  may  be  described  as  fol- 
lows: compact;  structure  slaty;  receiving  a  dull  polish;  having  a  red  streak;  color  blood-red, 
with  dots  of  a  fainter  shade  of  the  same  color  ;  fracture  rough  ;  sectile ;  feel  somewhat  greasy; 
hardness  not  yielding  to  the  nail ;  not  scratched  by  selenite,  but  easily  by  calcareous  spar ;  specific 
gravity  2.90.  The  acids  have  no  action  upon  it ;  before  the  blowpipe  it  is  infusible  per  se,  but 
with  borax  gives  a  green  glass. 

According  to  Prof.  Jackson,  of  Boston,  who  has  analyzed  and  applied  to  it  the  name  of 
catlinite,  after  Mr.  Catlin,  it  is  composed  of — 

Water 8.4 

Silica 48.2 

Alumina 28.2 

Magnesia 6.0 

Peroxide  of  iron 5.0 

Oxide  of  Manganese 0.6 

Carbonate  of  lime 2.6 

Loss  (probably  magnesia) 1.0 

Total : 100.0 

But  Prof.  Jackson  assimilates  it  to  the  agalmatolite,  from  which  it  differs,  however,  very 
materially  by  its  general  aspect,  its  conduct  before  the  blowpipe,  and  its  total  insolubility  in  sul- 
phuric acid.* 

Another  feature  of  the  Bed  Pipestone  valley  is  the  occurrence  of  granitic  boulders  of  larger 
size  than  any  I  had  previously  met.  One  of  these  measured  about  sixty  feet  in  circumference, 
and  was  from  ten  to  twelve  feet  thick.  They  are  strewed  over  the  valley,  in  which  it  is  remark- 
able that  there  are  no  pebbles. 

The  name  of  Mr.  Nicollet,  and  the  initials  of  his  companions,  are  hand- 
somely cut  in  the  hard  quartzyte  at  the  top  of  the  ledge  near  the  Leaping 
Rock,  a  little  north  of  where  the  creek  passes  over  the  brow  of  the  escarp- 
ment, as  here  represented  and  arranged,  viz  : 

J.  N.  Nicollet. 
C.  F.  &JJ1 
C.  A.  G.  *  -g 

J.  L.  oo  2: 

J.  E.F.      5»| 
J.  R. 


*The  red  pipestone  in  also  found  on  the  upper  part  of  the  Mishkwagokag,  or  Red  Cedar  river,  which  falls  into  the 
Chippeway  river  that  empties  itself  into  the  Mississippi  river  below  lake  Pcpin. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  71 

1838,  Nicollet.] 

THE  UNDINE  REGION. 

I  shall  now  proceed  to  give  a  short  account  of  some  of  the  regions  of  country  adjoining  the 
Coteau  des  Prairies,  omitting  those  which  have  already  found  a  place  in  the  geography  of  the' 
United  States,  so  as  to  be  more  particular  concerning  such  as  are  but  little  or  not  at  all  known. 
Among  these,  that  which  appeared  to  me  the  most  favorable,  is  the  one  watered  by  the  bold  Man- 
kato  or  Blue  Earth  river,  and  to  which  I  have  given  the  name  of  Undine  region. 

The  great  number  of  the  navigable  tributaries  of  the  Mankato,  spreading  themselves  out  in 
the  shape  of  a  fan ;  the  group  of  lakes  surrounded  by  well-wooded  hills ;  some  wide-spreading 
prairies  with  fertile  soil ;  others  apparently  less  favored,  but  open  to  improvement ;— the  whole 
together  bestow  upon  this  region  a  most  picturesque  appearance.  It  was  while  on  a  visit  to  lakes 
Okmnanpidan  and  Tchanhassan( Little  Heron  and  Maplewood  lakes),  that  u  occurred  tome  to  give 
it  the  name  that  I  have  adopted,  derived  from  that  of  an  interesting  and  romantic  German  tale, 
the  heroine  of  which  belonged  to  the  extensive  race  of  water-spirits  living  in  the  brooks  and  rivers 
and  lakes,  whose  father  was  a  mighty  prince.  She  was,  moreover,  the  niece  of  a  great  brook  (the 
Mankato)  who  lived  in  the  midst  of  forests,  and  was  beloved  by  all  the  many  great  streams  of  the 
surrounding  country,  etc.,  etc. 

I  do  not  know  why  I  fancied  an  analogy  between  the  ideal  country  described  in  the  tale,  and 
that  of  the  one  before  me  ;  but  I  involuntarily,  as  it  were,  adopted  the  name.* 

The  limit  of  this  region  is  the  N.  E.  prong  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies,  which  takes  in  «be 
sources  of  the  Mankato  and  of  the  La  Hontan  rivers,  subdividing  itself  into  undulations  whence 
proceed  the  waters  of  the  Wazioju,  or  Pine  river,  Miniska,  or  White  Water  river,  Okah,  or  Heron 
run,  &c.,  &c.,  all  emptying  into  the  Mississippi. 

The  Mankato  becomes  navigable  with  boats  within  a  few  miles  of  its  sources.  It  is  deep,  with 
a  moderate  current  along  a  great  portion  of  its  course,  but  becomes  very  rapid  on  its  approach  to 
the  St.  Peter's.  Its  bed  is  narrowly  walled  up  by  banks  rising  to  an  elevation  of  from  sixty  to 
eighty  feet,  and  reaching  up  to  the  uplands  through  which  the  river  flows.  These  banks  are 
frequently  cliffs,  or  vertical  escarpments,  such  as  the  one  called  by  the  Sioux  Manya  kichaksa,  or 
cleft  elevation.  The  breadth  of  the  river  is  pretty  uniformly  from  80  to  120  feet  wide ;  and 
ttie  average  breadth  of  the  valley  through  which  it  flows  scarcely  a  quarter  of  a  mile.  The  latter, 
as  well  as  the  high  grounds,  are  well-wooded ;  the  timber  beginning  to  spread  out  on  both  shores, 
especially  since  they  have  become  less  frequented  by  the  Sioux  hunters,  and  are  not  so  often  Bred. 
But  the  crossings  of  the  river  are  hard  to  find,  requiring  to  be  pointed  out  by  an  experienced 
guide.  I  have  laid  down  on  the  map  my  route  over  the  Undine  region,  and  the  geographical  posi- 
tions of  the  crossing  places  will  be  fonnd  in  the  table  at  the  end  of  the  report. 

On  the  left  bank  of  the  Mankato,  six  miles  from  its  mouth,  in  a  rocky  bluff  composed  of 
sandstone  and  limestone,  are  found  cavitives  in  which  the  famed  blue  or  green  earth,  used  by  the 
Sioux  as  their  principal  pigment,  is  obtained.  This  material  is  nearly  exhausted,  and  it  is  not 
likely  that  this  is  the  spot  where  a  Mr.  Le  Sueur  (who  is  mentioned  in  the  narrative  of  Major  Long's 
Second  Expedition,  as  also  by  Mr.  Featherstonhaugh)  could,  in  his  third  voyage  during  the  year 
1700,  have  collected  his  four  thousand  pounds  of  copper  earth  sent  by  him  to  France.  I  have 
reason  to  believe  that  Le  Sueur's  location  is  on  the  river  to  which  I  have  affixed  his  name,  and 
which  empties  into  the  Mankato  three  quarters  of  a  league  above  Fort  L'Huillier,  built  by  him, 
and  where  he  spent  a  winter. 

This  location  corresponds  precisely  with  that  given  by  Charlevoix,  while  it  is  totally  inap- 
plicable to  the  former.  Here  the  blue  earth  is  abundant  in  the  steep  and  elevated  hills  at  the 
mouth  of  this  river,  which  hills  form  a  broken  country  on  the  right  side  of  the  Mankato.  Mr. 
Fremont  and  myself  have  verified  this  fact— he  during  his  visit  to  Le  Sueur  river;  and  I  upon 
the  locality  designated  by  Mr.  Featherstonhangh,  where  the  Ndakotahs  formerly  assembled  in 

*Thc  beautiful  poetic  conceit  of  Nicollet  in  applying  the  name  of  Undine  to  this  region  should  be  perpetuated. 
Undine  was  a  water-sprite,  that  had  control  of  the  waters  so  as  to  accomplish  her  designs.  Her  uncle,  Kuhleborn,  who 
possessed  a  great  stream,  was  influential  over  many,  and  caused  sudden  floods  to  stop  travel,  and  to  intercept  fugitives. 
His  passage  from  province  to  province  was  often  subterranean,  and  brought  him  into  numerous  lakes,  He  made  his 
realm  obedient  to  Undine,  and  aided  her  ambitious  design  to  captivate  a  rich  and  noble  knight.  The  story  is  one  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  written  by  Fouque.  The  multiplicity  of  streams,  springs,  and  lakes  in  this  region,  with  occasional 
subterranean  channels  ('see  Geology  of  Klur,  Earth  County,)  greatly  in  contrast  with  the  monotonous,  treeless  prairies  on 
either  side,  make  it  an  image  of  the  domain  of  Kuhleborn,  and  suggest  that  it  is  the  habitation  of  Undine,  and  her 
associate  water-nymphs.  The  valleys,  and  some  of  the  uplands,  in  this  region,  are  wooded  and  the  streams  sometimes 
run  in  deep,  rock-bound  gorges. 


72  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Nicollet,  1838. 

great  numbers  to  collect  it,  but  to  which  they  now  seldom  resort,  as  it  is  now  comparatively 
scarce — at  least  so  I  was  told  by  Sleepy  Eye,  the  chief  of  the  Sissitons,  who  accompanied  me 
during  this  excursion. 

As  I  did  in  the  case  of  the  red  pipestone  described  above,  I  will  state  the  mineralogical 
character  of  the  Indian  blue  earth  or  clay.  It  is  massive,  somewhat  plastic,  emits  an  argillaceous 
odor  when  breathed  upon  ;  color  bluish  green  ;  easily  scratched  with  the  nail,  when  formed  into 
hardened  balls.  The  acids  have  no  action  upon  it ;  it  is  infusible  before  the  blowpipe,  but  loses 
its  color  and  becomes  brown.  This  color  is  due  to  the  peroxide  of  iron  which  it  contains  in  the 
proportion  of  ten  per  cent,  at  least.  It  contains  no  potash  and  but  a  small  proportion  of  lime. 
It  is  a  very  different  mineral  from  that  described  by  Dr.  Thompson  under  the  name  of  pipe-clay. 

Next  comes  the  region  of  country  between  the  St.  Peter's  and  the  upper  portions  of  La 
Hontan  and  Le  Sueur  rivers,  above  referred  to.  This  is  an  extensive  district,  thickly  set  in 
forests  amidst  which  there  are  reported  to  be  many  large  lakes.  The  French  give  to  the  forests 
the  name  of  Bois-francs,  or  Bois-forts,  whenever  they  are  not  composed  principally  of  trees 
belonging  to  the  family  of  the  Coniferce. 

To  complete  an  account  of  the  physical  geography  of  the  country,  including  the  Undine 
region  with  the  last  mentioned,  I  will  now  enumerate  some  of  the  most  important  trees,  shrubs 
and  plants  that  characterize  its  sylva  and  flora. 

The  whole  country  embraced  by  the  lower  St.  Peter's  and  the  Undine  region  exceeds  any 
land  of  the  Mississippi  above  Wisconsin  river,  as  well  in  the  quality  and  quantity  of  its  timber 
as  the  fertility  of  its  soil.  The  forests  of  the  valley  on  the  right  bank  are  connected  by  groves  and 
small  wooded  streams  of  the  adjoining  prairies  with  the  forest  called  Bois  francs,  and  they  extend 
so  far  southwest  as  to  include  the  lands  of  the  upper  waters  of  the  Mankato  river. 

The  forest  trees,  as  reported  to  me  by  Mr.  Geyer,  are  chiefly  soft  maple,  American  and  red 
elm,  black  walnut,  the  nettle  tree,  basswood,  red  and  white  ash ;  the  undergrowth,  the  common 
hawthorn,  prickly  ash,  high  cranberry,  red  root,  gray  dogwood,  fox  grapes,  horse-briar  and  moon- 
seed.  Among  the  herbs  are  the  wild  and  bristly  sarsaparilla,  Indian  turnip,  the  gay  orchis  and 
others;  rushes  and  the  flowering  ferns  are  abundant  along  the  low  banks  of  the  rivers.  The 
valley  prairies  are  rich  in  pasture  grasses  and  leguminous  and  orchideous  plants,  such  as  the 
yellow  lady's  slipper,  American  and  tufted  vetch,  and  others.  The  lowest  parts  near  the  borders 
of  the  woods,  and  those  subject  to  inundations,  are  filled  with  the  high  weeds  common  to  such 
places— as  the  ragged  cup,  tall  thistle,  great  bitterweed,  the  tuberous  sunflower,  and  others. 

Swamps  are  frequent,  and  some  of  them  contain  extensive  tracts  of  tamarack  pines.  Cedars 
grow,  intermixed  with  red  birch,  on  the  rocky  declivities  of  the  lower  Mankato  river.  Red  and 
bur  oak,  with  hazel,  red-root,  peter's-wort,  and  the  wild  rose,  are  the  trees  and  shrubs  of  the  uplands. 
There  are,  besides,  thickets  of  the  poplar  birch  that  are  frequent  in  the  elevated  prairies  near  the 
river.  The  prairies  are  very  luxuriant,  and  generally  somewhat  level  and  depressed ;  the  gum- 
plant  and  button  snake-root  are  their  most  abundant  and  conspicuous  herbs. 

To  give  animation  to  the  Undine  region,  and  to  the  valley  of  the  St.  Peter's,  as  well  as  to 
develop  trade  between  the  British  possessions,  the  territory  of  Iowa  and  the  state  of  Missouri,  it 
would  be  necessary  for  government  to  open  routes  of  communication  between  St.  Peter's  and  the 
Travese  des  Sioux,  through  the  Bois  francs  mentioned  above ;  between  St.  Peter's  and  the  Prairie 
du  Chien ;  between  Dubuque  and  the  Lac-qui-parle ;  through  the  Undine  region,  with  a  fork  in 
the  direction  of  the  Traverse  des  Sioux,  passing  by  Fremont*  and  Ofcomanf  lakes,  (which  latter 
is  at  the  headwaters  of  La  Hontan  river,)  and  in  other  directions  that  would  naturally  suggest 
themselves. 

The  geological  formation  that  characterizes  the  Undine  region  as  well  as  the  St.  Peter's, 
as  far  nearly  as  the  mouth  of  the  Waraju,  is  the  same  as  that  of  Fort  Snelling  which  I  shall 
describe  further  on.  It  consists  mainly  in  a  thick  stratum  of  friable  sandstone  as  the  basis, 
succeeded  by  a  deposit*  of  limestone,  which  is  sometimes  magnesian,  and  occasionally  contains 
fossils ;  the  whole  covered  by  what  I  have  called  the  erratic  deposite. 

The  sandstone  forms  the  Little  rapids  of  the  St.  Peter's,  and,  reappearing  at  the  Traverse 
des  Sioux,  determines  other  rapids  that  are  observed  in  a  beautiful  stream!  two  miles  northeast  of 

*  Probably  Clear  Lake,  near  Waseca, 

f  Lake  Elysian. 

i  Moon  creek,  now  called  Cherry  creek,  at  Ottawa. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  73 

1838,  Nicollet.] 

the  trading-post  in  this  place.  At  other  intermediate  localities  the  sandstone  and  limestone  both 
appear ;  but  further  on  the  limestone  disappears  altogether ;  because  it  goes  thinning  out  as  the 
western  limits  of  the  formation  are  approached.  This  may  be  observed  near  the  Waraju,  and 
toward  the  upper  parts  of  the  Mankato,  where  the  limestone,  and  indeed  the  sandstone,  are 
replaced  by  beds  of  clay  or  of  calcareous  marl. 

In  the  argillaceous  deposits  last  referred  to  there  are  red  ochre,  other  ferruginous  minerals, 
and  lignites.  Between  the  sandstone  and  the  limestone  there  is  a  bed  of  whitish  clay,  enclosing 
nodules  of  the  blue  earth ;  and  sometimes,  between  the  strata  of  limestone,  bands  of  argillaceous 
iron  ore,  intermixed  with  siliceous  and  calcareous  incrustions. 

The  account  given  above  applies  equally  to  the  rocky  cliffs  on  the  upper  part  of  the  La 
Hontan  river,  and  especially  to  the  interesting  locality*  at  the  entrance  of  its  south  fork,  which  is 
four  miles  to  the  east  of  lake  Tt-tanka-tanninan.'f 

LA  HONTAN'S  KIVIEKE  LONGUE. 

Those  who  have  read  the  travels  of  Baron  La  Hontan,  in  which  he  mentions  his  discovery 
of  a  certain  long  river  coming  from  the  west,  and  falling  into  the  Mississippi,  may,  perhaps,  think 
that,  by  giving  his  name  to  a  river  upon  my  map,  I  meant  to  clear  up  the  doubt  which  has  existed, 
for  more  than  150  years,  as  regards  the  veracity  of  this  officer. 

Such  was  not  originally  my  intention  ;  but  I  am  forced  into  it  after  terminating  my  explora- 
tion of  the  Undine  region.  Having  afterward  procured  a  copy  of  La  Houtan's  book,  in  which 
there  is  a  roughly  made  map  of  his  Long  river,  I  was  struck  with  the  resemblance  of  its  course,  as 
laid  down,  with  that  of  Cannon  river ;  which  I  had  previously  sketched  in  my  own  field-book. 
I  soon  convinced  myself  that  the  principal  statements  of  the  Baron,  in  reference  to  the  country, 
and  the  few  details  he  gives  of  the  physical  character  of  the  river,  coincided  remarkably  with  what 
I  had  laid  down  as  belonging  to  the  Cannon  river. 

Thus  the  lakes  and  swamps  corresponded  ;  traces  of  Indian  villages  mentioned  by  him  might 
be  found  in  the  growth  of  a  certain  grass  that  propagates  itself  around  all  old  Indian  settlements. 
Some  of  the  names  which  he  assigns  to  them  may  be  referred  to  dialects  of  the  Sioux  tongue ; 
and  even  his  account  of  the  feasting  of  his  men  on  the  large  number  of  the  American  hare  which 
he  found  there,  is  substantiated  by  the  voyageurs. 

His  account,  too,  of  the  mouth  of  the  river,  is  particularly  accurate.  The  most  scrupulous 
geographer,  describing  it  at  this  time,  would  have  but  little  to  alter.  As  this  locality  is  in  the 
way  of  travelers  going  to  St.  Peter's,  I  will  quote  from  the  text  of  La  Hontan,  so  that  they  may 
judge  of  the  truth  of  my  assertion.  "  We  entered,"  he  says,  "  the  mouth  of  this  long  river,  which 
is  a  sort  of  large  lake  filled  with  canebrakes  (joncs);  in  the  midst  of  which  we  discovered  a  narrow 
channel,  which  we  followed  up,"  &c. 

I  do  not  pretend,  however,  to  justify  his  gross  exaggeration  of  the  length  of  the  river ;  of 
the  numerous  population  on  its  banks ;  and  his  pretended  information  respecting  the  nations 
inhabiting  the  more  remote  regions.  This  sort  of  exaggeration  seems  to  have  belonged  to  the 
period  ;  but  there  is  apparently  a  more  serious  objection  to  be  made  to  his  narrative — namely, 
that  it  appears,  from  his  text,  he  traveled  during  the  months  of  November  and  December ;  at 
which  period  of  the  year  the  rivers  in  these  parts  are  mostly  frozen  over,  and  the  voyage  there- 
fore impracticable.  But  the  received  opinion,  on  the  other  hand,  is,  that  it  is  one  of  the  last  to 
freeze,  and  is  the  last  resort  of  the  wild  fowl.  The  Sioux  are  said  to  congregate,  in  consequence 
upon  its  banks  in  large  numbers  ;  relying  on  this  resource,  whilst  they  are  otherwise  collecting 
their  peltries,  insomuch  that  the  American  Pur  Department  at  St.  Peter's  has  always  kept  up  this 
post  for  the  purpose  of  securing  the  advantages  of  this  trade.  Besides,  this  river  is  fed  by  a 
great  number  of  springs ;  and  the  upper  portion  of  its  course  is  in  a  remarkable  manner  pro- 
tected from  sudden  changes  of  temperature  by  high  rocky  banks  and  thick  forests  that  cover  them. 

Under  all  these  circumstances  I  have  thought  proper  to  notice  these  facts,  that  seem  to 
possess  sufficient  interest  in  the  history  of  the  geography  of  the  west;  I  have  stated  what  appeared 
to  me  the  true  facts  in  the  case;  and  I  may  add,  in  conclusion,  that  if  La  Hontan's  claims  to  dis- 
coveries are  mere  fables,  he  has  had  the  good  fortune  or  the  sagacity  to  have  come  near  the  truth. 


*  The  vicinity  of  Faribault. 
t  Cannon  lake,  in  Rice  county. 


74  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Nicollet,  1838. 

Further,  in  reference  to  La  Hontan  river :  when  the  French  were  in  possession  of  the 
country  it  was  known  by  the  name  Riviere  aux  Canots  or  Canoe  river,  as  it  was  there  that  the 
traders  were  in  the  habit  of  concealing  their  canoes.  Its  present  name  of  Cannon  river  is  evidently 
a  corruption  of  the  French  one.  The  one  which  it  bore  among  the  Sioux  in  1700,  when  Le  Sueur 
ascended  the  Mississippi  (and  which  it  still  bears)  was  Inyan-bosndata,  or  Standing  Rock. 

CASTLE   ROCK,  LONE  BOCK  AND  CHIMNEY  ROCK. 

This  Indian  name  (Inyan-bosndata)  is  that  of  a  natural  obelisk  which  occurs  on  a  low  and  sandy 
plain  four  miles  to  the  north  of  the  crossing  place,  on  the  "north  fork  of  La  Hontan  river."*  This 
heap  of  disintegrated  sandstone  rock  is  thirty-six  feet  high.  It  is  a  curious  specimen  of  the 
weatheiing  of  the  sandstone  of  the  west,  that  may  be  compared  to  the  earth  pillars  left  behind  by 
workmen  to  mark  the  extent  of  their  excavations,  and  is  possibly  a  relic  of  the  thickness  of  the 
formation  previous  to  the  devastating  agency  of  the  elements,  that  has  altered  the  original  level  of 
the  surface  of  the  country.  My  friend,  the  Viscomte  de  Montmort  (then  an  attache  to  the  French 
legation  at  Washington,  who  accompanied  me  in  this  excursion),  has  furnished  me  with  an 
admirable  drawing  of  it,  as  well  as  of  the  natural  monument  next  to  be  mentioned. 

Twelve  miles  north  of  the  natural  obelisk  which  I  have  just  described,  near  the  crossing 
place  of  the  Vermilion  river,  there  are  other  evidencesf  of  the  great  denudation  of  the  surface  that 
has  taken  place  in  this  region.  One  of  them  is  also  remarkable  by  its  symmetrical  outlines, 
bearing  the  appearance  of  a  dilapidated  castle  of  feudal  times,  such  as  are  seen  in  the  Alps  and 
other  places ;  hence  its  name.  I  have  thought  it  of  sufficient  importance  to  indicate  their  situa- 
tions on  my  map.  These  natural  monuments  are  mentioned  by  Mr.  Featherstonhaugh  upon  infor- 
mation received  from  others,  but  he  did  not  visit  them. 

THE    DBS   MOINES   CONNECTED   WITH   THE   MINNESOTA. 

Mr.  Nicollet  called  attention  to  the  hydrographical  relations  of  the 
Des  Moines  river  with  the  Blue  Earth,  the  Minnesota  and  the  Mississippi 
rivers.  The  point  of  geographical  interest  is  found  in  latitude  43°  45',  lon- 
gitude 95°  12',  where  there  is  a  lake  very  near  the  Des  Moines,  called  Tclian 
shetcha  or  Dry  Wood  lake.  The  Blue  Earth  river,  by  means  of  its  tributary, 
the  Watonwan,  has  one  of  its  sources  in  this  lake,  and  the  land  separating 
it  from  the  Des  Moines  is  not  more  than  a  mile  or  a  mile  and  a  half  in 
width.  Thus  a  short  canal  would  bring  the  Des  Moines  into  communica- 
tion with  the  Minnesota.  This  interesting  fact  was  formerly  taken  advan- 
tage of  by  the  Indian  fur  traders,  who,  after  spending  the  winter  on  the 
headwaters  of  the  Des  Moines,  tound  it  convenient  to  bring  their  peltries 
by  water  communication  through  the  Watonwan  valley  and  the  Blue  Earth 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Minnesota  river. 

*  Chub  creek  in  Dakota  county. 
t  Lone  rock  and  Chimney  rook. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  75 

1836,  Nicollet.] 

NICOLLET   ASCENDS   THE    MISSISSIPPI. 

In  July.  1836,  Mr.  Nicollet  ascended  the  Mississippi  to  its  source  in  Itasca 
lake.  He  says  that  above  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony  the  rocky  formations 
assume  another  type,  "  being  the  several  varieties  of  greenstone,  and  finally 
passing  into  talcose  slate,"  as  seen  at  the  falls  of  the  Wabezi,  or  Swan  river,  and 
the  Omoshkos,  or  Elk  river.  Along  with  Schoolcraft,  he  mentions,  among  other 
trees,  the  walnut,  as  one  of  those  native  to  the  Mississippi  valley  above  the 
falls  of  St.  Anthony.  He  mentions,  as  a  prominent  geological  feature  ot 
the  country,  the  outcrop  of  syenitic  rock  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  a  little 
below  the  Pik-irabik,  with  a  flesh-colored  feldspar,  extending  a  mile  in  length, 
with  a  breadth  of  half  a  mile,  and  an  elevation  of  eighty  feet,  known  as 
little  rock*  At  the  foot  of  Knife  rapids,  f  higher  up,  on  the  same  side  of  the 
river,  "there  are  sources  that  transport  a  very  fine,  brilliant  and  bluish  sand, 
accompanied  by  a  soft  and  unctuous  matter.  This  appears  to  be  the  result 
of  a  decomposition  of  a  steaschist,  probably  interposed  between  the  sienitic 
rocks  previously  mentioned.  The  same  thing  is  observed  at  the  mouths  of 
Wabezi  and  Omoshkos."  From  Crow  Wing  river  Mr.  Nicollet  pursued  a 
new  route  to  Itasca  lake.  At  a  distance  of  three  miles  from  its  mouth  he 
ascended  GayasJtk,  or  Gull  river,  and  the  lake  having  the  same  name.  Then 
portaging  northeast,  he  reached  Pine  river  and  visited  Whitefish  lake. 
Ascending  the  east  fork  of  Pine  river,  he  reached  Kwiwisens,  or  Little  Boy 
river.  This  he  descended  through  a  succession  of  lakes  and  over  small 
rapids,  as  far  as  Leech  lake,  where  he  spent  a  week,  and  was  befriended 
from  the  Indians  in  an  emergency,  by  Rev.  Mr.  Boutwell,  who  had  accom- 
panied Mr.  Schoolcraft  in  1832.  From  Leech  lake  he  passed  westward, 
through  lake  Kabekonany  and  Kabekonang  river,  and  made  a  portage  of  five 
miles  to  the  La  Place  river,  which  is  the  same  that  Mr.  Schoolcraft  called 
the  East  Fork  of  the  Mississippi,  in  1832.  He  ascended  this  to  lake  Assawa 
where  he  found  an  old  camp  of  Mr.  Schoolcraft.  The  last  portage,  one  of 
six  miles,  to  Itasca  lake,  was  found  to  be  very  arduous,  being  across 
numerous  sloughs,  with  low  intervening  ridges.  The  soil  was  found  to  be 
sandy  and  gravelly,  overspread  with  erratic  blocks,  with  a  great  variety  of 
evergreens.  The  last  of  the  series  of  ridges,  being  also  the  highest,  is  120 
feet  above  the  waters  of  lake  Itasca. 


*  The  same  ae  Schoolcraft's  peace  rock,  situated  in  See  27,  Watab,  Benton  county. 
t  Pike  Rapids. 


76  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[N  (collet,  1836. 
NICOLLET   AT  THE   SOURCE  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 

The  Mississippi  holds  its  own  from  its  very  origin ;  for  it  is  not  necessary  to  suppose,  as  has 
been  done,  that  lake  Itasca  may  be  supplied  with  invisible  sources,  to  justify  the  character  of  a 
remarkable  stream,  which  it  assumes  at  its  issue  from  this  lake.  There  are  five  creeks  that  fall 
into  it,  formed  by  innumerable  streamlets  oozing  from  the  clay-beds  at  the  bases  of  the  hills,  that 
consist  of  an  accumulation  of  sand,  gravel  and  clay,  intermixed  with  erratic  fragments ;  being  a 
more  prominent  portion  of  the  erratic  deposite  previously  described,  and  which  here  is  known  by 
the  name  of  Hauteurs  des  Terres,  hights  of  land. 

These  elevations  are  commonly  flat  at  top,  varying  in  hight  from  eighty-five  to  one  hundred 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  surrounding  waters.  They  are  covered  with  thick  forests  in  which 
the  coniferous  plants  predominate.  South  of  Itasca  lake  they  form  a  semi-circular  region,  with  a 
boggy  bottom,  extending  to  the  southwest  a  distance  of  several  miles ;  thence  these  Hauteurs  des 
Terres  ascend  to  the  northwest  and  north,  and  then  stretching  to  the  northeast  and  east,  through 
the  zone  between  47°  and  48°  of  latitude,  make  the  dividing  ridge  between  the  waters  that  empty 
into  Hudson  bay  and  those  which  discharge  themselves  into  the  gulf  of  Mexico.  The  principal  group 
of  these  Hauteurs  des  Terres  is  subdivided  into  several  ramifications,  varying  in  extent,  elevation 
and  course,  so  as  to  determine  the  hydrographical  basins  of  all  the  innumerable  lakes  and  rivers 
that  so  peculiarly  characterize  this  region  of  country. 

One  of  these  ramificationa  extends  in  a  southerly  direction  under  the  name  Coteau  du  Grand 
Bois ;  and  it  is  this  which  separates  the  Mississippi  streams  from  those  of  the  Bed  river  of  the 
North. 

The  waters  supplied  by  the  north  flank  of  these  hights  of  land,  still  on  the  south  side  of  lake 
Itasca,  give  origin  to  the  five  creeks  of  which  I  have  spoken  above.  These  are  the  waters  which  I 
consider  to  be  the  utmost  ?ources  of  the  Mississippi.  Those  that  flow  from  the  southern  side  of 
the  same  hights,  and  empty  themselves  into  Elbow  lake,  are  the  utmost  sources  of  the  Ked  river 
of  the  North ;  so  that  the  most  remote  feeders  of  Hudson  bay  and  the  gulf  of  Mexico  are  closely 
approximated  to  each  other. 

Now,  of  the  five  creeks  that  empty  into  Itasca  lake  (the  Omoshkos  Sagaigon,  of  the  Chippe- 
ways,  or  the  Lac  a  la  Siche,  of  the  French,  or  the  Elk  lake  of  the  British)  one  empties  into  the 
east  bay  of  the  lake ;  the  four  others  into  the  west  bay.  I  visited  the  whole  of  them ;  and  among 
the  latter  there  is  one  remarkable  above  the  others,  inasmuch  as  its  course  is  longer  and  its  waters 
more  abundant;  so  that,  in  obedience  to  the  geographical  rule  "that  the  sources  of  a  river  are 
those  which  are  most  distant  from  its  mouth,"  this  creek  is  truly  the  infant  Mississippi ;  all  others 
below,  its  feeders  and  tributaries. 

The  day  on  which  I  explored  this  principal  creek,  (Aug.  29,  1836)  I  judged  that,  at  its 
entrance  into  Itasca  lake,  its  bed  was  from  fifteen  to  twenty  feet  wide,  and  the  depth  of  water 
from  two  to  three  feet.  I  stemmed  its  pretty  brisk  current  during  ten  or  twenty  minutes;  but  the 
obstructions  occasioned  by  the  fall  of  trees  compelled  us  to  abandon  the  canoe,  and  seek  its 
springs  on  foot,  along  the  hills.  After  a  walk  of  three  miles,  during  which  we  took  care  not  to 
lose  sight  of  the  Mississippi,  my  guides  informed  me  that  it  was  better  to  descend  into  the  trough 
of  the  valley ;  when,  accordingly,  we  found  numerous  streamlets  oozing  from  the  bases  of  the 
hills.  The  temperature  obtained  at  a  great  number  of  places,  by  plunging  the  thermometer  hi 
the  mud  whence  these  springs  arose,  was  always  between  43°  5'  and  44°  2'  Fah.;  that  of  the 
air  being  between  63°  and  70°.  Having  taken  great  pains  in  determining  the  temperature,  I  have 
a  right  to  believe  that  it  represents  pretty  accurately  the  mean  annual  temperature  of  the  country 
under  examination. 

As  a  further  description  of  these  headwaters,  I  may  add  that  they  unite  at  a  small  distance 
from  the  hills  whence  they  originate,  and  form  a  small  lake,  from  which  the  Mississippi  flows 
with  a  breadth  of  a  foot  and  a  half,  and  a  depth  of  one  foot.  At  no  great  distance,  however,  this 
rivulet,  uniting  itself  with  other  streamlets,  coming  from  other  directions,  supplies  a  second  minor 
lake,  the  waters  of  which  have  already  acquired  a  temperature  of  48°.  From  this  lake  issues  a 
rivulet,  necessarily  of  increased  importance— a  cradled  Hercules,  giving  promise  of  the  strength 
of  his  maturity ;  for  its  velocity  has  increased ;  it  transports  the  smaller  branches  of  trees ;  it 
begins  to  form  sand-bars  ;  its  bends  are  more  decided,  until  it  subsides  again  into  the  basin  of  a 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH  77 

1836,  Nicollet.] 

third  lake  somewhat  larger  than  the  two  preceding.  Having  here  acquired  renewed  vigor,  and 
tried  its  consequence  upon  an  additional  length  of  two  or  three  miles,  it  finally  empties  itself  into 
Itasca  lake,  which  is  the  principal  reservoir  of  all  the  sources,  to  which  it  owes  all  its  subsequent 
majesty. 

The  stream  which  Messrs.  Schoolcraft  and  Allen  have  designated  as  the  East  Fork  of  the 
Mississippi,  and  which  I  have  named  after  the  illustrious  La  Place  (on  which  there  is  a  lake  that 
I  have  called  after  the  celebrated  translator  of  the  Mechanique  Ceteste,  Mr.  Bowditch),  has  its 
source,  perhaps,  as  distant  as  that  to  which  I  have  exclusively  perserved  the  name  of  Mississippi; 
but  as  it  is  less  important,  from  having  less  water,  I  have  considered  it  only  a  tributary  to  that 
to  which  it  unites  itself. 

The  honor  of  having  first  explored  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi,  and  introduced  a  knowledge 
of  them  in  physical  geography,  belongs  to  Mr.  Schoolcraft  and  Lieut.  Allen.  I  come  only  after 
these  gentlemen ;  but  I  may  be  permitted  to  claim  some  merit  for  having  completed  what  was 
wanting  for  a  full  geographical  account  of  these  sources.  Moreover,  I  am,  I  believe,  the  first 
traveler,  who  has  carried  with  him  astronomical  instruments  and  put  them  to  profitable  account 
along  the  whole  course  of  the  Mississippi,  from  its  mouth  to  its  sources. 

Mr.  Nicollet  returned  from  lake  Itasca  by  way  of  lake  Pemidji,  the 
Metoswa  rapids,  and  Cass  and  Leech  lakes,  stopping  again  with  Rev.  Mr.  Bout- 
well.  Of  this  last  lake  he  says  that  its  name,  both  in  English  and  Chippe- 
way,  implies  that  "its  waters  contain  a  remarkable  number  of  leeches." 
The  Pokegama  falls  ("rapids")  are  said  to  have  a  fall  of  nine  feet  in  the 
distance  of  eighty  yards.  The  rock  over  which  the  water  passes  is  styled 
a  gray  quartzyte,  seen  in  the  banks  and  bed  of  the  river.  He  parallelizes 
it  with  the  rocks  on  the  St.  Louis  river,  "  where  are  found  calciferous  and 
argillaceous  steachists,  conglomerates  formed  of  quartz  pebbles,  and  bound 
together  by  steachist,  containing  sulphuret  of  iron,  and  a  sandstone  which 
may  be  possibly  referred  to  the  'old  red  sandstone.' " 

THE  UPPER  MISSISSIPPI  COUNTRY. 

Over  the  whole  route  which  I  traversed  after  leaving  Crow  Wing  river,  the  country  has  a 
different  aspect  from  that  which  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  above  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony 
present.  The  forests  are  denser  and  more  varied ;  the  soil,  which  is  alternately  sandy,  gravelly, 
clayey  and  loamy,  is,  generally  speaking,  lighter,  excepting  on  the  shores  of  some  of  the  larger 
lakes.  The  uplands  are  covered  with  white  and  yellow  pines,  spruce  and  birch,  and  the  wet  low 
lands  by  the  American  larch  and  the  willow.  On  the  slopes  of  sandy  hills,  the  American  aspen, 
the  canoe  birch,  with  a  species  of  birch  of  dwarfish  growth,  the  alder  and  wild  rose,  extend  to 
the  very  margin  of  the  river.  On  the  borders  of  the  larger  lakes,  where  the  soil  is  generally, 
better,  we  find  the  sugar  maple,  the  black  and  bur  oaks  (also  named  over-cup  white  oak,  but 
differing  from  the  white  oak),  the  elm,  ash,  lime  tree,  &c.  Generally  speaking,  however,  this 
woodland  does  not  extend  back  farther  than  a  mile  from  the  lakes.  The  white  cedar,  the 
hemlock,*  spruce  pine,  and  fir,  are  occasionally  found ;  but  the  red  cedar  is  scarce  throughout 
this  region,  and  none,  perhaps,  is  to  be  seen,  except  on  islands  of  those  Jakes  called  by  the 
Indians  Bed  Cedar  lakes.  The  shrubbery  consists  principally  of  the  wild  rose,  hawthorn,  and 
wild  plum;  and  raspberries,  blackberries,  strawberries  and  cranberries  are  abundant. 

The  aspect  of  the  country  is  greatly  varied  by  hills,  dales,  copses,  small  prairies,  and  a  great 
number  of  lakes ;  the  whole  of  which  I  do  not  pretend  to  have  laid  down  on  my  map.  The 

•The  hemlock,  Abies  Canndetuis.  does  not  grow  in  the  state  of  Minnesota.  — N.  H.  VV. 


78  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

(Nicollct,  1836 

natural  beautif-s  of  the  country  are,  however,  impressed  with  a  character  of  sternness  and  melan- 
choly ;  the  silence  and  solitude  of  which  are  interrupted  or  revived  only  by  the  water-fowl  that 
congregate  about  its  waters  to  nestle  amidst  and  fatten  upon  the  wild  rice.  The  naturalist, 
however,  has  still  an  endless  field  of  observations,  in  the  insect  world  ;  for  everywhere  life  mani- 
fests itself  in  some  form  or  other.  It  is,  indeed,  remarkable  that  the  more  we  advance  to  the 
north  (to  within  a  certain  extent,  nevertheless),  the  more  the  mosquito  appears  to  be  abundant, 
as  every  voyageur  knows  by  sad  experience. 

The  lakes  to  which  I  have  just  alluded  are  distributed  in  separate  groups,  or  are  arranged  in 
prolonged  chains  along  the  rivers,  and  not  unfrequently  attached  to  each  other  by  gentle  rapids. 
It  has  seemed  to  me  that  they  diminish  in  extent,  on  both  sides  of  the  Mississippi,  as  we  proceed 
southwardly,  as  far  as  43P  of  north  latitude ;  and  this  observation  extends  to  the  arctic  region, 
commencing  at  Bear's  lake,  or  Slave  lake,  Winnipeg  lake,  &c.  It  may  be  further  remarked  that 
the  basins  of  these  lakes  have  a  sufficient  depth  to  leave  no  doubt  that  they  will  remain  charac- 
teristic features  of  the  country  for  a  long  time  to  come.  Several  species  of  fish  abound  in  them. 
The  white-fish  (Corregonus  albus)  is  found  in  all  the  deeplakes  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and  indeed 
from  lake  Erie  to  the  Polar  sea.  That  which  is  taken  in  Leech  lake  is  said  by  amateurs  to  be 
more  highly  flavored  than  even  that  of  lake  Superior,  and  weighs  from  three  to  ten  pounds. 
There  is  another  species  of  this  white-fish,  called  by  the  Indians  tuliby  or  ottuniby  (the  Corregonus 
ariedi)  which  resembles  it,  but  is  much  less  esteemed.  Both  species  furnish  a  wholesome  and 
palatable  food.  Among  the  other  species  of  fish  that  inhabit  these  waters,  are  the  mashkinonye,  or 
mashkilonge ;  the  pike  or  jack-fish  ;  the  pickerel  or  gilt  carp ;  the  sucker  or  true  carp  ;  the  perch  ; 
a  species  of  trout  called  by  the  Chippeways  naniogim,  &c.,  &c.  These  lakes,  which  are  somewhat 
deep,  swarm  with  leeches ;  and  among  the  amphibious  reptiles  there  are  several  species  of  terrapin 
and  turtle,  of  which  Mr.  Say  has  described  three  of  each  kind  in  the  appendix  to  the  second  expe- 
dition of  Major  Long. 

FOSSILS   COLLECTED   BY   MR.  NICOLLET. 

Appendix  C  of  Mr.  Nicollet's  report  contains  names  of  fossils  collected 
at  different  points  in  Iowa,  Missouri,  Dakota,  and  the  following  at  the  falls 
of  St.  Anthony  in  Minnesota  : 

Strophomena,  allied  to  S.  (ilternata. 

Strophomena,  new  species. 

Orthis  testudinaria  ?    (Murch.  Sil.  Syst.  pi.  20,  fig.  10). 

Orthis  poly  gramma?    (Murch.  Sil.  Syst.  pi.  21,  fig.  4°). 

Orthis  (three  new  species). 

Steriocisma  (resembling  Twbnifiila  xchlothriini.  Dal.) 

Atrypa  (new  species). 

Pleurototnaria  (new  species — numerous). 

Euomphalm,  allied  to  Maclun'tex  mwjna  (Des.) 

Euomphalus,  resembling  E.  sculptun  (Sowerby). 

Phratymolites,  same  as  in  the  Trenton  limestone  in  N.  Y. 

Phragmolites,  new  species. 

Bellerophon  bilobatm. 

Orthoceras  (two  species,  undetermined). 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  79 

1844,  Allen.] 

Crinoulfil  mudhtN  of  peculiar  forms,  one  resembling  Lipocrinites. 

Turbinolopsis  bind  ?    (Sil.  Syst.  pi.  16  bis,  fig.  5.) 

Fdvosiles  lycoperdon  (Say).     Trenton  limestone  fossil. 

Favosiiex  (two  new  species). 

Fucoides  (obscure). 

Cyathophyllvm  ccmtites  ? 

Turrltella. 

Of  the  list  of  plants  determined  by  Dr.  Torrey  for  Mr.  Nicollet,  the 
greater  part  were  collected  in  Dakota  or  in  Missouri,  nut  fifty-six  species 
being  assigned  to  Minnesota. 

CAPT.  j.  ALLEN'S  EXPEDITION  TO  THE  SOURCE  OF  THE  DBS  MOINES  IN  1844. 

This  expedition  reached  a  lake  which  was  found  by  observations  of  the 
sun  with  a  small  sextant  to  be  in  lat.  43°  57'  32".  This  was  probably  what 
is  now  known  as  lake  Shetek,  which  is  somewhat  above  44°  of  latitude.* 
This  lake  he  named  lake  of  the  Oaks.  He  described  it  as  remarkable 
for  a  singular  arrangement  of  the  peninsulas  running  into  it  from  all  sides, 
and  for  a  heavy  growth  of  timber  that  covers  these  peninsulas  and  the 
borders  of  the  lake.  He  explored  the  country  north  from  this  lake  thirty- 
seven  miles,  and  thence  eastward  to  the  St.  Peter's  river.  Returning  to 
lake  Shetek  he  traveled  westward  to  the  Big  Sioux  river  which  he  followed 
to  its  mouth. 

ELK    AND    BUFFALO   ON    THE    DBS    MOINES   IN    1845. 

"  From  Lizard  creek  of  the  Des  Moines  to  the  source  of  the  Des  Moines, 
and  thence  east  to  the  St.  Peter's,  is  a  range  for  elk  and  common  deer,  but 
principally  elk.  We  saw  a  great  many  of  the  elk  on  our  route  and  killed 
many  of  them  ;  they  were  sometimes  seen  in  droves  of  hundreds,  but  were 
always  difficult  to  approach,  and  very  difficult  to  overtake  in  chase,  except 
with  a  fleet  horse  and  over  good  ground.  No  dependence  could  be  placed 
upon  this  game  in  this  country  for  the  subsistence  of  troops  marching 
through  it. 

"  Twenty-five  miles  west  of  the  source  of  the  Des  Moines  we  struck  the 
range  of  the  buffalo  and  continued  in  it  to  the  Big  Sioux  river,  and  down 

*  Ex.  Docs.,  First  Session,  29th  Congress,  1845-'6,  Vol.  VI.     No.  168. 


80  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Allen,  1844. 

that  river  about  eighty -six  miles.  Below  that  we  could  not  see  any  recent 
signs  of  them.  We  found  antelope  in  the  same  range  with  the  buffalo,  but 
no  elk,  and  very  seldom  a  common  deer.  While  among  the  buffalo  we 
killed  as  many  as  we  wanted,  and  without  trouble." 

THE    UPPER   DBS   MOINES   RIVER. 

Upon  approaching  the  region  of  the  boundary  line  between  Iowa  and 
Minnesota  he  became  penned  among  numerous  lakes,  and  was  compelled 
to  cross  a  narrow  strait  by  swimming  200  yards.  This  was  probably  across 
a  narrow  spot  in  Swan  lake,  in  Emmett  county,  Iowa.  From  there  he  sent 
a  party  to  examine  the  country  toward  the  east.  This  party  reached  Iowa 
lake  (on  the  boundary  line)  and  explored  its  outlet  toward  the  east  and  into 
the  East  Chain  of  lakes,  reaching  the  conclusion  that  the  water  was  tribu- 
tary to  the  Blue  Earth,  "  or  of  an  unknown  tributary  of  the  Big  Cedar." 
He  passed  by  Eagle  lake,  and  Independence  lake,  camping  at  each,  and 
arrived  in  the  vicinity  of  Windom  where  he  describes  the  country  as  a 
"  wonderfully  broken  surface,  rising  and  falling  in  high  knobs  and  deep 
ravines,  with  numerous  little  lakes  in  the  deep  valleys,  some  of  them  clear 
and  pretty  and  others  grassy."  A  party  which  visited  the  Blue  mounds, 
near  Windom,  found  an  artificial  mound  of  stone  on  the  highest  peak.  He 
visited  Talcott  lake,  where  he  rested  his  men  in  camp,  and  himself  visited 
lake  Shetek,  which  he  pronounced  the  highest  source  of  the  Des  Moines 
worth  noticing  as  such,  though  he  also  mentions  an  inlet  from  the  north- 
ward, "but  of  no  size  or  character."  He  crossed  the  Cottonwood  nearly 
north  from  lake  Shetek,  also  the  Redwood  river  still  further  north,  and  the 
latter  again  near  Redwood  falls.  From  the  mouth  of  the  Redwood  he 
explored  the  south  shore  of  the  Minnesota  several  miles  up  and  down,  and 
returned  to  lake  Shetek.  He  crossed  the  Coteau  des  Prairies  in  Cottouwood 
county,  styling  it  the  "  Big  Prairie."  He  reached  the  Big  Sioux  river  without 
finding  any  such  stream  as  that  which  had  been  shown  on  the  maps  as 
"Floyd's  river." 

CAPT.  E.  v.  SUMNER'S  EXPEDITION  IN  1845. 
The  expedition  of  Capt.  E.  V.  Sumner*  seems  to  have  been  made  more 

•Executive  Documents,  1st  Seas.,  29th  Congress,    1845-46.    No.  2.  p.  217. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  81 

1850,  Owen. 

for  the  purpose  of  impressing  the  Indians  with  the  power  of  the  government 
and  the  necessity  of  committing  no  depredations  on  the  settlers,  than  for 
the  purpose  of  learning  the  nature  of  the  country.  He  left  Fort  Atkinson, 
June  3d,  and  arrived  at  "Traverse  des  Sioux"  June  22d,  having  met  Lieut. 
Allen  June  13th,  about  midway  between  Fort  Atkinson  and  the  St.  Peter's 
river.  The  companies  continued  together  from  that  time.  From  Traverse 
des  Sioux  they  marched  to  Lac  qui  Parle,  where  Capt.  Sumner  had  an 
important  conference  with  the  Warpvton  Sioux,  whom  he  distinguishes  as 
the  "upper  Sioux."  He  reached  Big  Stone  lake  on  the  5th  of  July,  where 
he  met  in  council  a  large  band  of  Sissitons.  He  reached  "  Devil's  lake" 
on  the  forty-eighth  degree  of  north  latitude,  on  July  18th,  where  he  had  a 
conference  with  a  party  of  the  Winnipeg  half-breeds,  numbering  about 
one  hundred  and  eighty.  He  reached  Traverse  des  Sioux  on  his  return,  the 
7th  of  August;  whence  he  repaired  to  Fort  Atkinson  on  the  llth,  Capt. 
Allen  returning  to  Fort  Des  Homes. 

THE  SURVEY    OF   D.    D.    OWEN,     1847^1850. 

The  fine  quarto  volume  which  resulted  from  Dr.  Owen's  survey  of  Wis- 
consin, Towa  and  Minnesota,  was  a  report  made  in  pursuance  of  instructions 
from  the  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  addressed  to  Hon.  J.  Butter- 
field,  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office,  and  was  published  by  Lip- 
cott,  Grrainbo  &  Co.,  Philadelphia,  in  1852.  While  it  was  not  the  first  of  the 
scientific  reports  published  by  the  IT.  S.  government  relating  to  the  geology 
of  the  territories,  it  was  the  first  of  note  conducted  and  published  by  other 
than  the  Department  ot  War.  It  has  proved  to  be  the  worthy  sire  of  a 
numerous  progeny,  the  initiation  and  exemplar  of  a  series  of  scientific  publi- 
cations by  the  U.  S.  government,  partly  under  the  War  Department  and 
partly  by  the  Department  of  the  Interior,  which  have  caused  American 
science  to  illumine  the  whole  world.  The  work  of  Owen  was  continued  by 
Foster  and  Whitney,  and  revived  and  extended  by  Hayden.  Dr.  Owen's 
field  extended  from  St.  Louis  to  the  British  line,  and  from  the  west  shore  ot 
lake  Michigan  to  the  Missouri  river.  Its  primary  object  was  to  derive 
information  for  the  removal  of  such  lands  as  were  valuable  for  their  min- 
eral resources  from  sale,  in  the  land  office  at  Washington.  Such  an  inquiry 
e 


82  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Owen,  1850. 

necessarily  embraced  many  geological  and  chemical  questions,  and  required 
at  least  a  preliminary  geological  survey.  The  earlier  reconnoissances  ot 
Majors  Long  and  Pike,  and  Mr.  School  craft,  embraced  many  isolated  impor- 
tant facts  bearing  on  the  geology  and  natural  history  of  Minnesota,  made 
incidentally  along  the  routes  they  took,  but  Dr.  Owen's  survey  was  more 
comprehensive  and  more  detailed.  Its  primary  object  being  an  examination 
of  the  country  and  not  a  military  reconnoissance,  it  did  not  contend  with 
the  difficulties  incident  to  rapid  marching,  complained  ot  by  Keating  and 
Beltrami.  His  report  throws  the  first  real  light,  derived  from  the  system- 
atized science  of  modern  times,  on  the  geology  and  the  present  fauna  and 
flora  of  Minnesota.  The  work  was  sufficiently  prolonged  to  enable  the 
naturalists  who  co-operated  with  him  to  gather  reliable  facts  enough  to 
lay  down  correctly  the  ground-work  ot  a  vast  extent  ot  scientific  research. 
His  report  not  only  corrected  prevalent  errors,  but  established  on  correct 
paleontological  evidence  the  age  ot  most  of  the  bedded  rocks  of  Minnesota, 
and  disseminated  information  concerning  its  topography  and  soil.* 


*Dr.  Owen's  corps  consisted  of  the  following  gentlemen:  J.  O.  NORWOOD.  Assistant  Geologist;  J.EVANS  B  F 
SHUMABD,  B.  C,  MACY,  C.  WHITTLKSEY,  A.  LITTON,  K.  OWEN,  heads  of  sub-corps;  G.  WARREN,  H.  PRATTEN,  F.  B.  MEEK, 
J.  BEAL,  sub-assistants. 

Dr.  Owen's  own  report,  covering  the  first  206  pages  of  the  volume,  is  divided  into  six  chapters.  He  gives  a  brier 
history  of  the  explorations  of  the  various  corps,  sketches  the  difficulties  and  adventures  that  befell  them,  and  names  the 
salient  points  of  interest  in  the  progress,  and  the  results  of  the  survey,  in  the  Introduction.  The  chapters  are  as  follows  : 

1.  Formations  of  the  upper  5lississippi  and  its  tributaries,  belonging  to  the  Silurian  Period. 

2.  Formations  of  the  Cedar,  and  part  of  the  lower  Iowa  river,  belonging  to  the  Devonian  Period. 

3.  Carboniferous  rocks  of  southern  and  western  Iowa. 

4.  Formations  of  the  interior  of  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota. 

5.  Formations  of  lake  Superior. 

6.  Incidental  observations  on  the  Missouri  river,  and  on  the  Mauvaises  Terres  (Bad  Lands). 
Dr.  Norwood's  report  on  some  portions  of  the  country  adjacent  to  lake  Superior  consists  of — 

1.  Boundaries  and  topographical  notices. 

2.  Descriptive  catalogue  of  the  rocks  referred  to  in  his  report. 

3.  Narrative  of  the  explorations  made  in  1847,  between  La  Pointe  and  St.  Louis  river,  and  between  Fond  du  Lac 
and  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony,  and  on  the  St   Croix  river. 

4.  Physical  structure  and  geology  of  the  northwestern  and  western  portions  of  the  valley  of  lake  Superior. 

Col.  ('has.  Whittlesey's  report  pertains  to  that  portion  of  Wisconsin  bordering  on  the  south  shore  of  lake  Superior, 
with  the  following  chapters : 

1.  General  description  and  geology  of  the  Bad  river  country,  and  of  that  between  the  Bad  river  and  the  Brule  ; 
with  descriptions  and  detailed  sections  of  rocks  like  those  "which  in  Michigan  are  copper-bearing;  and  accounts  of  the 
magnetic-iron  beds  of  the  Penokie  Iron  range,  and  of"  Iron  Ridge",  in  Dodge  county,  Wisconsin. 

2.  Description  of  the  country  between  the  Wisconsin  and  Menomonie  rivers ;  with  a  discussion  of  the  general 
geology,  and  its  relations  to  other  parts  of  the  Northwest. 

3.  Red  clay  and  drift  of  Green  bay  and  Wisconsin. 

4.  Barometrical  and  thermometrioal  observations. 

5.  Lumbering  on  the  waters  of  Green  bay. 

Dr.  B.  F  Shumard's  report  pertains  to  local  and  detailed  observations  in  the  valleys  ot  the  Minnesota.  Mississipp 
and  Wisconsin  rivers,  as  follows ; 

1.  Detailed  observations  of  the  St.  Peter's  and  its  tributaries 

2.  Local  sections  on  the  upper  Mississippi. 

3.  Local  sections  on  the  Wisconsin  and  Baraboo  rivers. 

4.  Observations  on  Snake.  Kettle,  and  Rush  rivers. 

Dr.  J.  Leidy  furnished  for  the  volume  a  memoir  on  the  remains  of  extinct  Mammalia  and  Clieloitia,  from  Nebraska 
territory. 

The  Appendix  embraces — 

1.  Descriptions  of  new  and  imperfectly  known  genera  and  species  01  organic  remains  collected  during  the  geo- 
logical surveys  of  Wisconsin,  Iowa  and  Minnesota.    By  D.  D.  Owen. 

2.  Descriptions  of  one  new  genus  and  twenty-two  new  spacies  of  Orinoiilta  from  the  Subcwboniferous  limestone  01 
Iowa.    By  D.  D.  Owen  and  B.  F.  Shumard. 

3.  Summary  of  the  distribution  of  orders,  genera  and  species  in  the  Northwest.    By  D.  D.  Owen  and  B.  F.  Shumard. 

4.  Additional  chemical  examinations.     By  D.  D.  Owen. 

5.  Systematic  catalogue  of  plants  of  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota.    By  C.  C.  Parry. 

K.    Table  of  stratigraphieal  and  geological  distribution  of  genera  and  species  in  the  Northwest. 

The  volume  is  illustrated  with  twenty-six  plates  of  fossils,  twenty  maps  and  large  plates  of  geological  sections,  and 
a  general  geological  map  of  the  whole  country  reported  on ;  the  whole  constituting  at  that  time  one  of  the  largest 
and  most  expensive  scientific  publications  of  the  United  Hlatec  government,  and  a  monument  at  once  to  the  learning  the 
zeal  and  wise  management  of  Dr.  Owen. 


HISTOKICAL  SKETCH.  83 

1850,  Owen.] 

The  survey  of  Owen,  so  far  as  it  threw  light  on  the  state  ot  Minnesota, 
sei'ved  for  a  reconnoissance,  and  indicated  within  certain  broad  limits  the 
general  topography  and  geology.  It  first  established  the  Lower  Silurian 
age  ot  the  rocks  outcropping  along  the  upper  Mississippi  valley,  and 
especially  of  that  forming  the  brink  of  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony  which  had 
generally  been  regarded  as  Carboniferous.  Under  the  general  term  "  pro- 
tozoic  rocks,"  he  describes  the  "lower  sandstone  of  the  upper  Mississippi," 
which  he  says  may  be  seen  in  the  lower  portions  ol  the  bluffs  of  the 
river,  and  in  the  sandstones  of  the  Minnesota  valley  above  Shakopee.  In 
the  upper  portions  of  this  great  formation  he  brought  to  light  an  interest- 
ing and  very  important  series  of  organic  remains,  and  in  its  lower  portions 
he  found  beds  charged  with  Lingulce  and  Orbicuke.  He  enumerates  six 
horizons  that  hold  trilobites,  the  uppermost  separated  from  the  lowest  by  an 
interval  of  about  500  feet,  though  it  is  highly  probable  that  some  of  these 
trilobite  beds  are  contemporary,  and  that  the  actual  thickness  of  this  forma- 
tion is  somewhat  less  than  500  feet,  as  developed  on  the  upper  Mississippi. 
Nowhere  in  his  report  does  Dr.  Owen  parallelize  these  beds  with  the  Pots- 
dam sandstone  of  New  York,  but  seems  to  believe  that  the  "  palaeozoic  base" 
of  the  Mississippi  as  seen  on  the  St.  Croix  river,  is  from  seventy  -  five  to  one 
hundred  feet  lower  than  the  parallel  of  the  "  Lingula  beds"  of  the  New  York 
Potsdam,  which,  up  to  that  time,  had  been  regarded  as  the  lowest  fossil- 
iferous  base  in  the  United  States  (page  50).  But  in  the  appendix  (p.  634)  are 
tables  of  the  equivalency  of  the  geological  formations,  and  of  the  strati- 
graphical  distribution  of  genera  ot  fossils,  in  which,  presumably  constructed 
by  Dr.  Owen,  this  formation  is  parallelized  with  the  Potsdam  ot  New  York 
state.*  Under  the  term  "  protozoic  rocks  "  he  not  only  includes  the  lowest 
sandstones  but  also  the  rest  of  the  Lower  and  Upper  Silurian.  He  separates 
the  limestones  ot  the  Northwest  into  Lower  and  Upper  Magnesian,  the 
former  being  that  which"  still  retains  that  name,  though  by  him  and  his 
corps  always  confounded  with  the  Shakopee  limestone  of  Minnesota,  in  the 
same  manner  as  he  confounds  the  outcrops  of  the  Jordan  sandstone  with 
the  "lowest  sandstone".  In  the  latter  he  has  included  the  Galena  of  the 
Lower  Silurian  and  the  Niagara  of  the  Upper  Silurian,  having  failed  to 


•See  also  Proc.  Accul.  Nat.  3d.  Phil.  1852.  p.  190. 


84  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Owen,  1850. 

observe  any  thing  that  represented  the  Maquoketa  shales,  which  separate 
them  in  Iowa.  The  Galena  he  makes  the  equivalent  of  the  Utica  slate  and 
Hudson  River  group,  which  latter  also  seems  to  include  the  Maquoketa 
shales.  He  recognized  the  Devonian  formation  near  the  southern  boundary 
of  the  state  along  the  Cedar  river,  but  he  made  no  note  of  the  Cretaceous 
within  the  state.  Its  exposures  are  referred  by  his  assistant,  Dr.  B.  F.  Shu- 
mard,  either  to  the  Lower  Silurian  or  to  the  epoch  of  the  drift.  Fragments 
of  lignite  found  in  the  valley  of  the  "Mankato"  river  were  supposed  by  him 
not  to  have  come  from  the  rock  in  situ  within  Minnesota,  but  to  have  been 
transported  with  the  drift  from  the  north,  perhaps  from  the  beds  reported 
by  Dr.  Richardson  to  contain  coal  on  the  shore  of  Great  Bear  lake,  "or  from 
the  Cretaceous  or  super-Cretaceous  lignite  formations  which  were  observed 
by  Nicollet  and  others,  oif  toward  the  Missouri  and  Rocky  mountains." 

That  part  of  the  report  which  is  most  valuable  to  Minnesota  was  written 
by  Dr.  J.  G.  Norwood.  It  is  also  the  most  voluminous.*  The  rock  speci- 
mens collected  by  him,  numbered  up  to  680,  are  described  with  care  and 
discrimination,  and  were  probably  deposited  in  the  Smithsonian  Insti- 
tution at  Washington.  They  were  obtained  in  the  northern  and  eastern 
portions  of  the  state,  and  illustrate  specially  the  northwest  shore  of  lake 
Superior.  The  report  on  the  north  shore  of  lake  Superior  is  remarkable  for 
the  minuteness  of  the  description  of  the  topography  of  numerous  valleys, 
and  for  the  correctness  of  the  general  views  of  its  geology.  Its  numerous 
illustrations  are  graphic,  and,  although  sometimes  aided  by  idealization,  are 
essentially  correct.  They  show  vividly  the  interstratification  of  the  igneous 
and  sedimentary  rocks,  and  depict  numerous  remarkably  picturesque  spots 
at  which  both  the  artist  and  the  geologist  willingly  linger.  His  views  of  the 
metamorphism  of  the  sedimentary  beds  by  the  action  of  the  igneous,  were  in 
accord  with  the  current  interpretation  of  crystalline  rocks  of  his  day,  and 
were  in  confirmation  of  the  views  of  Mr.  Mather  of  the  New  York  state 
survey,  in  opposition  to  those  of  Mr.  Emmons,  on  the  Taconic  controversy, 
although  the  bearing  of  his  report  on  that  controversy  was  not  mentioned 
by  Dr.  Norwood.  The  frequency  and  importance  of  the  action  of  the  igne- 


*This  valuable  report  is  not  mentioned  by  Dr,  T.  S.  Hunt  in  his  resume  of  the  literature  of  the  crystalline  rocks  ol 
America  for  the  second  Pennsylvania  Survey  (Rep.  E.) 

tin  the  ninth  annual  report  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  where  the  collections  of  Dr.  Ow«n  are  catalogued, 
together  with  those  of  Jackson,  Locke,  Foster  and  Whitney,  no  mention  is  made  of  those  of  Norwood. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  §5 

1850,  Owen.] 

ous  rocks  on  the  sedimentary  is  prominently  brought  out  in  the  report. 
This  complicates  the  geology  and  renders  the  identification  of  the  rocks 
both  difficult  and  sometimes  erroneous.  In  conclusion  he  remarks  "that 
there  is  perhaps  no  extinct  volcanic  region  in  the  world  where  trap  and 
other  igneous  intrusions  can  be  studied  to  better  advantage  than  in  the 
country  bordering  on  the  northwest  shore  of  lake  Superior.  Not  only  are  the 
vertical  dykes  numerous  and  conspicuous,  but  there  are  abundant  examples 
of  overflows,  as  well  as  inter] aminated  insinuations  producing  all  degrees 
of  metamorphosis  on  the  adjacent  strata,  graduating  from  mere  indiu-ation 
of  the  beds  to  complete  obliteration  of  stratification  and  sedimentary  origin, 
so  that  the  beds  of  deposition  become  confounded  with  the  igneous  masses 
that  have  invaded  them  and  produced  such  extraoi'dinary  changes." 

Dr.  B.  F.  Shumard  made  the  only  examination  of  the  valley  of  the 
Minnesota;  which  he  ascended  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  Redwood  river. 
At  that  point  he  was  attacked  with  pleurisy,  and  was  compelled  to  return 
hastily  to  Traverse  des  Sioux  and  Fort  Snelling.  His  report  exhibits 
the  first  attempt  ever  made  to  parallelize  the  rocks  of  the  valley 
with  those  of  the  rest  of  the  state,  or  to  determine  their  age  by 
reference  to  a  known  standard  of  nomenclature.  He  recognized  Dr. 
Owen's  Nos.  2C  and  3A,  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  in  the  Fort 
Snelling  bluff,  i.  e.  the  Trenton  and  Black  River  limestones,  and  the  St. 
Peter  sandstone.  At  Shakopee,  and  thence  to  Little  rapids  (near  Carver) 
he  notes  the  Lower  Magnesian.  The  sandstone  at  the  last  place  he  regards 
as  belonging  to  a  formation  several  hundred  feet  below  the  white  sandstone 
of  the  Fort  Snelling  bluff,*  and  probably  to  the  sandstones  of  Formation  1. 
The  limestone  and  sandstone  exposed  at  intervals  from  Shakopee  to  Man- 
kato,  forming  the  immediate  bluffs  of  the  river,  and  constituting  several 
islands,  he  refers  to  the  Lower  Magnesian  and  the  sandstones  of  Formation  1. 
Ascending  the  Blue  Earth  river  six  or  eight  miles,  and  observing  the  same 
geological  horizon  as  far  as  he  went,  he  notes  subsequently  two  or  three 
exposures  of  Formation  1,  before  reaching  the  mouth  of  the  Waraju  (Cot- 
tonwood)  river,  one  being  two  miles  below  the  mouth  of  that  stream.  The 
red  quartzyte  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Waraju  he  regards  as  the  lower  beds 

*It  is  the  Jordan  Sandstone,  and  lies  about  seventy-flve  feet  below  the  sandstone  of  the  Fort  Snelling  bhiff,  the  Sha- 
kopee limestone  separating;  them. 


86  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Woods,  1849. 

of  Formation  1,  more  or  less  altered  by  metamorphism  "where  they  abut  upon 
the  igneous  rocks."  He  also  notes  conglomerate  and  granite  outcrops  about 
a  mile  in  a  straight  line  above  the  mouth  of  the  Waraju.  He  mentions 
granite  at  La  Petite  Roche,  and  at  frequent  other  points  before  reaching  the 
Redwood  river.  He  describes  an  interesting  exposure  two  or  three  miles 
below  the  mouth  of  this  river,  probably  the  same  as  that  described  by 
Keating  and  by  Beltrami. 

Mr.  Shumard  also  gives  the  details  of  local  sections  on  the  upper  Mis- 
sissippi in  Minnesota  and  Wisconsin,  beginning  with  the  falls  of  St. 
Anthony,  and  on  the  Wisconsin  and  Baraboo  rivers,  as  well  as  observations 
on  the  sandstones,  conglomerates  and  trap-rocks  of  Snake  and  Kettle  rivers. 
On  the  Snake  and  Kettle  rivers  he  made  collections  of  a  peculiar  green 
mineral  from  the  amygdaloids,  which  at  first  was  soft  as  tallow  but  on 
exposure  became  brittle.  It  was  analyzed  by  Dr.  Owen  and  regarded  as 
new,*  but  resembling  phillipsite  from  Iceland,  being  really  a  "  magnesian 
harmotome." 

MAJOE   WOODS'    EXPEDITION   TO   PEMBINA. 

In  the  summer  of  1849,  Major  S.  Woods  was  despatched  by  the  Secre- 
tary ot  War  to  the  Pembina  settlement  for  the  purpose  of  selecting  a  site 
for  a  military  post.  His  reportf  is  not  accompanied  by  any  map,  although 
Capt.  John  Pope  states  he  prepared  a  map  of  the  route.  He  proceeded  from 
Fort  Snelling  to  Sauk  Rapids,  along  the  east  side  of  the  Mississippi,  a  route 
well  known  and  traveled  at  that  time  every  summer  by  large  "trains"  of 
carts  from  the  Red  River  settlements.  Passing  up  the  Sauk  valley,  on  the 
north  side  of  the  river,  the  expedition  crossed  it  at  the  great  bend,  and 
reached  lake  David,  which  is  described  as  having  a  length  north  and  south 
and  draining  into  a  branch  of  Crow  river,  twelve  miles  west  of  the  great 
bend  of  the  Sauk  river.  Seven  or  eight  miles  from  lake  David  is  lake 
Henrie,  of  about  the  same  size.  Lightning  lake,  is  about  seven  miles  from 
the  point  at  which  the  trail  crossed  the  branch  of  Crow  river,  so  named 
from  the  incident  of  a  terrific  thunder-storm  in  which  Lieut.  Nelson's  life 
was  nearly  lost  by  lightning  striking  his  tent-pole.  Fourteen  miles  further 

•Jour.  PMl.  Acad.  Science,  (1),  II.  183. 
tHouae  Ex.  Doc.  No.  51, 1st  Sew.  31st  Cong. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  87 

1850,  Pope.] 

was  White  Bear  lake,  with  an  average  width  ot  two  miles,  and  a  length  ot 
perhaps  eight  or  ten  miles  east  and  west,  seventy-five  miles  from  Sauk 
Rapids.  "The  heavily  timbered  highlands  that  range  parallel  with  the 
Mississippi  and  back  some  distance  from  it,  edge  upon  this  lake.  *  *  * 
On  the  north  of  the  lake  the  prairie  is  broken  and  irregular,  but  the  east, 
west  and  south  borders  lie  handsomely  for  cultivation."  The  lakes  are  all 
described  as  having  abundance  of  excellent  fish.  Fourteen  miles  from 
White  Bear  lake  he  reached  Pike  lake,  and  twelve  miles  further  crossed 
the  main  branch  of  the  Chippewa  river.  After  passing  Elk  and  Elbow  lakes 
he  came  to  Rabbit  river,  then  Otter-tail  Lake  river  flowing  south  of  west. 
At  the  ford  of  the  latter  stream  he  states  the  bottom  of  the  river  is  "rocky", 
the  banks  are  good,  water  two  to  three  feet  deep  and  some  fifty  yards  wide. 
Twenty-two  miles  further  he  crossed  the  Red  river  again,  ten  or  fifteen 
miles  below  the  mouth  of  the  Bois  des  Sioux  river.  The  rest  of  his  journey 
was  in  Dakota,  and  he  returned  by  the  same  route.  Respecting  the  country 
west  of  the  Red  river  he  says  it  is  "a  level,  marshy  region  back  about  thirty 
miles  to  Pembina  mountain,  which  rises  into  a  high  peak  near  the  forty- 
ninth  parallel  and  ranges  off  nearly  south,  forming  the  western  border  of 
the  valley  of  the  Red  river,  and  connects  with  the  highlands  extending  out 
from  lake  Traverse  near  the  headwaters  of  the  St.  Peter's  river." 

CAPT.  POPE'S  REPORT  OF  THE  PEMBINA  EXPEDITION. 

Capt.  Pope's  report  of  the  same  expedition  was  addressed  to  Col.  J.  J. 
Abert,  of  the  corps  of  topographical  engineers,  and  was  dated  February  5, 
1850,  transmitted  from  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  and  printed  by  order  of  the  Senate, 
Ex.  Doc.  No.  42,  31st  Congress,  first  session.  Instead  of  returning  to  Fort 
Snelling  by  the  route  by  which  the  expedition  went  out,  Capt.  Pope  organ- 
ized a  party  which  ascended  the  Red  river  of  the  North  from  Pembina  to 
Otter-tail  lake  in  canoes,  and  thence  reached  the  Mississippi  by  Leaf  and 
Crow  Wing  rivers,  for  the  purpose  of  further  exploration  of  the  country. 
He  places  the  head  of  navigation  at  a  point  in  the  vicinity  of  the  mouth  ot 
the  Sioux  Wood  river,  distant  forty  miles  from  the  St.  Peter's.  The  Pomme 
de  Terre  river  he  mentions  under  the  name  Tipsenah,  or  Potato  river. 

"  The  valley  of  the  Red  river  is  entirely  alluvial  in  its  formation,  no 


88  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Pope,  itso. 

rocks  in  place  being  found  in  its  entire  length  within  the  territories  of  the 
United  States.  It  abounds  with  boulders  or  erratic  blocks  of  granite,  which 
in  all  cases  are  very  much  rounded  by  the  action  of  water.  They  are  most 
abundant  upon  the  highest  ridges  of  the  prairies,  and  cause  all  the  rapids 
in  the  small  streams  tributary  to  the  Red  river,  the  St.  Peter's  and  Mississ- 
ippi. About  seventy  miles  north  of  our  frontier  (at  Pembina)  a  secondary 
limestone  appears  at  the  falls  of  the  Red  river,  which  is  unquestionably  the 
basis  of  the  whole  valley,  but  at  what  depth  below  the  surface  at  different 
points  it  is  impossible  to  say.  There  are  no  rocks  in  place  found  west  of  the 
Mississippi  along  the  route  pursued  by  the  expedition  to  the  Red  river  of  the 
North,  and  the  geological  features  of  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  have  been 
given  in  the  report  of  Mr.  Nicollet,  published  in  the  year  1842." 

Capt.  Pope  states  that  there  were  three  routes  by  which  to  reach  the 
valley  of  the  Red  river  of  the  North,  used  by  the  traders  and  trappers  in 
their  annual  pilgrimages  to  the  Mississippi  with  their  peltries.  The  most 
southern  follows  the  valley  of  the  St.  Peter's,  and  descends  into  the  plains 
of  the  Red  river  near  lake  Traverse.  The  middle  route  leaves  the  Missis- 
sippi at  Sauk  Rapids,  seventy'six  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Peter's, 
and  intersects  the  Red  river  near  its  most  southern  point.  This  is  the  route 
pursued  by  the  expedition.  The  northern  route  follows  for  some  distance 
the  valley  of  Crow  Wing  river,  and  turning  the  northern  extremity  of  Otter 
Tail  lake,  descends  into  the  valley  of  the  Red  river  near  the  mouth  of  Buffalo 
river.  These  routes  were  mere  trails,  and  followed  as  far  as  possible  the 
open  prairie. 

The  further  geographical  facts  which  his  report  contains  can  be  sum- 
marized as  follows:  Between  Pembina  and  the  mouth  of  the  Red  Lake  river 
he  passed  successively  the  Two  rivers,  Park  river,  "  Riviere  au  Marais  No.  1," 
from  the  east;  Big  Salt  river  and  "  Riviere  au  Marais  No.  2,"  from  the  west; 
Turtle  river,  and  "Riviere  au  Marais  No.  3"  from  the  east,  and  a  small 
stream  called  "  Coulee*  de  1'Anglais."  The  largest  of  these  were  the  "  Riviere 
au  Marais  No.  1,"  and  the  Park,  Big  Salt  and  Turtle  rivers,  which  were 
about  eighteen  yards  wide  and  six  feet  deep,  the  Red  Lake  river  itself  being 
about  fifty  yards  wide  near  its  mouth  and  fourteen  feet  deep,  and  with  a 

•Coulee  is  often  anglicized  to  couley  or  ctuKe.    It  signifies  a  deep  ravine,  and  was  in  common  use  nmonu  the 
ek  voyageure. 


HISTOKICAL  SKETCH.  89 

1850,  Pope.] 

more  rapid  current  than  the  Red  river  of  the  North.  Above  the  mouth 
of  the  Sioux  Wood  river  the  Red  river  takes  the  name  of  Otter-tail  Lake 
river,  and,  with  a  constant  depth  of  water  of  four  feet,  becomes  much  more 
tortuous  in  its  course. 

GBN.   POPE'S  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE   PAKK  REGION. 

As  we  approached  the  western  and  northwestern  slope  of  the  Leaf  mountain  at  the  point 
where  the  river  debouches  from  it  into  the  level  plains  to  the  north,  the  current  becomes  sensibly 
more  rapid,  and  the  water  clearer,  until  at  about  fifteen  miles  east  of  the  crossing  of  the  land 
route  we  found  it  necessary  to  use  the  cordelle.  The  banks  become  also  much  higher,  with  a  tract 
of  level,  swampy  land  three-fourths  of  a  mile  in  width  between  them,  the  river  running  from  side 
to  side  through  the  swamp  in  the  most  serpentine  manner.  Small  islands  begin  to  be  numerous, 
and  the  steep  banks  are  perforated,  in  a  thousand  places,  with  clear  cold  springs.  The  woods 
along  the  banks  also  become  much  larger  and  more  dense,  oak  being  the  more  common  tree.  At 
about  thirty  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  Sioux  Wood  river  the  rapids  commence,  and  are  almost 
continuous  to  Otter-tail  lake.  There  are  two  and  a  half  and  three  feet  of  water  over  them',  and  in 
the  intervening  pools  of  still  water  about  three  and  a  half  feet.  The  bed  of  the  river  is  filled  with 
loose  boulders  of  all  sizes,  and  the  deep  water  assumes  an  exceedingly  crooked  channel  among 
them.  Every  hour  of  our  advance  toward  the  east  increased  the  amount  of  heavy  timber  on  the 
banks,  and  we  began  also  to  perceive,  at  various  distances  on  each  side,  large  groves  of  heavy 
timber  upon  the  borders  of  numerous  lakes,  which  I  have  described  as  forming  so  peculiar  a  fea- 
ture of  the  country  between  the  Mississippi  and  St.  Peter's. 

We  had  thus  again  entered  the  second  general  division  of  country  I  have  made  in  a  pre- 
vious part  of  this  report,  and  as  we  progressed  toward  the  east  the  lakes  became  much  more 
numerous,  and  the  timber  much  heavier  and  more  abundant.  From  Otter-tail  lake  to  its  entrance 
into  Leaf  mountain,  the  river  passes  through  a  number  of  beautiful  lakes  surrounded  by  rolling 
country,  heavily  timbered,  with  a  depth  of  water  from  nine  to  twenty  feet,  and  filled  with  the 
most  luxuriant  growth  of  wild  rice.  The  largest  and  most  beautiful  of  these  is  lake  Gardiner, 
which  is  within  eight  miles  of  Otter-  tail  lake.  On  the  14th  of  September  we  reached  the  mouth  of 
Little  Pelican  river,  which,  at  its  confluence  with  Otter-tail  river,  is  about  twenty  yards  wide,  and 
about  three  feet  deep. 

On  the  morning  of  the  17th  we  arrived  at  Otter-tail  lake,  and  encamped  near  its  northeast- 
ern extremity,  at  the  remains  of  several  small  trading  houses.  Upon  entering  this  lake  from  the 
southwest,  the  woods  to  the  northeast,  although  very  large,  are  not  visible,  and  it  is  by  far  the 
largest  sheet  of  water  we  had  yet  seen .  It  is  about  ten  miles  in  length  from  southwest  to  north- 
east, and  four  or  five  miles  in  width,  filled  with  fish,  with  clear  pure  water,  with  a  depth  of  twenty 
feet,  and  no  islands.  The  fish  are  white,  and  said  to  be  the  same  known  as  the  white-fish  of  the 
lakes,  so  celebrated  for  their  flavor. 

To  the  west,  northwest  and  northeast,  the  whole  country  is  heavily  timbered  with  oak,  elm, 
ash,  maple,  birch,  bass,  &c.,  &c.  Of  these  the  sugar  maple  is  probably  the  most  valuable,  and  in 
the  vicinity  of  Otter-tail  lake  large  quantities  of  maple  sugar  are  manufactured  by  the  Indians. 
The  wild  rice,  which  exists  in  these  lakes  in  the  most  lavish  profusion,  constitutes  a  most  necessary 
article  of  food  with  the  Indians,  and  is  gathered  in  large  quantities  in  the  months  of  September 
and  October.  To  the  east  the  banks  of  the  lake  are  fringed  with  heavy  oak  and  elm  timber  to 
the  width  of  one  mile.  The  whole  region  of  country  for  fifty  miles  in  all  directions  around  this 
lake,  is  among  the  most  beautiful  and  fertile  in  the  world. 

The  fine  scenery  of  lakes  and  open  groves  of  oak  timber,  of  winding  streams  connecting 
them,  and  beautifully  rolling  country  on  all  sides,  renders  this  portion  of  Minnesota  the  garden 
spot  of  the  Northwest.  It  is  impossible  in  a  report  of  this  character  to  describe  the  feelings  of 
admiration  and  astonishment  with  which  we  first  beheld  the  charming  country  in  the  vicinity  of 
this  lake,  and  were  I  to  give  expression  to  my  own  feelings  and  opinions  in  reference  to  it,  I  fear 
they  would  be  considered  the  ravings  of  a  visionary  or  an  enthusiast.  * 


90  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Reno,  1853 

On  the  19th  of  September  we  made  a  portage  of  one  mile  toward  the  east,  to  a  small  round 
lake  about  one  and  a  half  mile  in  diameter.  This  lake  is  completely  isolated,  having  no  apparent 
outlet  or  inlet.  From  the  dip  of  the  land,  and  the  evident  marks  of  an  artificial  obstruction  (said 
to  be  a  beaver  dam)  I  am  quite  satisfied  that  this  lake  at  one  time  discharged  its  waters  into  Otter- 
tail  lake.  The  evidences  of  this  kind  of  obstruction  are  numerous  throughout  this  region  of  country, 
and,  whatever  may  be  the  theory  as  to  the  original  extent  of  the  waters,  it  is  quite  certain  that  the  larg- 
est of  the  lakes  lias  been  divided  into  several  smaller  ones  by  the  occurrence  of  these  artificial  dams. 

The  small  lake  on  which  we  again  embarked  ia  our  canoe  is  about  ten  feet  deep,  the  water 
very  clear,  and  no  doubt  containing  abundance  of  fish. 

A  second  portage  of  about  twenty  yards,  over  a  dam  of  the  same  character,  brought  us  to 
another  lake  of  about  the  same  size;  a  third  portage  of  about  half  a  mile  through  dwarf  oak, 
brought  us  at  the  western  extremity  of  Leaf  lake,  the  source  of  Leaf  river,  which  is  a  tributary  of 
the  Crow  Wing.  We  had  thus,  in  two  hours,  passed  with  our  boat  and  baggage  from  the  waters 
of  the  Red  river  of  the  North,  which  flow  into  the  Hudson's  bay,  to  the  waters  pouring  into  the 
gulf  of  Mexico. 

The  tributaries  of  the  Red  river  of  the  North,  and  those  of  the  Mississippi  overlap  each  other 
to  such  an  extent  that  I  suppose  there  are  a  thousand  places  where  a  portage  even  shorter  would 
have  enabled  us  to  pass  from  the  waters  of  one  into  those  of  the  other. 


CAPT.  EENO  S  ROAD  FROM  THE   BIG  SIOUX  RIVER  TO  MENDOTA. 

In  1853  Capt.  J.  L.  Reno  executed  a  survey  for  a  military  road  trom  the 
mouth  of  the  Big  Sioux  river  to  Mendota.  The  carefully  prepared  and  very 
full  map  transmitted  with  his  report,  seems  not  to  have  been  published. 
After  crossing  the  Des  Moines  river  and  traveling  ten  miles  further,  he 
entered  Minnesota.  This  was  in  the  vicinity  ot  lakes  which  he  names 
Spirit,  Okamanpidan,  and  Omanhu,  being,  as  he  supposed,  in  the  Undine 
region  of  Nicollet.  He  crossed  the  Chaniushkah  and  Perch  rivers,  the 
former  a  branch  of  the  Blue  Earth  and  the  latter  of  the  Watonwan.  The 
route  chosen  lay  along  the  west  side  of  the  Blue  Earth  to  its  union  with  the 
Minnesota,  thence  to  Mankato,  and  thence  on  the  Shakopee  stony  terrace  to 
Babcock's  mill  near  Kasota.  Here  the  road  left  the  river  and  ascended  to  the 
table-land,  nearly  300  feet  above  the  Minnesota,  and  entered  the  "  Big  Woods," 
owing  to  the  discontinuance  of  the  "second  bottom."  Opposite  Traverse 
des  Sioux  Capt.  Reno  encountered  Capt.  Dodd  of  Minnesota,  who  had  antici- 
pated the  government  and  had  recently  constructed  a  road  from  St.  Paul  to 
Rockbend  (a  short  distance  above  Traverse  des  Sioux),  thus  much  aiding 
Capt.  Reno  in  getting  through  the  unexplored  labyrinth  of  lakes  and  marshes 
which  there  characterize  the  Big  Woods.  Passing  by  way  of  Eagle  lake, 
Lakeville  and  the  western  border  ot  the  Vermilion  prairie  to  the  Mendota 
and  Cannon  river  road,  he  followed  it  for  six  miles  into  Mendota. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  91 

1858,  Daniels.] 

GOVERNMENT  ROADS  IN  MINNESOTA. 

According  to  the  report  of  Capt.  J.  H.  Simpson,*  dated  September  20th, 
1855,  the  following  territorial  roads  were  in  course  of  construction  at  that 
time  by  the  general  government,  viz.,  from  Point  Douglas  to  the  mouth  of 
the  St.  Louis  river ;  from  Point  Douglas  to  Fort  Ripley ;  from  Wabasha 
to  Mendota ;  from  Mendota  to  the  mouth  of  the  Big  Sioux  river  ;  from  the 
mouth  of  Swan  river  to  Long  Prairie  ;  from  Fort  Ripley  to  Pembina,  and 
from  St.  Anthony  falls  to  Fort  Ridgely.f 

PACIFIC   RAILROAD   SURVEY. 

The  reports  of  explorations  and  surveys  to  ascertain  the  most  practi- 
cable and  economical  route  for  a  railroad  from  the  Mississippi  river  to  the 
Pacific  ocean,  made  in  1853,  1854  and  1855,  contain  a  few  articles  relating 
to  the  natural  features  of  Minnesota.  Such  are  found  in  Vol.  I.,  pp.  39-55, 
on  the  Route  near  the  47th  and  49th  parallels  of  north  latitude;  Vol.  II.,  p.  45,  on 
a  Railroad  from  Puget  sound  via  Smith  pass  to  the  Mississippi  river,  by  Fred. 
W.  Lander;  Vol.  XII.,  Parts  I.  and  II.,  wholly  devoted  to  the  Northern 
Pacific  route,  containing  a  Final  Report  and  Narrative,  by  Gov.  J.  J.  Stevens; 
and  reports  on  Botany  and  Zoology,  by  Drs.  Cooper,  Gray,  Suckley,  and  others. 
The  Botanical  Report  embraces  pp.  7-76,  and  six  plates;  the  Zoological  Report 
has  1-399  pages,  and  seventy -six  plates.  These  Natural  History  papers,  how- 
ever, refer  almost  exclusively  to  the  western  portion  of  the  route.f 


PERIOD  OF  STATE  EXPLORATION  AND  SURVEY,  1858-1881. 

The  first  legislature  that  met  after  the  admission  of  the  State  into 
the  Union,  gave  due  consideration  to  the  subject  of  a  geological  survey. 
Although  burdened  with  the  legislation  incident  to  the  organization  of  the 
various  institutions  of  a  new  state,  the  evident  importance  of  some  scheme 
for  ascertaining  the  natural  resources  of  the  state,  as  the  first  step  toward 

*Ei.  Docs.  1855-6.    First  He»s.  34th  Congress.    Vol.1.    Part  II.,  p.  468. 

tTlie  report  and  map  of  Capt.  Sully,  of  a  recounoissance  from   Fort  Kidgely  to  Fort  Pierre  in  1856,  have  not  bean 
published.    Capt.  Sully  determined  the  source  of  the  Big  Sioux  river  to  be  in  lake  Kampeska  (Warren.) 


92  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Wheelock,  ilfc. 

their  full  development,  was  felt;  and  although  no  general  survey  was  insti- 
tuted, a  law  was  passed  ordering  at  once  a  reprint  of  portions  of  the  geo- 
logical report  of  Wisconsin,*  by  Prof.  Daniels,  for  the  years  1854  and  1858. 
This  was  printed  in  1860,  and  contained  Dr.  D.  F.  Weinland's  "  sketch  of  the 
lead  region,"  with  notes  on  the  evidences  of  iron  ore,  which  closed  with  a 
statement  of  the  "objects  of  a  geological  and  natural  history  survey," 
embracing  thirty-four  pages,  dated  Cambridge,  Mass.,  Oct.  27,  1857.  It  also 
embraced  a  paper  read  before  the  American  Geographical  and  Statistical 
Society,  in  1856,  by  Mr.  A.  S.  Hewitt,  on  the  "  statistics  and  history  of  the 
production  of  iron." 

JOSEPH   A.    WHEELOCK. 

[First  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Statistics,  or  the  year  ending  January  1st,  I860.] 

The  second  legislature  enacted,  in  February,  1860,  a  law  establishing 
a  bureau  of  statistics,  and  creating  a  Commissioner  of  statistics.  Mr. 
Wheelock  was  appointed  ;  and  such  was  his  indefatigable  industry  and  his 
knowledge  of  the  state,  that  on  July  1st  of  the  same  year  he  rendered  a 
voluminous  report  "  for  the  year  ending  January  1st,  1860."  This  was  the 
first  official  presentation  of  her  natural  capabilities  on  the  part  of  the  new 
state  of  Minnesota;  and  it  is  not  saying  too  much  to  assert  that  it  has  been 
one  of  the  most  powerful  instruments  in  recommending  the  state  to  eastern 
capitalists  and  farmers,  and  in  hastening,  as  well  as  directing,  the  almost 
unprecedented  growth  that  she  has  maintained  from  that  time.  This  docu- 
ment deals  not  with  the  discovery  of  new  facts,  or  the  description  of  new 
regions,  or  the  establishment  ot  new  principles,  but  it  is  a  forcible  presenta- 
tion, in  easy  grouping,  of  those  known  natural  features  and  resources  of  the 
state,  in  a  harmonious  and  terse  yet  comprehensive  review,  which  give  the 
state  a  commanding  pre-eminence  in  the  Union  in  point  of  agriculture,  and 
promise  for  it  a  corresponding  position  in  respect  of  population,  manufac- 
tures, wealth  and  general  intelligence.  The  statistics  proper,  presented  by 
the  Commissioner,  are  preceded  by  an  able  essay  on  the  geographical  posi- 
tion, physical  geography,  agricultural  capabilities  and  climatology  of  the 
state.  Chapters  are  also  added  on  the  condition  and  progress  of  agriculture, 
commerce,  railroads,  manufactures  and  public  lands. 

"Minnesota  was  formely  embraced  in  the  territory  of  Wisconsin. 


HISTOEICAL  SKETCH.  93 

1861,  Anderson  and  Clark.] 

Mr.  Wheelock's  second  report  as  Commissioner  of  .statistics,  rendered 
December  1st,  1861,  is  very  similar  in  scope  and  character  to  that  of  1860, 
with  the  added  value  of  the  U.  S.  census  returns  for  1860. 

ANDERSON    AND   CLARK. 

The  second  legislature  also  passed,  March  10th,  1860,  a  concurrent  resolu- 
tion providing  for  "  Commissioners"  to  report  on  the  geology  of  the  state, 
and  to  submit  a  plan  for  a  thorough  geological  survey  of  the  state.  The 
commissioners  appointed  were  Charles  L.  Anderson  and  Thomas  Clark. 
These  gentlemen  submitted  separate  reports  under  the  date  of  January  25th, 
1861,  making  an  octavo  pamphlet  of  twenty-six  pages.  It  embraces  a 
chapter  on  the  general  geological  features  of  Minnesota,  and  one  on  a  plan 
for  a  geological  survey,  by  Mr.  Anderson ;  also  one  by  Mr.  Clark  on  some 
general  climatic,  topographical  and  geological  features  of  the  north- 
eastern portion  of  the  state.  Governor  Ramsey  discouraged  the  inaugura- 
tion of  a  geological  survey  at  that  time,  knowing  that  the  cost  is  not  only 
always  great,  but  always  greater  than  was  expected,  and  believing  that  the 
actual  material  advantages  to  a  state  from  such  surveys  are  commonly 
overrated.*  He  considered  that  the  new  state  had  a  sufficient  burden  in  the 
establishment  and  support  of  its  charitable  and  educational  institutions, 
but  hoped  that  when  the  state  had  reached  that  point  when  she  "  could 
expend  fifty  or  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  this  one  department  ot 
science,"  such  a  survey  would  be  undertaken.  He  also  recommended 
the  commencement  of  a  collection  of  state  minerals  at  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment, as  an  index  to  the  extent  of  its  mineral  wealth  and  resources,  which 
would  thus  become  a  matter  for  investigation. 

Mr.  Anderson's  report  summarizes  briefly  some  ol  the  chapters  of  Dr. 
Owen's  report  on  Wisconsin,  Iowa  and  Minnesota,  and  closes  with  some 
very  pertinent  remarks  regarding  the  plan,  object  and  cost  ot  a  geological 
survey. 

The  objects  of  a  geological  survey  may  be  stated  very  briefly,  as  follows  :  It  consists  in  placing 
before  the  people  of  the  state,  in  the  most  available  and  intelligible  form,  all  the  information  that 
can  be  obtained  in  regard  to  the  rocks,  minerals  and  soils.  Also  to  this  might  be  added  informa- 
tion, especially  of  a  practicallcharacter,  in  regard  to  the  vegetables  and  animals  peculiar  to  the 
state. 


•Message  communicating  to  Hie  House  of  Representatives  the  reports  of  Anderson  and  Clark. 


94  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Hanchett  and  Clark,  1864. 

Whatever  part  of  the  survey  is  undertaken  and  reported  on,  should  be  of  the  most  substantial 
kind.  All  that  is  possible  for  human  knowledge  to  accomplish  should  be  accomplished.  There 
should  be  no  slighting  of  the  work — no  necessity  for  tearing  down  and  building  up  again. 

There  is  a  vast  accuin  ulation  of  experience  before  us.  We  have  the  history  of  surveys  in  other 
states.  If  we  are  wise  we  can  profit  by  what  has  been  in  many  instances  their  loss.  We  can  see 
where  they  have  made  gross  mistakes  in  the  management  of  their  affairs.  It  would  be  useless  to 
enumerate  their  errors.  One,  however,  that  I  would  not  be  doing  my  duty  to  pass  in  silence,  is 
that  of  allowing  party  prejudices  to  interfere  in  any  manner  with  a  survey  of  this  kind.  I  might 
mention  some  of  our  neighboring  states,  that  have  had  sad  experience  in  this  respect.  But  that 
would  be  personal  and  might  give  offence.  I  may  be  permitted  to  say,  however,  that  rewarding  a 
political  leader  with  the  office  of  state  geologist,  and  a  liberal  yearly  salary,  when  he  is  totally 
incompetent  for  the  task,  is  a  thing  that  has  been,  but  I  trust  will  not  be  again. 

As  to  the  cost  of  such  a  survey,  the  strictest  economy,  consistent  with  the  attainment  of  the 
object  sought,  should  be  rigidly  pursued.  If  such  were  the  course  adopted,  after  the  first  year  the 
survey,  instead  of  being  an  expense,  would  be  remunerative,  at  least  indirectly  so.  Attention 
would  be  called  to  our  mineral  resources,  and  the  erection  of  manufactories, — it  may  be  of  iron, 
copper  or  lead, — would  soon  engage  the  attention  of  capitalists,  and  an  inflow  of  population  would 
be  the  result,  more  than  enough  to  repay  the  state  the  small  appropriation  made  each  year  for  the 
survey.  But  let  us  look  at  the  subject  in  a  more  general  way. 

When  we  reflect  on  the  amount  of  money  that  goes  out  of  our  state  each  year  for  articles 
that,  with  a  little  encouragement,  might  just  as  well  be  manufactured  at  home,  it  is  no  wonder 
that  we  hear  so  continuously  the  cry  of  "  hard  times."  With  as  good  iron  ore  as  the  world  can 
produce,  the  United  States  still  imports  three  million  dollars  worth  of  that  article ;  Minnesota 
receiving  her  share.  Copper  is  sent  from  lake  Superior  to  England,  there  to  be  manufactured,  and 
returned  to  us  at  a  cost  of  more  than  two  hundred  per  cent.  With  a  deposit  of  coal  in  North 
America  twenty  times  the  area  of  all  the  known  deposits  of  the  eastern  continent,  and  almost 
thirty-five  times  as  large  an  area  in  the  United  States  as  Great  Britain's  coal  area,  yet  the  Atlantic 
cities  import  annually  285,869  tons ;  and  all  these  things  because  our  home  resources  are  not  opened 
up,  and  because  there  is  not  sufficient  encouragement  to  our  own  enterprise.  What  might  be  said 
of  the  United  States,  or  any  one  of  the  states,  in  this  respect,  might  also  be  said  of  Minnesota. 

So  much  in  regard  to  "counting  the  cost."  Instead  of  the  survey,  if  properly  conducted, 
running  the  state  in  debt,  it  will  be  a  means  most  potent  in  relieving  her  of  financial  embarrassment, 
and  causing  a  feeling  of  independence,  in  being  able  to  exist  by  her  own  internal  richness. 

HANCHETT  AND  CLARK. 

Nothing  seems  to  have  been  done,  after  the  publication  ot  the  report  ot 
Anderson  and  Clark,  respecting  a  geological  survey  of  the  state,  till  the 
meeting  ot  the  sixth  legislature  (1864),  when  the  subject  was  revived,  and 
resulted  in  the  passage  of  a  resolution  authorizing  the  Governor  to  appoint 
and  direct  a  state  geologist.  Dr.  Aug.  H.  Hanchett  was  appointed,  and 
Thomas  Clark  was  his  assistant.  The  report  of  Dr.  Hanchett,  dated  New 
York,  November  13th,  1864,  covers  eight  pages,  and  embraces  little  of  value 
to  the  state.  He  seems  to  have  visited  the  shore  ot  lake  Superior,  and 
coasted  as  far  as  Pigeon  river,  but  to  little  purpose. 

Mr.  Clark,  who  accompanied  him,  was  much  more  industrious  in  gath- 
ering facts  and  making  observations.  His  report  is  valuable ;  it  contains 
seventy  pages,  with  chapters  on— 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  95 

1865,  Eames.] 

The  Physical  Geography  ot  the  district  embraced  in  that  portion  of  the 
state  bordering  on  lake  Superior.  A  large  share  of  the  geological  report 
of  Dr.  Owen  is  devoted  to  this  district ;  the  maps  accompanying  that  report 
were  constructed  previous  to  the  linear  surveys  ;  Mr.  Clark  locates  many 
of  the  points  of  interest,  giving  their  section,  township  and  range,  especially 
the  entrance  of  rivers,  and  prominent  points  or  bays  of  the  coast. 

Meteorology  of  the  district,  embracing  the  carefully  reduced  results  ot 
one  full  year's  observations,  and  of  several  concurrent  and  parallel  months. 

A  list  of  plants  and  trees  of  the  district,  observed  mainly  between  St. 
Paul  and  lake  Superior,  on  the  meridian  16°  west  from  Washington  ;  the 
northern  and  southern  limits  of  species  being  noted. 

H.  H.  EAMES. 

The  following  year,  under  direction  of  Governor  Miller,  Mr.  H.  H. 
Eames  continued  the  prosecution  of  the  geological  survey  of  the  state,  and 
his  first  report,  without  date,  was  printed  in  1866.  Mr.  Eames'  labor  was 
essentially  "prospecting."  All  other  objects  but  a  vigorous  hunt  for 
"mineral,"  were  ignored.  His  first  report  is  a  pamphlet  of  twenty -three 
pages,  and  throughout  it  bears  evidence  that  the  writer  was  convinced,  a 
priori,  that  the  state  of  Minnesota  was  one  of  the  richest  mineral  countries 
in  the  world.  He  discovered  gold  and  silver,  but  could  not  yet  state  the 
"angle"  at  which  veins  containing  them  occur,  but  had  the  "impression 
that  it  would  be  found  to  be  about  85°."  These  "discoveries"  led  to  a  gold- 
mining  fever,  centering  on  Vermilion  lake,  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
state,  in  which  many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  were  squandered 
in  the  next  two  years.  Several  companies  began  mining,  hauling  their 
machinery  and  supplies  from  Duluth  at  great  expense.  Unscrupulous 
"assayers,"  "prospectors"  and  "geologists"  fostered  the  excitement.  A 
town  of  mushroom  growth  sprang  up  near  the  south  side  of  the  lake.  A 
would-be  geologist  and  "spiritualist,"  who  subsequently  aspired  to  the 
position  of  "peat-commissioner"  to  the  state  of  Minnesota,  located  the 
precious  lodes  at  Vermilion  lake  by  the  necromancy  of  spiritualistic  medi- 
ums. The  fever  spread.  The  state  geologist  himself  was  chief  owner  and 
operator  of  one  of  the  mines.  The  whole  thing  very  soon  collapsed,  and 


96  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Eames,  i8A6. 

in  a  few  years  thereafter  but  one  white  man,  a  government  officer,  could  be 
found  in  the  whole  region.  Respecting  the  lignites  of  southwestern  Minne- 
sota, Mr.  Eames  says  that  he  has  no  hesitation  in  recording  his  conviction 
that  large  deposits  of  good  coal  will  be  found  there,  "  the  stratum  having  a 
course  southeast  of  the  Big  Cottonwood  river,  thence  northwest  to  the 
Redwood  river,  crossing  the  Minnesota  river  at  or  near  that  point,  also 
west  of  the  Cottonwood,  and  having  a  bearing  west  of  north.  The  out- 
crop of  the  formation  can  only  be  seen  at  a  few  points,  as  it  has  many 
local  upheavals,  and  corresponding  depressions." 

Mr.  Eames  mentioned  the  iron  ore  at  Vermilion  lake,  in  the  vicinity  ot 
the  stream  known  as  Two  rivers.  He  describes  it  as  lying  in  two  ridges, 
nearly  parallel,  one  being  of  haematite  with  jasperoid,  quartzo.se  and 
serpentine  rocks,  and  the  other  of  magetite  of  very  good  quality,  the  latter 
being  north  of  the  former.  The  iron  is  said  to  be  exposed  at  two  or  three 
points,  between  fifty  and  sixty  feet  in  thickness,  presenting  quite  a  mural 
face. 

Passing  down  the  lake  Superior  shore  as  far  as  Temperance  river,  he 
has  a  few  words  concerning  the  metalliferous  character  of  the  rocks  at 
numerous  places. 

.  Mr.  Eames'  second  report  purports  to  give  "reconnoissance  in  detail,  of 
the  northern,  middle  and  other  counties  in  Minnesota,"  comprising  fifty-eight 
octavo  pages.  After  presenting  a  brief  outline  of  the  different  formations  or 
systems  of  rocks  that  form  the  crust  of  the  earth,  he  adds  remarks  on  the 
igneous,  the  coal-bearing  and  the  sandstone  and  limestone  rocks  of  the  state ; 
also  on  peat;  on  mineral  and  fissure  veins;  on  agricultural  chemistry:  on  a 
geological  reconnoissance  "in  detail",  of  the  counties  of  St.  Louis,  Lake, 
Itasca,  Cass,  Todd,  Otter  Tail,  Douglas,  Stearns,  Morrison,  Benton,  Sher- 
burne,  Redwood,  Cottonwood,  Ramsey  and  Washington,  together  with 
results  of  assays  and  thermometrical  and  barometrical  observations  in  the 
months  ot  June,  July  and  August.  He  describes  Pokegama  falls  as 
formed  by  an  exposure  of  Potsdam  sandstone  (quartzy te),  or  the  lowest  of  the 
Lower  Silurian  rocks.  It  presents  a  mural  exposure  of  twenty  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  stream,  and  one-eighth  of  a  mile  in  length,  having  a  course 
15°  south  of  west.  A  similar  fall  is  described  on  Prairie  river,  six  or  seven 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  97 

1865,  Hall.] 

miles  above  its  point  of  union  with  the  Mississippi,  where  he  notes  an  uplift 
of  igneous  and  metamorphosed  rocks,  consisting  of  granite,  coarse  and  fine, 
"quartzyte  or  Potsdam  sandstone,"  and  iron  ore,  the  water  falling  from 
twelve  to  fifteen  feet.  This  iron  ore  occurs  also  on  the  west  side  of  the 
river.  At  several  places  above  these  falls  the  same  rocks  are  noted  in  place, 
particularly  at  the  second  falls  and  in  a  ridge  near  the  head  of  the  lake 
about  a  sixth  of  a  mile  from  the  south  shore.  The  iron  ores  here  seen,  he 
found  to  afford  from  fifty  to  sixty  per  cent,  metallic  iron.  He  reports  the 
same  kind  of  drift  limestone  fragments  on  the  upper  Mississippi,  about 
Pokegama  falls,  and  on  the  St.  Louis  river,  as  in  Otter  Tail  county  and  the 
Red  river  valley. 

Mr.  Richard  M.  Eames,  his  assistant,  makes  further  statements  concern- 
ing the  quartz  veins  at  Vermilion  lake  and  their  ramifications  through  the 
talcose  slates,  concluding  with  the  statement  that  he  belives  that  the  "hid- 
den sources  of  wealth,  lying  buried  in  the  strata,  would  justify  the  invest- 
ment of  capital." 

Mr.  Eames'  survey  soon  fell  into  disrepute,  and  further  appropriations 
were  not  made  by  the  legislature. 

JAMES   HALL   IN   MINNESOTA. 

In  1865  the  state  legislature  appropriated  two  thousand  dollars  to  Mr. 
N.  C.  D.  Taylor  for  the  exploration  of  the  mineral  lands  in  the  valley  of  the 
St.  Croix  river,  lying  in  the  state  of  Minnesota.  A  report  of  this  work 
was  rendered  to  the  governor  January  27th,  1866.  It  consists  of  about 
one  page  octavo,  and  states  that  he  had  found  indications  of  copper  on 
what  is  known  as  the  "  Kettle  river  trap  range,"  having  expended  a  con- 
siderable sum  in  examinations  sufficient  to  show  it  to  be  "  very  promising 
for  a  rich  paying  vein."  He  also  mentions  a  copper  vein  crossing  the  St. 
Croix  river  below  the  mouth  of  Kettle  river,  and  one  on  Snake  river ;  also 
one  at  Taylor's  Falls,  on  which  he  had  sunk  a  shaft,  about  forty  feet  in 
depth,  and  a  second  one  three  or  four  hundred  feet  from  the  first  about 
twenty-two  feet  in  depth.  The  most  of  the  rock  of  the  St.  Croix  valley 
above  Taylor's  Falls,  he  found  to  consist  of  different  kinds  of  trap  rocks, 
with  belts  of  conglomerate  running  through  them  from  northeast  to  south- 


98  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOT A. 

[Hall,  1865. 

west,  the  conglomerate  being  particularly  abundant  on  the  Kettle  river 

range. 

As  corroborative   of  his  own  opinions,  Mr.  Taylor  incorporates  the 

views  of  Prof.  James  Hall  who  was,  presumably,  employed  to  make  a 
reconnoissance  of  the  region  in  1865.  Prof.  Hall  is  reported  as  saying  that 
the  Taylor's  Falls  vein  is  a  very  distinct  vein,  quite  equal,  in  what  it  shows, 
to  many  of  the  best  paying  veins  of  lake  Superior;  and  of  the  Kettle  river 
vein,  that  so  far  as  can  be  seen  of  it,  it  is  even  more  promising  than  the 
one  at  Taylor's  Falls,  or  the  most  promising  that  has  been  found  in  the 
country.  He  regarded  the  whole  St.  Croix  region  as  worthy  of  further 
exploration  for  this  metal.* 

In  the  same  year  Prof.  Hall  visited  the  southwestern  part  of  the  state, 
his  object  being  to  ascertain  the  age  of  the  coal  that  was  then  being 
explored  on  the  Waraju  river.  The  next  year  an  interesting  paper  was 
published  by  him  "  On  the  geology  of  some  portions  of  Minnesota  from  St. 
Paul  to  the  western  part  of  the  state."  It  is  to  be  found  in  the  Transactions 
of  the  Philosophical  Society  of  Philadelphia.  The  following  points  are 
made  in  this  paper: 

1.  The  Lower  Magnesian  and  the  Potsdam  are  seen  in  the  bluffs  of 
the  river  to  Mankato. 

2.  A  small  portion  of  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  was  seen  at  St.  Peter, 
still  preserved  above  the  Lower  Magnesian. 

3.  The  rock  at  Pipestone  he  regards  as  Huronian. 

4.  At  Redwood  falls,  and  at  other  places,  he  mentions  the  "steatitic 
or  glauconitic"  beds  resulting  from  the  decomposition  of  the  granite  under 
the  Cretaceous. 

5.  The  limestone  and  green  marls  at  New  Ulm  he  regards  Cretaceous. 

6.  The  red  marls  and  sandstone  underlying,  he  thinks  "  are  not  older 
than  the  Triassic." 

7.  He  suggests  the  former  probable  continuity  of  the  western  and  east- 
ern Cretaceous  areas  with  the  southern  prolongation  of  the  same  rocks  up 
the  Mississippi  valley. 

8.  Suggests  the  parallelism  of  the  red  marls  and  ferruginous  sandstones 

*A  hasty  statement  has  been  made  by  Prof.  R.  D  Irving  in  the  Transactions  of  the  American  Institute  of  Mining 
Engineers,  Vol  ViH,  that  this  copper  retrion  had  not  been  recognized  by  the  Minnesota  geologists,  but  was  first  brought 
to  light  by  himself.  Dr.  Shumard  describes  the  same  rocks,  and  Chas.  Whittlesey  says  they  are  the  "dying  out  in  that 
direction  of  the  great  Kewenaw  range." 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  99 

1864,  Whittleiey.] 

at  Winkelmann's,  near  New  Ulm,  with  the  gypsiferous  deposits  in  the  valley 
of  the  Des  Moines. 

9.  Regards  the  Coteau  des  Prairies  as  made  by  a  broad  synclinal  in 
the  quartzyte  outcropping  at  Redstone,  and  illustrates  it  by  a  diagram.* 

CHARLES   WHITTLESEY   IN   NORTHERN   MINNESOTA. 

Mr.  Whittlesey,  who  had  been  employed  on  the  survey  of  Dr.  Owen,  made 
further  examinations  in  the  state  for  private  parties  in  1859  and  1864,  and  his 
geological  notes,  with  illustrations,  were  printed  at  Cleveland.  Ohio,  in  1866, 
by  order  of  the  legislature  of  Minnesota.  This  little  pamphlet  contains  much 
information  concerning  the  northern  part  of  the  state,  not  to  be  found  in 
any  earlier  publication.  His  ascent  of  the  Big  Fork  river  was  made  in  com- 
pany with  Dr.  Norwood,  when  engaged  on  the  survey  of  Dr.  Owen,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1848,  and  his  description  of  that  stream  has  but  little  that  is  not 
found  in  the  report  of  Norwood. 

Mr.  Whittlesey  was  the  first  to  make  observations  on  the  drift-deposits 
under  the  guide  of  any  adequate  conception  or  theory  of  their  origin.  Dr. 
Owen's  survey  ignored  this  subject  entirely,  or  incidentally  grouped  the 
phenomena  under  the  head  of  "agricultural  capabilities'',!  while  Mr.  Eames 
was  too  much  engaged  in  a  mineral  hunt  to  give  them  any  consideration, 
except  as  impediments  to  "prospecting."  Whittlesey's  grouping  of  "glacial 
etchings"  proves  the  direction  of  the  glacial  movement  in  the  northern  part 
of  the  state  to  have  been  from  the  northeast,  and  he  unhesitatingly  ascribes 
all  the  phenomena  in  North  America  to  the  agency  of  glaciers,  placing  the 
southern  limit  of  the  movement  in  New  Jersey,  northern  Pennsylvania, 
Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Wisconsin  and  lowa.J  The  correctness  of  this 
early  prognostication  has  been  strikingly  J  verified  by  late  explorations  in 
several  of  the  states  named.  He  could  see  no  reason  to  suppose  that  any 
changes  of  level  of  the  country  have  taken  place  since  the  era  of  the  drift. 


*Jt  is  singular  that  this  theoretical  explanation  of  the  Coteau  should  have  been  incorporated  on  the  late  geological 
map  of  the  United  States,  by  Profs.  Hitchcock  and  Blake,  accompanying  the  ninth  trailed  States  census  report,  rather 
than  the  positive  statements  of  all  other  observers  who  have  crossed  it,  to  the  effect  that  no  rocky  outcrops  are  to  be 
found  If  the  Huronian  rocks  underlie  the  Coteau,  they  would  certainly  appear  at  the  surface  at  a  great  many  places. 
Prof.  Hind  visited  this  ridge  near  the  49th  parallel ;  so  did  Dr.  Owen  ;  Mr.  Featherstonhaugh  had  described  it;  Keating 
had  given  us  information  concerning  it ;  Nicollet'g  opinions  were  on  record.  These  all  testify  that  it  is  made  up  of  drift. 
Probably  the  basis  rock  is  Cretaceous,  as  that  formation  appears  on  both  sides  in  the  adjoining  streams.  The  examina- 
tions of  the  survey  have  established  the  "erratic"  nature  of  the  whole  range.  Compare  KvUeiins  of  the  Minnesota  Acad 
my.  Vol.  I. p.  100. 

tCompare  Owen's  description  of  the  "southern  confines  of  the  Coteau."    Introduction,  pp.  ixxv.  and  zixvi. 

{Compare  Fresh-water  glacial  drift  of  the  Northwatem  slates.    Smithsonian  Corttribttliom,  May,  1864. 


100  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Warren,  186*. 

The  lake  Superior  trap  rocks,  carrying  native  copper,  he  assigned  to 
the  age  of  the  Potsdam.*  Those  carrying  the  sulphurets  of  copper,  he 
placed  in  a  different,  and  older  system,  the  Huronian,  after  the  generaliza- 
tion of  Bigsby  and  Logan.  The  quartzyte  at  Pokegama  falls,  he  styled 
Potsdam. 

With  the  exception  of  occasional  misapprehensions  of  minerals,  Mr. 
Whittlesey's  brief  notes,  with  the  accompanying  rough  illustrations,  consti- 
tute a  valuable  and  correct  geological  epitome  of  the  northern  part  of  Min- 
nesota, from  Encampment  river  on  the  east  to  the  Grande  Fourche,  or  Big 
Fork  river,  on  the  west.  It  embraces  also  short  chapters  on  the  general 
geology,  the  phenomena  of  the  drift  period,  general  elevations  in  Minne- 
sota, fluctuations  in  the  level  of  the  lakes,  the  climate,  and  the  cost  of 
mining  copper. 

GENERAL  G.  K.  WABREN   ON  THE   MINNESOTA   VALLEY. 

The  United  States  government  detailed  General  Warren  in  1866,  for 
the  survey  of  the  upper  Mississippi,  Minnesota  and  Wisconsin  rivers  with  a 
view  to  the  improvement  of  navigation  and  the  construction  of  bridges 
which  should  afford  the  least  possible  obstruction  to  navigation.  The  work 
on  the  Minnesota  was  continued  in  1867  and  1868.  In  the  annual  report 
of  the  Chief  of  Engineers  for  1868,  is  found  General  Warren's  first 
published  general  expression  of  his  views  concerning  the  physical  features 
of  the  Minnesota  valley,  although  they  were  in  part  presented  in  Sen. 
Ex.  Doc.  No.  58,  39th  Congress,  2nd  Session,  dated  January  21,  1867. 
His  final  report,  in  extenso,  was  not  rendered  till  1874,  owing  to  the  inter- 
vention of  other  duties,  and  is  to  be  found  in  the  appendix  to  the  report  of 
the  Chief  of  Engineers  for  that  year.f  Part  II  of  this  report  is  an  essay 
concerning  important  physical  features  exhibited  in  the  valley  of  the  Minnesota 
river,  and  upon  their  signification.  This  is  illustrated  by  several  maps,  plates 
and  diagrams,  and  accompanied  by  a  detailed  description  of  the  valley  by 
his  assistant,  Mr.  C.  E.  Davis. 

The  main  points  brought  out  in  this  essay,  are  ;  1st,  that  the  Minnesota 
valley  was  formerly  the  course  of  a  great  river;  2nd,  that  this  river 


*On  page  7  Mr.  Whittlesey  makes  the  following  remark  concerning  the  rocks  of  the  Mesabi  :  "  In  many  cases  the 
•yenite  and  granite  appear  to  be  more  recent  than  the  metamorphic  slates,  having  all  the  appearance  c,f  intrusive  rocks." 

t^ee  also  the  American  Aatmalist,  November  1868,  for  a  summary  of  a  paper  read  by  Gin.  Warren  before  the 
American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  101 

i86S,  Warren.] 


drained  the  valley  of  lake  Winnipeg ;  3rd,  that  lake  Winnipeg  for- 
merly had  a  great  extension  southward,  according  to  the  opinion  of 
Prof.  Henry  Youle  Hind  ;*  and  4th,  that  the  most  plausible  hypothesis  to 
account  .for  the  former  drainage  of  the  Winnipeg  basin  along  the  valley  of 
the  Mississippi,  and  for  the  change  to  the  present  outlet  by  Nelson  river,  is 
a  subsidence  of  the  northern  part  ot  the  valley  and  an  elevation  of  the 
southern  part,  extending  through  a  vast  period  of  time,  and  probably  still 
going  on.  He  refers  to  the  hypothesis  that  as  the  glacial  epoch  tempered 
off  gradually  into  the  present  epoch,  there  might  have  been  a  long  time 
when  the  glaciers  had  sufficient  extension  southward  to  close  the  outlet  to 
Hudson's  .bay,  which  on  the  further  recession  of  the  ice,  would  be  opened 
and  the  lake  drained  off  toward  the  north.  This  hypothesis  he  regards  as 
"  unsupported,  and  barren  of  any  fruit."  He  thinks  it  does  not  explain  any 
phenomena  presented  by  other  lake-basins  and  water-courses  in  North 
America,  nor  enable  us  to  predict  what  probable  results  we  should  find  in 
other  regions,  and  thus  intelligently  direct  further  investigation.  He  then 
mentions  topographic  features  reported  at  numerous  points  in  the  United 
States  and  in  the  British  possessions  in  America  which  seem  to  confirm  the 
former  hypothesis ;  and  closes  with  a  map  showing  a  restoration  of  the 
ancient  basin  of  the  Mississippi.  In  this  the  source  is  shown  to  be  a  stream 
joining  lake  Winnipeg  from  the  northwest.  Lake  Winnipeg  is  enlarged  to 
exceed  the  area  of  lake  Superior,  extending  to  Big  Stone  lake,  having  its 
outlet  by  way  of  the  Minnesota  into  the  Mississippi ;  while  at  the  same 
time  an  arm  of  the  gulf  of  Mexico  brings  salt  water  up  the  great  valley  as 
far  as  the  parallel  on  which  Chicago  lies,  and  farther  still  up  the  Missouri 
valley,  the  Ohio  itself  being  an  eastward  extension  from  this  arm  nearly 
to  Pittsburg. 

In  the  proper  place  this  subject  will  be  fully  discussed.  It  is  only 
necessary  to  say  here  that  the  investigations  of  the  survey,  while  sustain- 
ing all  Gen.  Warren's  observations  respecting  the  extension  of  a  lake  for- 
merly occupying  the  Winnipeg  and  Red  river  valley,  and  the  large  size  of 
the  ancient  Minnesota,  warrant  the  hypothesis  which  he  rejects,  rather 
than  the  one  which  he  adopts. 

•Narrative  of  the  Canadian  Red  river  exploring  expedition  of  1857,  and  of  the  Assinibolne  and  Saskatchewan 
oxploring  expedition  of  1858.    By  Henry  Youle  Hind.    Two  volume*. 


102  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

.'  ^  J^'l  I.  {Hurlbut,  1871. 


.   .>  V;  ,°.          •       .     . 

HURLBUT    ON   THE    GEOLOGY   OF   SOUTHERN   MINNESOTA. 

In  1871  Mr.  W.  D.  Hurlbut,  of  Rochester,  Minnesota,  contributed  a  series 
of  papers  to  the  Minnesota  Teacher  on  the  geology  of  southern  Minnesota, 
which  were  subsequently  issued  together  as  a  pamphlet.  These  papers 
supply  a  lack,  which  was  a  conspicuous  and  remarkable  one,  in  the  geologi- 
cal literature  of  the  state — considering  the  general  accuracy  and  fullness  of 
Owen's  report — since  no  geologist  had  before  penetrated  this  part  of  Min- 
nesota, and  nobody  had  called  attention  to  its  marked  topography  or  to  its 
geology.  Owen's  parties  passed  around  it.  They  ascended  the  Mississippi, 
the  Minnesota  and  the  Des  Moines,  but  the  valleys  of  the  Root  and  the 
Zumbro  were  not  examined.  It  is  in  these  valleys,  and  particularly  on  the 
upper  tributaries,  that  the  upper  parts  of  the  Silurian  and  the  Devonian 
are  found  exposed. 

Taking  the  Mississippi  river,  and  the  measurements  aud  descriptions  ot 
Dr.  Owen,  as  initial  points,  Mr.  Hurlbut  follows  up  the  streams  coming  from 
the  west,  across  the  strike  of  the  formations,  noting  the  changes  as  they 
occur  in  the  strata,  and  stating  their  main  characteristics  and  thicknesses. 
He  thus  makes  out  the  Potsdam,  the  Lower  Magnesian,  St.  Peter  sandstone, 
Trenton  limestone  flags,  Hudson  River  shales,  argillaceous  shales  which  he 
regards  of  the  age  of  the  Clinton,  and  the  Devonian.  He  also  outlines  their 
geographical  extent,  and  states  some  of  their  topographic  features.  His 
identifications,  being  the  first  recorded  attempt  to  parallelize  those  strata 
with  any  recognized  base  of  nomenclature  in  the  state  of  Minnesota,  and 
dependent  for  the  greater  part  on  lithological  features,  were  subject  to  such 
changes  as  a  study  of  the  fossils  might  require.  His  Hudson  River  shales 
were  restricted  to  the  very  base  of  the  rocks  of  that  formation,  and  desig- 
nated "  Hudson  River  oil  shales,"  having  a  maximum  thickness  of  fifteen  feet. 
They  are  the  "  Green  shales"  of  the  early  reports  of  progress  of  the  survey, 
and  probably  belong  to  the  Hudson  River  group.  His  shaly  limestone  (Clin- 
ton) is  the  upper  part  of  the  Hudson  River,  becoming  in  some  places  a  very 
calcareous  member  almost  without  shales.  His  Devonian,  in  which  the 
arenaceous  parts  were  supposed  to  be  Schoharie  sandstone,  is  the  buff  mag- 
nesian  limestone  of  the  Galena.  The  elevated  land,  further  southwest  from 
the  strike  of  the  last,  in  Mower  and  Fillmore  counties,  he  suggests  may  con- 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  103 

1871,  Kloos.] 

tain  higher  formations,  such  as  the  Iowa  Subcarboniferous  formation,  but 
in  the  absence  of  exposures  of  the  rock  nothing  could  be  ascertained  with- 
out artificial  excavations. 

The  discussion  of  the  "  Tertiary  phenomena  "  by  Mr.  Hurlbut  embraces 
Prof.  J.  D.  Whitney's  view  of  the  origin  of  the  driftless  area  in  Iowa,  and 
the  opinions  of  Gen.  G.  K.  Warren  concerning  the  former  direction  of  drain- 
age of  the  Minnesota  and  upper  Mississippi  "westward  into  the  Cretaceous 
ocean,"  in  which  he  groups  in  a  new  and  interesting  manner  many  topo- 
graphic and  hypsometric  facts,  going  to  show  that  the  interior  of  the  state 
is  a  basin  whose  greatest  depression  is  along  the  valley  of  the  Minnesota, 
from  its  source  to  the  head  of  lake  Pepin.  "  The  supposed  surface  and  shore 
line  of  this  lake  basin  is  very  well  indicated,  in  many  places,  at  about  one 
thousand  feet  elevation  above  the  sea,  by  clay  terraces  and  bluffs,  containing 
trunks  and  branches  of  trees,  lignite  clay  and  other  lacustrine  formations." 

KLOOS'   GEOLOGICAL   OBSERVATIONS   IN   MINNESOTA. 

In  the  same  journal,  in  1871.  Mr.  J.  H.  Kloos  of  St.  Paul,  records  sundry 
geological  observations  made  in  the  northern  part  of  the  state.  He  sketches 
the  country  briefly  along  the  line  of  the  new  railroad  from  lake  Superior  to 
the  Mississippi  river  at  St.  Paul,  noting  most  closely  the  region  of  the  slates 
on  the  St.  Louis  river,  which  he  assigns  to  the  Huronian  formation ;  the 
conglomerates  and  red  sandstones  he  assigns  to  the  Potsdam,  the  latter  being 
unconformable  on  the  former,  with  a  dip  six  or  seven  degrees  toward  the 
south ;  and  suggests  that  beds  of  iron  ore  underlie  the  slates  of  the  St.  Louis 
river,  as  they  do  the  slates  of  the  Marquette  iron  range  in  Michigan ;  the 
huematitic  and  magnetic  iron  ore  at  Vermilion  lake  being  perhaps  in  that 
horizon,  and  thus  the  lowest  member  of  the  Huronian  formation. 

In  respect  to  the  rocks  at  Duluth  he  describes,  in  general  terms,  the 
"  Duluth  granite,"  as  a  coarse  crystalline  rock  consisting  principally  of  a 
grayish-white  feldspar  showing  three  distinct  cleavage  planes,  two  of  them 
being  nearly  at  right  angles  ;  one  plane  has  a  glassy  lustre,  and  the  other  a 
brilliant  pearly  lustre,  with  striae  which  he  regards  as  an  indication  of 
labradorite.  Another  constituent  he  named  diallage,  or  hypersthene  ;  and 
another  magnetic  iron.  The  rock  he  pronounces  hyperyte,  provisionally. 
He  mentions  the  first  rocks  forming  the  immediate  shore  at  Duluth,  styling 


104  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[A.  Winchell,  1871. 

them  feldspar-porphyry,  with  magnetite  and  epidote,  and  also  calcite  and 
laumontite,  some  of  the  rock  being  amygdaloidal.  Between  the  hyperyte 
and  the  porphyryte  he  notes  another  unstratified  homogeneous  black  rock,  of 
igneous  origin;  but  he  essays  not  to  trace  the  relations  which  these  igneous 
rocks  bear  to  each  other,  though  he  states  that  they  seem  to  be  inter- 
stratified  with  the  Potsdam  sandstone  at  points  farther  down  the  coast. 

The  "trap  rock"  at  Taylor's  Falls  he  styles  porphyryte,  places  it  in  the 
Huronian,  and  dissents  from  Dr.  Owen,  who  regards  the  sandstone  overlying 
as  older  than  the  trap.  Mr.  Kloos,  on  the  other  hand,  demonstrates,  by 
various  diagrams  and  by  his  observations,  that  the  sandstone  was  deposited, 
and  still  remains  undisturbed,  in  horizontal  stratification,  unconformably, 
over  the  crystalline  rock,  and  must  be  of  later  date.* 

In  respect  to  the  copper  discoveries  at  Taylor's  Falls,  he  says  that  there 
are  a  great  many  small  feldspathic  veins,  and  that  in  one  of  these,  where 
Mr.  Taylor  had  sunk  a  shaft  to  the  depth  of  twenty  feet,  copper  was  dis- 
seminated through  the  substance  of  the  vein-rock  (principally  feldspathic 
and  decomposed)  in  exceedingly  thin  foliae,  mixed  sometimes  with  a  sul- 
phuret  of  copper,  or  copper-glance.  The  Kettle  river  discoveries  he  regards 
more  favorably.  They  are  forty  miles  above  Taylor's  Falls,  and  warrant 
the  expectation  that  in  other  places  on  the  Kettle  river  copper-bearing 
veins  will  be  found  at  some  future  time.f 

Mr.  Kloos  was  the  first  to  announce  the  Cretaceous  rocks  at  any  point 
so  far  north  in  the  state  as  the  Sauk  valley.  In  the  American  Journal  of 
Science  and  Arts,  1872,  he  gives  the  particulars  of  such  a  discovery,  authen- 
ticated by  paleontological  determinations  of  Mr.  F.  B.  Meek. 

A.  WINCHELL  EXAMINES  THE  SALT  WELL  AT  BELLE  PLAINS. 

The  legislature  ot  1870  passed  a  law  entitled  "  An  act  to  aid  in  the 
development  of  the  salt  springs  at  Belle  Plaine,"  which  donated  six  sections 
of  the  state  salt  lands  to  a  company  organized  for  that  purpose,  on  certain 
conditions.  These  conditions,  which  required  the  sinking  of  a  drilled  well  at 

*In  the  third  volume  of  the  report  of  the  geological  survey  of  Wisconsin.  Mr.  Sweet  seems  to  have  come  to  the 
same  opinion  independently,  ata  later  date  than  Mr  Kloos. 

fSubsequently  Mr.  Kloos  and  Prof.  Strong  made  a  careful  examination  of  the  crystalline  rocks  collected  in  Minne- 
sota. Mr.  Kloos'  geological  observations  were  published  in  Zeiischrifl  d.  d.  geol.  Gesellschaft,  1871,  S.  428;  and  the  min- 
eralogical  papers  of  Strong  and  Kloos  are  to  be  found  in  the  Neues  Jahrbuch  fur  Min.  Geol.  u.  Pal.  1877.  Vide,  also,  the 
translations  of  these  in  the  tenth  and  eleventh  annual  reports  of  the  Geological  and  Natural  HUtory  survey  of  Minnesota. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  105 

1871,  A.  Winchell.] 

Belle  Plaine,  where  indications  of  brine  were  said  to  exist,  to  the  depth  of 
several  hundred  feet,  were  complied  with  by  the  company,  and  the  six  sec- 
tions of  land  were  conveyed  to  the  company.  The  following  year,  on  the 
passage  of  another  law  to  further  aid  in  the  development  of  the  same  salt 
springs,  the  conveyance  was  conditioned  on  a  favorable  report,  after  a  geo- 
logical survey  of  the  vicinity  of  Belle  Plaine  by  a  competent  geologist. 
Prof.  A.  Winchell  of  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  having  been  designated  by  gov- 
ernor Austin,  made  the  necessary  examination,  and  reported  in  June,  1871. 
His  report  was  transmitted  to  the  senate  in  January,  1872,  and  was  ordered 
printed.  It  is  an  octavo  pamphlet  of  sixteen  pages.*  After  stating  the  general 
facts  and  principles  which  guided  the  geologist  in  coming  to  a  conclusion, 
the  report"  gives  some  local  geological  observations  in  which  the  section  of 
the  exposed  sand-rock  along  Sand  creek,  at  Jordan,  is  for  the  first  time  care- 
fully made  out.  It  is  regarded  as  of  the  Potsdam  age,  and  placed  beneath 
the  Lower  Magnesian  limestone  of  Owen.  No  distinction  is  made  between 
the  stratigraphical  horizon  of  the  limestone  at  Kasota  and  that  at  St.  Law- 
rence, and  the  sand-rock  at  Jordan  is  supposed  to  lie  beneath  both  ;  the  strata 
at  Kasota  being  supposed  to  dip  down  the  river  so  as  to  bring  them  at  St. 
Lawrence  about  sixty  feet  nearer  the  water  than  at  Kasota.  From  all  the 
facts  considered,  the  conclusion  was  reached  that  the  prospect  of  obtaining 
brine  at  Belle  Plaine  was  not  encouraging ;  that  the  horizon  of  the  rocks 
penetrated  is  below  all  known  saliferous  formations,  and  that  even  if  the 
shales  of  the  Trenton  group  should  prove  to  be  saliferous,  the  product  is 
likely  to  accumulate  under  a  region  far  to  the  south. 

Notwithstanding  the  unfavorable  report  of  the  geologist,  which  ren- 
dered the  appropriation  of  1871  inoperative,  the  legislature  of  1872  appro- 
priated six  sections  more  of  the  salt  spring  lands  to  the  same  company  for 
the  same  purpose.  Not  only  has  no  brine  in  workable  quantities  ever  been 
obtained  from  this  well,  but  the  analyses  of  the  present  survey  have  failed 
to  establish  the  alleged  briny  character  of  the  water  of  the  spring  at  Belle 
Plaine  on  which  the  expenditure  was  at  first  undertaken. 

The  same  legislature  (1872)  enacted  the  law  which  initiated  the  present 
survey. 


•Report  of  a  geological  survey  of  the  vicinity  of  Belle  Plaine,  Scott  county,  Minnesota.    By  A.  Winchell. 


106  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Present  survey,  1873-82. 

HISTORY    OF   THE    PRESENT    SURVEY. 

The  law  under  which  this  survey  has  been  carried  on  was  drafted  by 
president  W.  W.  Folwell,  and  was  introduced  in  the  legislature  by  senator  J. 
S.  Pillsbury,  then  a  regent  of  the  University.  It  passed  both  houses,  and  was 
approved  by  governor  Horace  Austin,  March  1,  1872.  It  reads  as  follows; 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Mmiesota: 

SECTION  1.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  board  of  regents  of  the  University  of  Minnesota  to 
cause  to  be  begun  as  soon  as  may  be  practicable,  and  to  carry  on  a  thorough  geological  and 
natural  history  survey  of  the  state. 

SEC.  2.  The  geological  survey  shall  be  carried  on  with  a  view  to  a  complete  account  of  the 
mineral  kingdom,  as  represented  in  the  state,  including  the  number,  order,  dip,  and  magnitude  of 
the  several  geological  strata,  their  richness  in  ores,  coals,  clays,  peats,  salines,  and  mineral  waters, 
marls,  cements,  building  stones  and  other  useful  materials,  the  value  of  said  substances  for  eco- 
nomical purposes,  and  their  accessibility;  also  an  accurate  chemical  analysis  of  the  various  rocks, 
soils,  ores,  clays,  peats,  marls  and  other  mineral  substances ;  of  which  complete  and  exact  record 
shall  be  made. 

SEC.  3.  The  natural  history  survey  shall  include,  first,  an  examination  of  the  vegetable 
productions  of  the  state,  embracing  all  trees,  shrubs,  herbs,  and  grasses,  native  or  naturalized  in 
the  state ;  second,  a  complete  and  scientific  account  of  the  animal  kingdom,  as  properly  repre- 
sented in  the  state,  including  all  mammalia,  fishes,  reptiles,  birds  and  insects. 

SEC.  4.  The  said  surveys  and  examinations  shall  be  made  in  the  manner  and  order  follow- 
ing :  First,  the  geological  survey  proper  together  with  the  necessary  and  implied  mineralogical 
investigations  ;  all  of  which  shall  be  undertaken  as  soon  as  may  be  practicable,  and  be  carried  for- 
ward with  such  expedition  as  may  be  consistent  with  economy  and  thoroughness ;  second,  the 
botanical  examinations ;  third,  the  zoological  investigations.  Provided,  however,  that  whenever 
the  said  board  of  regents  may  find  it  most  economical  to  prosecute  different  portions  of  the  surveys 
in  conjunction,  or  that  the  public  interest  demands  it,  they  may,  in  their  discretion,  depart  from 
the  above  prescribed  order.  And  in  the  employment  of  assistants  in  the  said  surveys,  the  board 
of  regents  shall  at  all  times  give  the  preference  to  the  students  and  graduates  of  the  University  of 
Minnesota,  provided  the  same  be  well  qualified  for  the  duties. 

SEC.  5.  The  said  board  of  regents  shall  also  cause  to  be  collected  and  tabulated  such  meteo- 
rological statistics  as  may  be  needed  to  account  for  the  varieties  of  climate  in  the  various  parts 
of  the  state ;  also  to  cause  to  be  ascertained  [by]  barometrical  observations  or  other  appropriate 
means,  the  relative  elevations  and  depressions  of  the  different  parts  of  the  state ;  and  also,  on  or 
before  the  completion  of  the  said  surveys,  to  cause  to  be  compiled  from  such  actual  surveys  and 
measurements  as  may  be  necessary,  an  accurate  map  of  the  state ;  which  map,  when  approved  by 
the  governor,  shall  be  the  official  map  of  the  state. 

SEC.  6.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  said  board  of  regents  to  cause  proper  specimens,  skillfully 
prepared,  secured  and  labeled,  of  all  rocks,  soils,  ores,  coals,  fossils,  cements,  building  stones, 
plants,  woods,  skins  and  skeletons  of  animals,  birds,  insects  and  fishes,  and  other  mineral,  vege- 
table and  animal  substances  and  organisms  discovered  or  examined  in  the  course  of  said  surveys, 
to  be  preserved  for  public  inspection  free  of  cost,  in  the  University  of  Minnesota,  in  rooms  conve- 
nient of  access  and  properly  warmed,  lighted,  ventilated  and  furnished,  and  in  charge  of  a  proper 
scientific  curator ;  and  they  shall  also,  whenever  the  same  may  be  practicable,  cause  duplicates  in 
reasonable  numbers  and  quantities  of  the  above  named  specimens,  to  be  collected  and  preserved 
for  the  purpose  of  exchanges  with  other  state  universities  and  scientific  institutions,  of  which 
latter  the  Smithsonian  Institution  at  Washington  shall  have  the  preference. 

SEC.  7.  The  said  board  of  regents  shall  cause  a  geological  map  of  the  state  to  be  made  as 
soon  as  may  be  practicable,  upon  which,  by  colors  and  other  appropriate  means  and  devices,  the 
various  geological  formations  shall  be  represented. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  107 

1873-82,  Present  survey.] 

SEC.  8.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  said  board  of  regents,  through  their  president,  to  make,  on 
or  before  the  second  Tuesday  in  December  of  each  and  every  year,  a  report  showing  the  progress 
of  the  said  surveys,  accompanied  by  such  maps,  drawings  and  specifications  as  may  be  necessary 
and  proper  to  exemplify  the  same  to  the  governor,  who  shall  lay  the  same  before  the  legislature  ; 
and  the  said  board  of  regents,  upon  the  completion  of  any  separate  portion  of  the  said  surveys, 
shall  cause  to  be  prepared  a  memoir  or  final  report,  which  shall  embody  in  a  convenient  manner 
all  useful  and  important  information  accumulated  in  the  course  of  the  investigation  of  the  par- 
ticular department  or  portion ;  which  report  or  memoir  shall  likewise  be  communicated  through 
the  governor  to  the  legislature. 

SEC.  9.  To  carry  out  the  provisions  of  this  act  the  sum  of  one  thousand  dollars  per  annum 
is  hereby  appropriated,  to  be  drawn  and  expended  by  the  [said]  board  of  regents  of  the  University 
of  Minnesota. 

SEC.  10.    This  act  shall  take  effect  and  be  in  force  from  and  after  its  approval. 

The  present  writer  was  appointed  to  conduct  this  survey  in  July,  1872, 
but,  having  work  to  complete  in  the  state  of  Ohio,  did  not  begin  service 
till  September.  The  field-work  the  first  year  occupied  about  a  month  and 
was  closed  by  the  first  heavy  fall  of  snow,  November  12th.  The  means 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  state  geologist  not  warranting  the  employment 
of  assistants  he  was  only  able  to  make  a  general  reconnoissance  of  the 
southern  and  central  portions  of  the  state  accessible  by  railroad,  and  on 
this  as  a  basis  he  was  enabled  to  give  a  nearly  complete  section  of  the  strata 
from  the  trap  and  granitic  rocks  to  the  Galena  limestone  in  the  Lower 
Silurian,  including  also  about  forty  teet  of  the  latter.  Various  out-crops 
of  the  Cretaceous  were  described  also  in  the  first  annual  report. 

On  the  basis  of  the  field-work  done  in  the  fall  of  1872,  and  of  reports 
already  published,  the  first  annual  report  of  the  survey  gives  a  general 
sketch  of  the  geology  of  Minnesota,  as  then  known,  accompanied  by  a  small 
colored  geological  map  of  the  state,  and  also  a  chart  of  geological  nomen- 
clature intended  to  express  the  relation  of  Minnesota  to  the  great  geologi- 
cal series  of  the  earth,  and  the  probable  equivalency  ot  some  of  the  names 
the  formations  have  received  in  the  various  states  and  in  Europe. 

In  the  account  of  the  "Potsdam  sandstone"  of  the  northwest,  as 
defined  by  the  Iowa  and  Wisconsin  geologists,  and  of  the  red  quartzytes  of 
the  same  region,  the  first  step  was  taken  toward  the  investigation  of  that 
stratigraphical  problem  which  seeks  to  determine  the  western  equivalent 
of  the  Potsdam  sandstone  of  New  York ;  and  inasmuch  as  the  same  name 
had  by  good  authorities  been  applied  to  two  different  and  quite  distinct 
western  formations,  the  name  St.  Croix  was  suggested  for  the  light-colored 
sandstone  of  the  upper  Mississippi  and  St.  Croix  valleys,  it  being  more 
probable  that  the  Potsdam  of  New  York  was  represented  in  Minnesota  by 
the  red  quartzytes  and  shales  underlying. 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Present  survey,  1871-82. 

The  state  geologist,  under  the  head  of  "plans  and  recommendations," 
makes  the  following  statement  in  the  first  report. 

The  law  under  which  the  present  survey  is  being  prosecuted  appropriates  the  sum  of  one 
thousand  dollars  per  annum.  This  is  too  small  for  various  reasons,  the  chief  of  which  are,  (1)  It 
will  not  pay  for  the  services  of  a  single  employe  on  the  survey  capable  of  working  under  the  law. 
Hence  it  well-nigh  renders  the  law  inoperative.  (2)  It  does  not  command  the  respect  and  con- 
fidence of  the  citizens  of  the  state  and  others,  and  serves  as  an  excuse  for  refusing  aid  and 
co-operation.  The  survey  should  be  independent  of  favors  for  which  it  now  has  to  beg,  some- 
times to  be  scornfully  refused.  (3)  In  the  survey  of  those  portions  of  the  state  inaccessible  by 
public  roads,  or  by  railroads,  it  will  be  necessary  to  employ  laborers,  and  incur  other  expense,  for 
which  the  sum  of  one  thousand  dollars  is  not  sufficient.  (4)  In  order  to  conduct  the  survey  on 
one  thousand  dollars  per  annum,  the  state  geologist  must  find  some  other  employment  a  portion 
of  the  year.*  (5)  The  magnitude  of  the  interests  involved  demands  that  ample  means  be  allowed 
for  doing  the  work  of  the  survey  thoroughly  and  without  embarrassment.  These  considerations 
ought  to  induce  the  legislature  to  increase  the  amount  now  appropriated  to  a  sum  sufficient  at 
least  to  keep  one  man  constantly  employed,  and  to  pay  all  expense  of  field-work  and  chemical 
examinations,  in  connection  with  the  subject  of  increasing  the  means  provided  for  a  geological 
survey,  it  is  suggested  that  the  state  lands  known  as  salt  spring  lands  may  be  so  sold  or  appro- 
priated under  the  management  of  the  board  of  regents  of  the  university,  as  to  be  available  for  that 
purpose.  It  would  be  in  perfect  consonance  with  the  original  design,  in  the  reservation  of  these 
lands  from  sale,  if  they  were  placed  in  the  custody  of  the  board  of  regents,  conditioned  on  their 
use  in  the  prosecutation  of  the  geological  and  natural  history  survey  of  the  state,  with  a  view  to 
the  early  and  economical  development  of  the  brines  of  the  state. 

This  recommendation  respecting  the  use  of  salt  spring  lands  for  the 
prosecution  of  the  survey,  was  based  on  representations  made  to  the  writer 
by  Mr.  W.  D.  Hurlbut  of  Rochester,  and  Hon.  H.  B.  Wilson,  superintendent 
of  public  instruction,  and  on  conversations  with  Hon.  0.  P.  Whitcomb, 
state  auditor,  and  subsequently  with  senator  J.  S.  Pillsbury  and  president 
Folwell ;  but  it  was  only  through  the  indefatigable  and  persistent  efforts  oi 
senator  Pillsbury,  that  the  following  law  was  passed  by  the  legislature 
of  1873.f  It  is  verbatim  as  drafted  by  the  present  writer,  and  by  its  action 
the  survey  has  been  supplied  with  funds  needed  for  its  prosecution. 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Minnesota : 

SECTION  1.  The  state  lands  known  as  state  salt  lands,  donated  by  the  general  government  to 
aid  in  the  development  of  the  brines  in  the  state  of  Minnesota,  shall  be  transferred  to  the  custody 
and  control  of  the  board  of  regents  of  the  university  of  Minnesota.  By  said  board  of  regents  these 
lands  smay  be  sold  in  such  manner,  or  in  such  amounts,  consistent  with  the  laws  of  the  state  of 
Minnesota,  as  they  may  see  fit;  the  proceeds  thereof  being  held  in  trust  by  them,  and  only  dis- 
bursed in  accordance  with  the  law  ordering  a  geological  and  natural  history  survey  of  the  state. 

SEC.  2.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  said  board  of  regents,  as  soon  as  practicable,  to  cause  a 
full  and  scientific  investigation  and  report  on  the  salt  springs  of  the  state,  with  a  view  to  the  early 
development  of  such  brine  deposits  as  may  exist  within  the  state. 

SEC.  3.  The  board  of  regents  of  the  university  shall  cause  the  immediate  survey  and  inves- 
tigation of  the  peat  deposits  of  the  state  of  Minnesota,  accompanied  by  such  tests  and  chemical 
examinations  as  may  be  necessary  to  show  their  economical  value,  and  their  usefulness  for 
the  purpose  of  common  fuel ;  a  full  report  thereon  to  be  presented  to  the  legislature  as  soon  as 
practicable. 

•He  was  employed  as  instructor  in  the  University  of  Minnesota  daring  six  months  of  each  year  from  1872  to  1(78. 
tit  was  introduced  by  senator  Edmund  Bice.  • 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH.  109 

1872-88,  Present  survey.] 

SEC.  4.  The  sum  of  two  thousand  dollars  is  hereby  appropriated  annually  (in  lieu  of  one 
thousand  dollars)  for  the  purpose  of  the  geological  and  natural  history  survey  until  such  time  as 
the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  salt  lands  shall  equal  that  amount,  when  such  annual  appropriation 
shall  cease. 

SEC.  5.  The  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars  is  hereby  appropriated  for  the  purchase  of 
apparatus  and  chemicals  for  the  use  of  the  geological  and  natural  history  survey,  the  same  to  be 
expended  by  the  order  of  the  board  of  regents  of  the  university  of  Minnesota. 

SEC.  6.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  board  of  regents  of  the  university  of  Minnesota  to  cause 
duplicate  geological  specimens  to  be  collected,  and  lo  furnish  to  each  of  the  three  Normal  schools 
suites  of  such  specimens  after  the  university  collection  has  become  complete. 

SEC.  7.  When  the  geological  and  natural  history  survey  of  the  state  shall  have  been  com- 
pleted, the  final  report  on  the  same  by  the  said  board  of  regents  shall  give  a  full  statement  of  the 
sales  of  the  salt  lands  hereby  given  into  the  custody  and  control  of  the  board  of  regents  of  the 
university  of  Minnesota,  together  with  the  amount  of  moneys  received  therefrom,  and  of  the 
balance,  if  any,  left  in  the  hands  of  said  board  of  regents. 

SEC.  8.    This  act  shall  take  effect  and  be  in  force  from  and  after  its  passage. 

Approved  March  10, 1873. 

In  compliance  with  the  above  law  the  state  geologist  made  an  exami- 
nation of  the  peats  in  the  southern  portion  of  the  state  and  rendered  a 
report  on  them  in  1873.  On  examining  the  condition  of  the  United  States 
grant  of  land  for  salt  springs,  which  the  same  law  devotes  to  the  prosecu- 
tion of  the  survey,  it  was  found  that  a  large  part  of  these  lands  had  never 
been  certified  to  the  state,  not  through  any  fault  of  the  governor*  or  other 
state  officers,  but  through  the  tardiness  of  the  oflicers  of  the  general  gov- 
ernment. The  original  grant  covered  46,080  acres.  Of  this  sum  only  18,771 
acres  were  then  available  for  the  prosecution  of  the  survey.  The  uncerti- 
fied lands  aggregated  19,872  acres.  A  memorial  of  the  state  legislature 
was  presented  to  congress,  asking  the  privilege  to  make  re-selections,  and 
through  the  efforts  of  governor  J.  S.  Pillsbury  and  senator  S.  J.  R.  McMillan, 
such  permission  was  granted,  and  the  certified  amount  of  the  salt  spring 
lands,  designed  for  the  prosecution  of  the  survey,  was  more  than  doubled. 

The  survey  has  continued  without  interruption  since  its  beginning  in 
1872.  The  principal  events,  and  its  results  from  year  to  year  have  been 
recorded  in  the  annual  reports,  and  it  is  not  necessary  to  enter  upon  the 
internal  and  personal  history  involved  in  its  management  and  prosecution. 

MINNEAPOLIS,  JANUARY,  1881. 

[NOTE. — Since  this  historical  sketch  was  written  Mr.  Neill  has  published  some  new  facts 
concerning  Mr.  David  Thompson,  who  is  mentioned  on  page  25  as  a  geographer  employed  by  the 
Northwest  Fur  Company, t  derived  from  the  records  of  the  company  in  the  Parliament  library  at 
Ottawa.  From  this  it  appears  that  Mr.  Thompson  crossed  the  state  of  Minnesota  in  1798,  from 


*Gov  H.  H.  Sibley  had  all  theie  lands  located  according  to  the  terms  of  the  grant.    See  Report  concerning  the 
salt  spring  lands  due  the  state  of  Minnesota.    By  N.  H.  Winchell,  1874. 
fNeill'i  History  of  Minnesota,  4th  «dition,  1882. 


1 10  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Present  survey,  1872-82, 

the  Bed  river  of  the  North  to  lake  Superior.    He  ascended  the  Red  Lake  river  to  the  Clearwater 
river,  which  lie  followed  to  the  mouth  of  a  tributary  from  the  north,  known  as  Wild  Rice  river. 
From  the  last  he  made  a  portage  of  four  miles  and  again  reached  Red  Lake  river.    From  Red 
lake  he  proceeded  southward  by  the  usual  route  to  Turtle  lake,  the  same  as  the  Julian  Source 
the  Mississippi  described  by  Mr.  Beltrami  in  1823,  thence  down  the  Mississippi  to  Sandy  lake 
and  by  way  of  the  Savannah  rivers  to  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Louis  at  Fond  du  Lac. 

Mr.  Neill  has  also  called  attention  to  the  existence  of  other  maps  of  the  region  south  and 
west  of  lake  Superior  older  than  that  of  Franquelin  of  1688,  represented  on  plate-page  No.  2. 
One  of  these  is  by  the  engineer  Raudin,  another  is  by  Joliet  and  Franquelin,  and  a  third  is  by 
Joliet.  These  maps  give  the  name  Buade  to  the  Mississippi  river,  and  apply  the  term  Frontenacie 
to  the  whole  country  north  and  west  of  the  mouth  of  the  Wisconsin  river.  Only  the  third,  that 
of  Joliet,  of  1764,  has  been  published. 

On  the  historical  plate  (No.  1),  Du  Luth's  fort  (Kamanistigouia)  is  placed  at  the  mouth  of 
the  St.  Louis  river  on  the  authority  of  Perrot,  who  says  (Collections  of  the  Minnesota  Historical 
Society  for  1867,  p.  26),  son  poste  estoit  au  fond  du  lac  Superiew,  though  many  other  authorities 
concur  in  placing  it  at  Three  Rivers,  at  the  head  of  Thunder  bay.] 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE 

GENERAL  PHYSICAL  FEATURES 

OF  MINNESOTA. 


BY  N.  H.  WINCHELL. 


It  is  intended  in  this  chapter  to  give  only  such  general  statements  as 
will  se*ve  to  make  intelligible  the  more  special  descriptions  of  following 
chapters.  The  physical  features  of  the  state  may  be  considered  from  differ- 
ent points  of  view,  viz: 

1.  Position,  boundaries  and  area  of  the  state. 

2.  The  distribution  and  character  of  the  drift. 

3.  The  surface  configuration  of  different  parts  of  the  state. 

4.  The  relative  elevations  of  different  parts  of  the  state. 

5.  The  kinds  and  distribution  of  the  soils  and  subsoils. 

6.  The  lakes  and  rivers,  and  the  qualities  of  water  of  different  portions. 

7.  The  nature  and  distribution  of  the  native  forests  and  their  relation 
to  the  prairies. 

8.  The  commanding  geographical  and  commercial  position  of  the  state. 

I.    POSITION,  BOUNDARIES  AND  AREA. 

Boundaries.  The  northern  boundary  of  the  state  of  Minnesota,  as  far  as 
the  lake  of  the  Woods,  was  defined  by  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  peace  between 
the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  concluded  at  Paris,  September  3d,  1783. 
The  boundary  line  of  the  United  States  was  declared  to  run  along  the  mid- 
dle of  the  Ontario,  Erie,  Huron,  Superior,  and  Long  lakes,*  and  their  water 


*Carver's  map,  published  in  1770,  in  London .  shows  Long  lake  as  an  enlargement  of  the  lower  part  of  Pijfeon  river. 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Boundaries. 

connections  "to  the  most  northwestern  point  of  the  lake  of  the  Woods,  and 
thence  on  a  due  west  course  to  the  river  Mississippi ;"  thence  down  the 
middle  of  that  river  to  the  thirty-first  parallel  of  .latitude.  It  was  defined 
more  carefully  by  the  Webster- Ashburton  treaty  of  Washington,  August  9th, 
1842,  in  the  following  words  : 

"  To  the  mouth  of  Pigeon  river,  and  up  the  said  stream  to  and  through 
the  North  and  South  Fowl  lakes  to  the  lakes  of  the  hight  of  land  between 
lake  Superior  and  the  lake  of  the  Woods  ;  thence  along  the  water  commu- 
nication to  lake  Saisaginaga  and  through  that  lake  ;  thence  to  and  through 
Cypress  lake,  Lac  du  Bois  Blanc,  Lac  la  Croix,  Little  Vermilion  lake  and 
lake  Mamecan,  and  through  the  several  smaller  lakes,  straits  or  streams 
connecting  the  lakes  here  mentioned,  to  that  point  in  Lac  la  Pluie,  or  Rainy 
lake,  at  the  Chaudiere  falls,  from  which  the  commissioners  traced  the  line 
to  the  most  northwestern  point  of  the  lake  of  the  Woods  ;  thence  along  the 
said  line  to  the  said  most  northwestern  point,  being  in  latitude  forty-nine 
degrees  twenty -three  minutes  fifty -three  seconds  north,  and  in  longitude 
ninety-five  degrees  fourteen  minutes  thirty-eight  seconds  west  from  the 
observatory  at  Greenwich  ;  thence,  according  to  existing  treaties,  due  south 
to  its  intersection  with  the  forty-ninth  parallel  of  north  latitude,  and  along 
that  parallel  to  the  Rocky  mountains;  it  being  understood  that  all  the 
water  communications  and  all  the  usual  portages  along  the  line  from  lake 
Superior  to  the  lake  of  the  Woods,  and  also  Grand  Portage  from  the  shore 
of  lake  Superior  to  Pigeon  river,  as  now  actually  used,  shall  be  free  and  open 
to  the  use  of  citizens  and  subjects  of  both  countries." 

The  "most  northwestern  point  of  the  lake  of  the  Woods"  was  found  by 
the  joint  "survey  of  the  northern  boundary  of  the  United  States,"  by  com- 
missioners on  the  part  of  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  in  1872,  to  be 
in  latitude  49°  23'  50".28,  and  in  longitude  west  from  Greenwich  95°  OS'56".7, 
or  about  twenty-eight  miles  north  of  the  forty-ninth  parallel.  This  is  the 
most  northern  portion  of  the  United  States,*  and  the  land  area  belonging 
to  the  state  of  Minnesota,  lying  north  of  the  forty-ninth  parallel  is  stated 
by  Major  Twining  to  be  about  150  square  miles.  This  irregularity  in  the 
northern  boundary  was  occasioned  by  a  lack  of  geographical  knowledge  on 
the  part  of  those  forming  the  treaty  of  October  20th,  1818,  which  specifies 

•Excepting  Alaska. 


GENERAL  PHYSICAL  FEATURES. 

Boundaries.] 

that  the  continuation  of  the  boundary  from  the  "northwest  angle"  should 
be  by  a  line  either  north  or  south,  as  the  case  might  be,  to  the  forty-ninth 
parallel  of  north  latitude,  and  thence  westerly  on  said  parallel.  Subsequently 
it  was  found  that  the  "northwest  angle"  was  north  of  the  forty-ninth  par- 
allel, and  it  was  so  agreed  upon  and  defined  by  the  Webster-Ashburton 
treaty  of  1842. 

The  southern  boundary  of  the  state  is  the  parallel  of  north  latitude 
43°  30',  and  was  established  by  the  act  of  Congress  which  defined  the  pres- 
ent boundaries  of  the  state  of  Iowa.*  It  was  continued  by  congress  as  the 
southern  boundary  of  the  territory  of  Minnesota,  from  the  main  channel  of 
the  Mississippi  river  as  far  west  as  the  northwest  corner  of  the  state  of 
Iowa,  by  the  act  of  March  3d,  1849,  and  was  finally  declared  the  southern 
boundary  of  the  state  of  Minnesota  as  far  west  as  to  the  intersection  of  the 
north  and  south  line  constituting  its  western  boundary  south  of  Big  Stone 
lake. 

The  eastern  boundary  of  the  state  was  defined  by  congress  in  the 
"enabling  act"  of  Wisconsin,  approved  August  6th,  1846,  in  substance  as 
follows:  from  the  waters  of  lake  Superior  "to  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Louis 
river;  thence  up  the  main  channel  of  said  river  to  the  first  rapids  in  the 
same  above  the  Indian  village,  according  to  Nicollet's  map;  thence  due 
south  to  the  main  branch  of  the  river  St.  Croix;  thence  down  the  main 
channel  of  said  river  to  the  Mississippi;  thence  down  the  centre  of  the  main 
channel  of  that  river  to  the  northwest  corner  of  the  state  of  Illinois." 

The  boundary  separating  Minnesota  from  Dakota  territory  is  defined  as 
follows  by  the  "enabling  act"  of  Minnesota  of  1857:  "  beginning  at  the  point 
in  the  centre  of  the  main  channel  of  the  Red  river  of  the  North  where  the 
boundary  line  between  the  United  States  and  the  British  possessions  crosses 
the  same;  thence  up  the  main  channel  of  said  river  to  that  of  the  Bois  des 
Sioux  river;  thence  up  the  main  channel  of  said  river  to  lake  Traverse; 
thence  up  the  center  of  said  lake  to  the  southern  extremity  thereof;  thence 
in  a  direct  line  to  the  head  of  Big  Stone  lake;  thence  through  its  center  to 
its  outlet;  thence  by  a  due  south  line  to  the  north  line  of  the  state  of  Iowa." 


*Iowa  when  first  admitted  embraced  that  part  of  Minnesota  lying  south  of  the  parallel  of  latitude  passing  through 
the  confluence  of  the  Blue  Earth  and  Minnesota  rivers  and  east  of  the  meridian  17°  30'  Subsequently  this  portion  of  the 
present  state  of  Minnesota  was  added  to  the  territory  of  Minnesota,  and  the  state  of  Iowa  was  extended  westward  to  the 
Big  Sioux  and  Missouri  rivers. 

8 


114 


THE  GEOLOGY  OP  MINNESOTA. 


[Area  of  the  state. 


The  Area  of  the  State,  by  counties,  has  been  given  by  Henry  Gannett, 
geographer  of  the  tenth  United  States  census,  in  round  numbers,  and  its 
aggregate  area  at  83,365  square  miles,  of  which  4.160  square  miles  are  con- 
sidered water  surface  and  79,205  land  surface.  This,  however,  does  not 
include  any  portion  of  the  lake  of  the  Woods,  nor  Rainy  lake,  and  the  areas 
of  the  northern  unorganized  counties  are  estimated  in  "thousands"  of  square 
miles,  viz :  Beltrami,  5,000 ;  Cass,  4,000 ;  Itasca,  5,000 ;  Lake,  3,000 ;  Polk, 
4,000;  St.  Louis,  6,000,  and  Cook,  460.  Lac  qui  Parle,  Yellow  Medi- 
cine and  Lincoln  counties  are  reduced  for  the  proposed  formation  01 
Canby  county,  which,  however,  not  having  been  approved  by  the  vote  of  the 
inhabitants,  was  not  constituted  and  is  not  listed.  Swift  county  is  given  at 
580  instead  of  757  square  miles,  and  Renville  at  900  instead  of  981. 

For  the  purpose  of  getting  a  more  exact  statement  of  the  area  of  the 
state,  the  whole  has  been  re-computed  from  the  records  of  the  state  auditor's 
office  in  St.  Paul,  with  the  results  shown  in  the  following  table.* 

AREAS  OF  THE  COUNTIES  OF  MINNESOTA  IN  SQUARE  MILES  AND  ACRES. 


COUNTIES. 

LAND. 

WATER. 

TOTAL. 

SQ.  MILES. 

ACRES. 

SQ.  MILES. 

ACRES. 

SQ.  MILES. 

ACRES. 

Aitkin 

1,821.39 
424.88 
1,307.79 
4,969.44 
402.81 
494.53 
74309 
605.91 
857.72 
354.15 
2,667.78 
578.54 
421.02 
1,043.95 
1,406.84 
636.87 
824.04 
605.87 
437.43 
626.58 
709  43 
864.22 
701.94 

1,165,691.90 
271,925.66 
836,987.09 
3,180,445.27 
257,798.90 
316,497.42 
475,582.34 
387,783.30 
548,942.09 
226,652.28 
1,707,382.00 
370.269.93 
269,451.12 
668,124.66 
900,378.49 
407,594.35 
527,387.51 
387,753.96 
279,956.47 
401,014.74 
454,033.32 
553,101.90 
449,242.53 

173.58 
20.10 
137.62 
1,037.68 
3.55 
41.78 
33.79 
10.84 
9.47 
22.S5 
629.76 
15.67 
30.64 
23.41 
273.56 
13.52 
127.46 
5.45 
1.22 
96.08 
14.29 
2.9S» 
20.74 

111,090.48 
12,860.82 
88,073.66 
664,109.46 
2,275.41 
26,737.33 
21,619.39 
6,937.52 
6,057.91 
14,307.30 
403,041.25 
10,027.23 
19,611.38 
14.984.16 
175,076.51 
8,655.65 
81.570.41) 
3,488.61 
782.43 
61,485.88 
9,151.21 
1,912.54 
13,271.87 

1,994.97 
444.98 
1,445.41 
6,007.12 
406.36 
536.31 
776.88 
616.75 
867.19 
376.50 
3,297.54 
594.21 
451.66 
1,067.36 
1,680.40 
650.39 
951.50 
611.32 
438.65 
722.66 
723.72 
867.21 
722.68 

1,276,782.38 
284,786.48 
925,060.75 
3,844,554.73 
260,074.31 
343,234.75 
497,201.73 
394,720.82 
555,000.00 
240.959.58 
2,110,423.25 
380,297.10 
289,062.56 
683,108.82 
1,075,455.00 
416,250.00 
608,958.00 
391,242.57 
280,738.90 
462  500.62 
463,184.53 
555.014.44 
462;514.40 

Anoka..        .  ... 

Becker  

Beltrami  

Benton 

Big  Stone  

Blue  Earth  

Brown 

Carlton  

Carver  

Cass  .            ... 

Chippewa  

Chisago  

Clay  . 

Cook  

Cottonwool  

Crow  Wing     .    . 

Dakota  

Dodge 

Douglas  

Faribault  

Fillmore  .   .   . 

Freeborn  

Mii<i  itrt.r  niciuueu  ill  iiir  ;LII  in  giveu  mi     ui;u    1 011111  \  .       AUC    u  ;c.t  i    ;u*  .1    i  uuu  .n.»/>    ini-    11 

and  half  of  all  boundary  waters  excepting  lake  Superior,  no  part  of  which  is  included. 


GENERAL  PHYSICAL  FEATURES. 


Areas  of  counties. J 


115 


AREAS   OF  THE   COUNTIES   OF  MINNESOTA. — Continued. 


COUNTIES. 

LAND. 

WATER. 

TOTAL. 

SQ.  MILES. 

ACKES. 

SQ.  MILES. 

ACRES. 

SQ.  JULES. 

ACRES. 

Goodhue     

764.58 
544.15 
551.44 
568.75 
522.83 
416.61 
5,662.57 
696.98 
527.40 
776.72 
2,148.80 
770.02 
2,076.42 
444.52 
522.43 
709.50 
485.14 
1,673.64 
704.73 
596.00 
571  .09 
1,083.52 
709.07 
695.14 
435.75 
710.75 
1,435.11 
658.42 
1,985.90 
1,419.74 
462.32 
3,117.27 
667.61 
173.70 
870.50 
971.33 
486.73 
480.83 
5,837.26 
342.73 
448.72 
566.89 
1,272.22 
426.19 
555.21 
743.05 
965.98 
567.91 
555.54 
707.43 
419,00 
408.87 
432.89 
744.35 
634.88 
663.05 
752.60 

489,329.56 
348,256.21 
352,91£.68 
363.998.07 
334^611.87 
266,629.79 
3,624,04  ».  12 
446,066.45 
337,535.89 
497,101.35 
1,375,233.27 
492,809.83 
1,328,905.43 
284,496.41 
334,355.00 
454,072.72 
310,488.63 
1,071,129.11 
451,021.05 
381,443.02 
365,497.66 
693,454.07 
453  803.10 
444,891.27 
278,882.41 
454,877.12 
918,472.60 
421,391.08 
1,270,977.77 
908,632.83 
295,881.75 
1,995,054.58 
427,269.27 
111,168.71 
557,122.74 
621,650.89 
311,505.87 
307,736.11 
3,735.846.26 
219,344.22 
287,180.40 
362,808.14 
814,220.09 
272,761.47 
355,336.19 
475,553.36 
618,225.14 
363.463.46 
355,544.17 
452,751.16 
268,161.75 
261,675.02 
277,051.92 
476,387.76 
406.325.09 
424.353.82 
481,664.26 

20.21 
34.13 
70.03 
11.10 
62.57 
41.24 
216.31 
25.68 
14.59 
90.42 
15.95 
1.91 
322.52 
27.96 
19.56 
11.16 
22.31 
1.40 
19.16 
37.62 
117.10 
5.57 
2.11 
26.42 
28.86 
16.91 
23.21 
3.94 
254.30 
24.76 
0.95 
41.91 
55.08 
13.45 
23.33 
9.98 
1727 
1.84 
774.49 
15.87 
20.16 
30.84 
57.85 
4.40 
16.27 
14.68 
42.36 
13.92 
39.09 
15.35 
18.01 
21.14 
2.56 
6.69 
4.04 
50.92 
10.52 

12,936.06 
21,843.03 
44,821.20 
7,104.17 
40,045.25 
26,395.86 
138,438.89 
16/.34.75 
9,336.41 
57,867.69 
10,206.73 
1,227.57 
206,420.00 
17,891.77 
12,517.30 
7,150.08 
14,283.23 
895.01 
12,267.35 
24,075.56 
74,945.53 
3,564.78 
1,352.65 
16,909.93 
18,469.37 
10,827.04 
14,853.55 
2,520.20 
162,748.67 
15,844.68 
611.76 
26,818.67 
35,251.93 
8,605.34 
14,930.13 
6,385.69 
11,054.83 
1,174.04 
495,674.68 
10,157.58 
12.905.72 
19,737.61 
37,021.27 
2,817.69 
10,411.81 
9,392.08 
27,111.58 
8,906.00 
25,018.07 
9,828.84 
11,524.16 
13,530.33 
1,638.00 
4,277.12 
2.584.81 
32,585.50 
6,734.01 

784.79 
578.28 
621.47 
579.85 
585.40 
457.85 
5,878.88 
722.66 
541.99 
867.14 
2,164.75 
771.93 
2,398.94 
472.48 
541.99 
720.66 
507.45 
1,675.04 
723.89 
633.62 
688.19 
1,089.09 
711.18 
721.56 
464.61 
727.66 
1,458.32 
662.36 
2,240.20 
1,444.50 
463.27 
3,159.18 
722.69 
187.15 
893.83 
981.31 
504.00 
482.67 
6,611.75 
358.60 
468.88 
597.73 
1,330.07 
430.59 
571.48 
757.73 
1,008.34 
581.83 
594.63 
722.78 
437.01 
430.01 
435.45 
751.04 
638.92 
713.97 
763.12 

502,265.62 
370.099.24 
397,739.88 
371,102.24 
374,657.12 
293,025.65 
3,762,483.01 
462,501.20 
346,872.30 
554,969.04 
1,385,440.00 
494,037.40 
1,535,325.43 
302,388.18 
346,872.30 
461  ,222.80 
324,771.86 
1,072.024.12 
463,288.40 
405,518.58 
440,443.18 
697,018.85 
455,155.75 
461,801.20 
297,351.78 
465,704.16 
933,326.15 
423911.28 
1,433,726.44 
924,477.51 
296,493.51 
2,021,873.25 
462.521.20 
119,774.05 
572  052.87 
628.036.58 
322.560.70 
308,910.15 
4,231,520.94 
229,501.80 
300,086.12 
382,545.75 
851,241.36 
276,579.16 
365,748.00 
484,945.44 
645,336.72 
372,369.46 
380,562.24 
462,580.00 
279,685.91 
275,205.35 
278,689.92 
480,664.88 
408,909.90 
456,939.32 
488,398.27 

Grant 

Hennepin  
Houston  

ilubbard  

Isanti        .     .  . 

Itasca  

Jackson  

Ivanabec 

Kandiyohi    .    ... 

Kittson 

Lac  qui  Parle  .  . 
Lake    

Le  Sueur  

Lincoln  .         ... 

Lyon  

McLeod  

Marshall 

Martin  

Meeker  

Mille  Lacs 

Morrison.       .  .    . 

Mower  . 

Murray  

Nicollet 

Nobles.            .    . 

Norman  

OliQsted 

Otter  Tail 

Pine  

Pipestone  

Polk. 

Pope           .   . 

Ramsey  

Redwood  

Renville 

Rice  

Rock 

St.  Louis. 

Scott   .  .  . 

Sherbuine  

Sibley  

Stearns 

Steele  

Stevens.  

Swift  

Todd  

Traverse  

Wabasha  

Wadena  .  . 

Waseca  ... 

Washington  
Watonwan 

Wilkin. 

VVinona  .     ... 

Wright  

Yellow  Medicine 
Total.  . 

78,649.00 

50,335,367.19 

5.637.53 

3,608,012.05 

84,286.53 

53,943.379.24 

116  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Drift. 

II.    THE  DISTRIBUTION  AND  CHARACTERS  OF  THE  DRIFT. 


Nearly  the  whole  state  may  be  said  to  be  drift-covered  ;  the  only  excep- 
tions being  the  extreme  southeastern  and  the  extreme  northeastern  portions. 
At  any  point  on  the  northwestern  boundary,  as  far  east  as  the  lake  of  the 
Woods,  one  may  start  out  southward  and  travel  to  the  Iowa  boundary  line 
without  seeing  any  rock  in  situ  except  what  he  might  happen  to  encounter 
in  crossing  the  valley  of  the  Minnesota  river,  and  except  the  rare  exposures 
of  red  quartzyte  in  Rock,  Pipestone  and  Cottonwood  counties.  East  of  this 
meridian  he  would  encounter  occasional  exposures  of  rock  along  Rainy 
river,  but  southward  from  the  northern  boundary  he  would  still  have  almost 
an  equal  scarcity  of  rock  exposure,  were  he  to  set  out  again  to  the  Iowa 
boundary  line.  In  the  flat  country  south  of  Rainy  river,  extending  as  far  as 
the  divide  between  Red  lake  and  lake  Pemidji,  there  are  a  few  outcrops  of 
crystalline  rock  in  the  valleys  of  the  Big  Fork  river  and  perhaps  of  the 
upper  tributaries  of  Red  lake.  But  that  district  is  in  general  deeply  buried 
under  a  sheet  of  drift  similar  in  composition  to  that  of  the  Red  river  valley, 
but  less  perfectly  drained.  The  drift  then  is  so  thick  in  the  region  of  lakes 
Pemidji  and  Winnibigoshish,  and  generally  throughout  the  central  portion 
of  the  state,  that  it  does  not  afford  another  rock-exposure  until  reaching  the 
vicinity  of  Motley.  Rock  is  seen  in  scattered  patches  in  Todd,  Morrison  Mille 
Lacs,  Kanabec,  Stearns,  Benton  and  Sherburne  counties,  as  well  as  at 
Pokegama  falls  on  the  upper  Mississippi.  But  toward  the  south  farther, 
except  in  the  valleys  of  the  Minnesota  and  Blue  Earth  rivers,  the  drift 
everywhere  conceals  the  rock  with  an  unbroken  mantle  from  100  to  200 
and  sometimes  300  feet  thick. 

East  of  the  meridian  passing  through  the  west  end  of  Rainy  lake,  the 
rock  is  more  and  more  frequently  seen  projecting  above  the  drift,  both  along 
the  Iowa  boundary  and  in  the  central  and  northern  portions  of  the  state, 
especially  in  the  valleys  of  streams  that  flow  eastward.  There  is  a  tract  of 
the  state  heavily  covered  by  drift  east  of  Pokegama  falls,  including  the 
St.  Louis  valley  and  its  upper  tributaries,  in  which  many  of  the  streams 
that  enter  lake  Superior  in  the  state  of  Minnesota  take  their  rise;  but  for 
the  most  part  in  the  eastern  half  of  the  state  the  streams  expose  the  rock 
more  and  more  frequently,  indicating  an  attenuation  of  the  drift  sheet 


GENERAL  PHYSICAL  FEATURES.  H7 

Till.] 

toward  the  east,  so  that  at  last  they  become  continuously  rock-bound.  The 
drift  fades  out,  on  the  north,  toward  the  rock-bound  shore  of  lake  Superior, 
as  remarkably  evinced  along  the  international  boundary,  and  on  the  south 
toward  the  ancient  equally  rocky  valley  formed  by  the  St.  Croix  and  the 
Mississippi. 

The  diversified  nature  of  the  drift  cannot  be  so  briefly  described.  It 
may  be  divided  under  three  general  distinctions,  viz.,  till,  stratified  sand 
and  gravel,  and  stratified  clay. 

Till.  In  general  the  entire  drift-sheet  might  be  said  to  consist  of  till, 
that  confused  mixture  of  sand,  gravel  and  clay  which  is  believed  to  be  the 
product  of  glaciers,  or  land  ice,  since  the  other  parts  are  insignificant  in 
amount  and  area  compared  to  it,  and  since  they  have  been  derived  from  it 
by  the  assorting  and  distributing  action  of  water.  When  two  or  more  of 
these  parts  exist  at  the  same  place  the  till  always  lies  at  the  bottom. 
Where  the  drift  prevails  the  most  of  the  surface  is  till,  but  it  fades  out  in 
the  southeastern  corner  of  Minnesota,  and  in  its  place  is  found  a  water- 
deposited  fine  clay  or  loam.  This  covers  Houston,  Winona  and  Wabasha 
counties,  and  the  eastern  portions  of  Goodhue,  Olmsted  and  Fillmore.  Its 
western  area  is  underlain  by  till  which  increases  in  amount  toward  the  west 
and  finally  rises  to  and  forms  the  surface.  This  belt,  occupied  by  the  van- 
ishing western  edge  of  the  loam,  crosses  Fillmore,  Olmsted,  western  Good- 
hue,  western  Dakota  and  Washington  counties.  In  a  similar  manner,  but 
from  a  different  cause,  the  till  is  found  wanting  in  the  northeastern  corner 
of  the  state,  but  hqre  no  loam  takes  its  place.  This  driftless  region  is  found 
to  the  north  and  east  of  Vermilion  lake  and  Net  lake.  The  rocks  in  this 
part  of  the  state  are  bare,  and  as  they  consist  of  the  crystalline  terranes,  the 
depressions  hold  numerous  lakes  which  are  connected  with  each  other  by 
streams  that  plunge  from  one  rock  shelf  to  another  in  their  descent  to 
Rainy  lake  or  to  lake  Superior.  Another  variation  and  exception  to  the 
almost  uniform  till  surface  in  Minnesota  is  found  in  the  northwestern  cor- 
ner of  the  state.  This  differs  from  the  northeastern  and  the  southeastern 
in  having  an  unusually  thick  and  uniform  mantle  consisting  of  both  till  and 
loam,  the  latter  overlying  and  separated  from  the  till  by  a  sudden  and  dis- 
tinct line  of  demarcation.  This  area  of  loam-covered  till  not  only  occupies 
the  valley  of  the  Red  river  of  the  North,  from  lake  Traverse  to  St.  Vincent, 


118  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Gravel  and  sand. 

but  spreads  eastward,  covering  much  of  the  country  to  Red  lake,  the  Big 
Fork  river  and  Rainy  river.  Toward  the  south  it  tapers  to  very  narrow 
limits  and  ceases  at  Brown's  Valley.  In  the  southwestern  corner  of  the 
state  is  found  still  another  modification  of  the  till.  While  in  the  northwest 
it  passes  vertically  from  till  to  loam,  though  by  a  marked  line  of  separation, 
in  Rock  and  Pipestone  counties  it  changes  horizontally  into  loam,  by  a 
gradual  and  imperceptible  transition  from  the  characters  of  one  deposit  to 
those  of  the  other.  This  change  begins  in  central  Pipestone  county,  and  is 
completed  before  reaching  the  southern  boundary  of  Rock  county.  At  first 
the  loam  is  confined  to  the  surface,  but  it  increases  in  depth  toward  the 
south,  and  the  till  gradually  becomes  converted  to  a  pebbly  clay  and  finally 
to  a  loam  that  shows  the  action  of  water  in  its  deposition.  Thus  the  four 
corners  of  the  state,  drained  each  in  its  own  direction  from  the  central  por- 
tion of  the  state,  exhibit  four  remarkable  variations  from  the  typical  sheet 
of  till  that  covers  the  rest  of  Minnesota  in  common  with  much  of  adjoining 
states,  and  each  presents  an  interesting  problem  of  glacial  geology.  The 
greater  part  of  the  till  is  blue  or  gray,  but  throughout  the  northeastern 
and  much  of  the  east-central  portions  of  the  state  it  is  red,  or  has  the  color 
of  non-hydrated  iron-peroxide. 

Gravel  and  Sand.  Along  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  river,  and  also  of 
most  of  the  larger  valleys  of  the  state  which  drain  southerly,  are  found 
deposits  of  stratified  gravel  and  sand.  These  are  not  everywhere  present 
along  these  valleys,  but  instead  of  them  the  surface  consists  of  clay  or  of 
till;  and  in  many  large  tracts  they  are  not  found  at  all.  Below  St.  Paul 
this  gravel-and-sand  is  confined  to  the  river  gorge,  and  constitutes  a  high- 
terrace  flat.  Such  a  terrace  also  skirts  the  St.  Croix  valley  as  far  north  as 
Taylor's  Falls,  the  Root  river  and  Zumbro  valleys,  and  that  of  the  lower  Min- 
nesota. Above  St.  Paul  such  stratified  gravel-and-sand  deposits  are  found 
more  generally,  and  sometimes  are  spread  over  extensive  plains,  though 
still  occupying  restricted  areas.  Such  plains  are  found  along  the  St.  Louis 
river  and  its  upper  tributaries;  along  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries  in 
Cass,  Wadena,  Benton,  Sherburne  and  Stearns  counties;  also  along  the 
Pomme  de  Terre  and  Chippewa,  and  the  Otter  Tail  and  Crow  rivers.  These 
are  not  always  immediately  tributary  to  any  present  drainage  valley,  but 
frequently  exist  as  isolated  plains,  particularly  in  Cass,  Wadena,  Meeker, 


\ 

GENERAL  PHYSICAL  FEATURES.  H9 

Stratified  clay.] 

Kandiyohi  and  Stearns  counties.  They  are,  however,  in  that  case  so  grouped 
as  to  suggest  a  former  direction  of  drainage  of  the  local  water-courses  dif- 
ferent from  that  of  the  present.  In  most  cases  this  gravel-and-sand  deposit 
lies  on  the  till,  and  in  numerous  instances  it  is  covered  by  a  finer  sand  into 
which  it  sometimes  graduates  by  imperceptible  changes,  which  sand  in  the 
same  manner  also  graduates  into  fine  clay. 

Besides  these  plains  of  superficial  gravel  and  sand  there  are  extensive 
beds  of  the  same  material  embraced  lenticularly  within  the  till.  These  are 
specially  frequent,  and  constitute  a  large  portion  of  the  drift  in  the  rolling 
or  broken  tracts  which  cross  the  state,  including  the  Leaf  hills,  the  Mesabi 
Ji  it/Ms  and  the  Gateau  des  Prairies.  They  are  the  open  mouths  of  water- 
reservoirs  which  penetrate  within  the  drift-sheet  and  below  it,  and  give  rise 
to  the  artesian  wells  that  occur  on  the  lower  till-covered  portions,  and  from 
which  issue  the  springs  that  feed  the  highest  sources  of  the  great  rivers 
of  the  state. 

Stratified  clay.  If  the  loam  which  covers  the  southeastern  portions  of 
the  state,  including  the  counties  of  Houston,  Winona,  Wabasha,  with  por- 
tions of  Goodhue,  Olmsted  and  Fillmore,  be  included  under  such  designa- 
tion, the  most  important  and  extensive  tracts  of  stratified  clay  are  found 
to  occur  in  the  most  widely  separated  corners  of  the  state,  viz:  the  north- 
western and  the  southeastern.  These  clays,  however,  which  have  been 
deposited  by  the  Red  river  of  the  North  and  by  the  Mississippi,  respectively, 
at  some  former  higher  stage,  exhibit  very  different  chemical  and  physical 
characters.  That  of  the  Red  river  valley  is  gray,  or  blue,  when 
unweathered,  is  compact  and  impervious  without  noteworthy  exceptions, 
and  lies  on  a  great  thickness  of  blue  till,  from  which,  however,  it  is  some- 
times separated  by  an  ancient  soil-surface  or  by  a  bed  of  vegetable  remains. 
While  its  largest  constituents  are  alumina  and  silica,  its  differential  charac- 
ters are  due  to  the  presence  of  a  considerable  percentage  of  the  alkaline 
earths  and  alkalies,  which  give  a  peculiar  nature  not  only  to  the  soils,  but 
also  to  the  waters  that  are  associated  with  it.  That  of  the  Mississippi 
valley  below  St.  Paul,  and  especially  below  Red  Wing,  is  of  a  yellowish,  or 
yellowish-red  color,  or  like  powdered  impure  limonite,  is  not  conspicuously 
laminated,  though  it  is  so  quite  distinctly  in  some  places,  and  frequently 
becomes  so  sandy  as  hardly  to  justify  the  name  of  day.  It  lies  generally 


120  TI1E  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Surface  configuration. 

upon  the  rocky  surface,  only  a  few  angular  fragments  of  the  rock  of  the 
country,  and  of  weathered  chert  being  embraced  in  its  lowest  parts;  but 
toward  the  west  it  overlaps  the  till,  and  its  distinctive  features  gradually 
fade  out  as  those  of  the  till  increase.  The  waters  that  drain  it  are  chalyb- 
eate and  calcareous,  never  alkaline,  and  the  soils  it  forms  vary  from  a  fine, 
stoneless  clay  to  a  sandy  loam.  It  makes  red  brick  and  pottery,  while 
those  made  from  the  clay  of  the  Red  river  valley  are  cream-colored.  Be- 
sides these  large  areas  covered  by  stratified  clay,  which  may  be  taken  as 
types,  there  are  numerous  smaller  areas  scattered  through  the  interior  of 
the  state,  evidently  dependent  upon  the  former  or  present  operation  of 
a  large  stream  or  lake,  which  belong  to  one  or  the  other  kind,  but  also 
sometimes  exhibit  a  union  of  the  chemical  and  physical  characters  of  both. 
Such  occur  in  Carver,  Hennepin,  Anoka,  Meeker,  Wright,  Blue  Earth  and 
Crow  Wing  counties,  and  in  several  others.  There  is  also  about  the  west 
end  of  lake  Superior  a  bright  red  stratified  clay,  seen  at  Duluth,  and  rising 
to  the  hight  of  about  450  feet  above  the  lake.  This  seems  to  have  been 
spread  by  the  waters  of  lake  Superior  when  they  stood  about  500  feet 
higher,  though  probably  carried  into  the  lake  by  the  St.  Louis  and  other 
streams  from  the  red  till  which  characterizes  the  drift  of  that  district. 

III.  THE  SURFACE  CONFIGURATION  OF  DIFFERENT  PARTS  OF  THE  STATE. 

The  only  part  of  Minnesota  that  may  be  styled  mountainous  is  in  the 
northeastern  triangle  included  between  the  international  boundary  line, 
lake  Superior  and  Vermilion  lake;  and  much  of  this  is  heavily  drift-covered, 
with  a  moderately  rolling  or  undulating  surface.  But  there  are  mountain 
peaks  along  the  shore  of  lake  Superior,  and  in  the  northern  part  of  Cook 
and  Lake  counties  that  rise  from  1600  to  1800  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
ocean.  There  are  also  hill  ranges  or  mountains,  particularly  those  known 
as  the  Sawteeth,  the  Mesabi  and  the  G iant's  ranges,  which  maintain  a  broken 
outline,  consisting  of  crystalline  rock,  and  rising  from  1200  to  1500  feet 
above  lake  Superior,  or  about  2000  feet  above  the  sea.  Westward  from  this 
mountainous  tract  the  state  shows  moderate  undulations  of  level,  which 
primarily  are  due  probably  to  the  general  contour  of  the  rocky  surface;  but 
as  the  immediate  surface  is  composed  of  drift,  the  configuration  is  dependent 
on  the  manner  of  deposition  and  accumulation  of  the  surface  materials. 


GENERAL  PHYSICAL  FEATURES. 

Surface  configuration.] 

Throughout  northern  Minnesota  west  of  Vermilion  lake,  extending  as  far 
south  as  the  sources  of  the  Big  Fork  and  of  Red  Lake  river,  and  along 
the  western  boundary  to  Yellow  Medicine  county,  the  country  is  generally 
flat,  like  that  which  is  known  as  the  Red  river  valley;  this  is  termi- 
nated by  the  Coteau  des  Prairies,  which  introduces  a  change  of  level 
amounting  to  400-500  feet  within  a  few  miles,  though  the  surface  contour 
becomes  nearly  as  uniform  again  after  passing  the  hights  of  the  Coteau. 

East  of  the  Coteau,  after  a  rather  abrupt  descent  of  300-400  feet,  the  flats 
of  the  Minnesota  valley  are  reached.  These  flats  are  about  one  hundred 
miles  wide,  and  include  the  counties  of  Lac  qui  Parle,  Yellow  Medicine, 
Redwood,  Brown,  Watonwan,  Martin,  Blue  Earth  and  Faribault  on  the  south 
side;  and  Nicollet,  Sibley,  Carver,  McLeod,  Renville,  Kandiyohi,  Chippewa, 
Swift,  Big  Stone,  Traverse,  Stevens  and  Grant,  on  the  north  side  of  the  Min- 
nesota river.  Several  other  counties  adjoining  these  are  nearly  equally  flat, 
but  they  are  on  the  drainage  slopes  to  the  Mississippi  or  the  Red  river  of  the 
North.  The  counties  of  Mower,  Dodge,  Steele  and  Waseca,  with  much 
of  Freeborn  and  Le  Sueur,  are  also  flat. 

The  region  of  the  upper  Mississippi,  above  the  mouth  of  the  Minnesota 
river,  has  in  general  a  much  more  diversified  surface  than  the  valley  of  the 
Minnesota.  It  is  marked  by  numerous  low,  hill-ranges,  and  isolated  or  clus- 
tered knobs,  consisting  of  drift,  usually  till,  which  give  rise  to  numerous 
lakes  and  springs.  A  conspicuous  range,  known  as  the  Leaf  mountains, 
rises  in  Otter  Tail  and  Douglas  counties,  and  extending  southeasterly,  sinks 
away  in  northern  Kandiyohi  and  Meeker  counties;  but  is  re-enforced  by  a 
branch  coming  from  the  north  through  Todd,  Stearns,  and  Wright  counties. 
It  extends  through  Hennepin,  western  Dakota,  western  Rice,  Steele  and 
Freeborn  counties  into  the  state  of  Iowa,  where  it  is  believed  to  swing  round 
to  the  west,  returning  thence  northward  upon  the  Coteau  des  Prairies,  which 
crosses  Nobles,  Murray,  Pipestone  and  Lincoln  counties.  Toward  the  north 
from  Otter  Tail  county  it  produces  a  belt  of  rolling  land  through  Becker  and 
southern  Beltrami  and  Itasca  counties,  where  it  embraces  the  ultimate 
sources  of  the  great  rivers  of  the  state  and  of  the  continent;  and  in  the 
central  portion  of  St.  Louis  county  blends  with  the  Mesabi  range,  which, 
partly  as  a  drift  moraine  and  partly  as  a  range  of  rock-formed  hills,  extends 
to  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  state  near  Pigeon  point. 


122  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Elevations. 

In  the  midst  of  this  broken  tract  of  the  upper  Mississippi  are  flat  and 
sandy  areas  in  the  central  part  of  the  state,  characterized  by  an  abundance 
of  Pinun  Batiksiana,  which  include  much  of  the  region  from  Leech  lake  to 
the  Crow  Wing  and  Leaf  rivers  and  Otter  Tail  lake,  and  on  the  east  of  the 
Mississippi  embrace  much  of  Crow  Wing  and  eastern  Morrison  counties. 
Similar  flat  and  sandy  tracts  are  found  in  Carlton  and  Pine  counties,  though 
not  so  uniformly  characterized  by  the  same  species  of  pine. 

In  the  southeastern  portion  of  the  state  the  surface  is  broken  and  hilly, 
the  contour  depending  immediately  on  the  form  of  the  rocky  surface 
overspread  with  a  sheet  of  fine  loam.  This  configuration  is  due  to  the 
erosion  of  deep  valleys  in  the  horizontal  strata  in  former  ages,  without 
the 'supplementary  planing  and  filling  process  of  the  glacial  epoch.  Hence 
the  changes  of  level  are  abrupt,  as  bench  after  bench  of  the  rocky 
substructure  is  brought  to  form  the  surface.  The  benches  are  often 
separated  from  each  other  by  wide  plains  of  fertile  soil,  but  along  the 
river-courses  they  are  brought  into  juxtaposition,  and  furnish  instructive 
opportunities  for  making  out  the  stratigraphic  geology  of  the  Cambrian 
and  Lower  Silurian  rocks.  This  topography  is  most  perfectly  illustrated 
in  those  counties  that  border  on  the  Mississippi  river  below  St.  Paul. 
It  gradually  becomes  less  conspicuous  toward  the  west,  on  account  of 
the  feebler  erosive  action  of  drainage  at  points  removed  from  the  main 
valley,  and  also  because  the  drift  materials  begin  to  be  insinuated  within 
and  beneath  the  loam  of  that  region,  preventing  the  rocky  substructure 
from  expressing  itself  in  the  topography. 

IV.  THE  RELATIVE  ELEVATION  OF  DIFFERENT  TARTS  OF  THE  STATE. 

Lake  Superior  is  602  feet  above  the  sea;  and  a  narrow  tract  bordering 
the  shore  of  that  lake,  including  the  valley  of  the  St.  Louis  river  as  far  as 
Fond  du  Lac,  is  the  lowest  land  in  the  state.  The  Mississippi  river  where 
it  leaves  Minnesota  is  620  feet  above  the  sea.  The  valleys  of  the  streams 
in  Houston,  Winona,  Wabasha  and  Goodhue  counties  are  but  little  elevated 
above  that  river,  and  probably  should  be  classed,  as  a  group,  next  higher. 
But  these  valleys  are  narrow,  and  the  adjoining  surface  rises  rapidly  to  the 
hight  of  about  1000  feet  above  the  sea,  sometimes  reaching  1200  feet.  The 
Red  river  of  the  North  leaves  the  state  with  an  elevation  of  767  feet  above 


GENERAL  PHYSICAL  FEATURES.  123 

Elevations.] 

the  sea,  and  the  adjoining  land  is  flat,  with  but  a  slightly  greater  elevation. 
The  thousand  foot  contour-line  in  the  southeastern  and  northeastern 
corners  of  the  state  runs  very  near  the  Mississippi  river  and  lake  Superior 
respectively,  but  in  the  northwestern  corner  it  is  separated  from  the  valley 
of  the  Red  river  of  the  North  by  an  intervening  tract  of  flat  land  thirty  or 
forty  miles  wide,  and  above  it  the  same  plain  extends  a  great  distance 
further  east.  In  the  southwestern  corner  of  the  state  the  Rock  river,  and 
the  tributaries  of  the  Big  Sioux  river,  pass  the  state  line  with  an  elevation 
of  about  1300  feet  above  the  sea.  The  surrounding  country  is  about  200 
feet  higher,  and  a  few  miles  further  northeast,  on  the  Coteau  des  Prairies, 
the  general  level  is  from  1800  to  1900  feet  above  the  sea.  The  lowest 
portion  of  the  state  is  in  close  proximity  to  the  highest,  which  latter  is  in 
the  Mesabi  range  north  of  lake  Superior  and  attains  an  altitude  of  a  little 
more  than  2200  feet  above  the  sea. 

The  general  surface  of  the  state  slopes  from  the  north-central  portion 
in  all  four  directions  towards  its  distant  and  opposite  corners,  although 
there  are  greater  elevations  in  the  northeastern  and  in  the  southwestern 
corners.  The  region  west  of  Itasca  lake  rises  somewhat  more  than  1600 
feet  above  the  sea,  and  the  Leaf  hills  in  Otter  Tail  county  about  1700  feet. 

The  great  trough  which  crosses  the  state  from  northwest  to  southeast 
formed  by  the  Red  river  of  the  North,  the  Minnesota  and  the  Mississippi 
rivers,  has  its  greatest  elevation  at  Brown's  Valley,  which  is  975  feet  above 
tide.  The  thousand  foot  contour-line  which  bounds  the  valley  on  the  north- 
east enters  Minnesota  from  Manitoba  about  forty-five  miles  east  of  the  Red 
river  of  the  North.  Its  general  course  is  nearly  south  to  lake  Traverse. 
It  passes  along  the  immediate  bluffs  of  that  lake  and  Big  Stone  lake,  and 
thence  follows  the  bluff's  of  the  Minnesota  nearly  to  New  Ulm,  where  it 
begins  to  turn  northward  through  northern  Nicollet  county.  Thence  it 
crosses  the  counties  of  Sibley,  McLeod,  Wright,  and  the  eastern  part  of 
Stearns.  It  crosses  the  Mississippi  about  six  miles  above  Sauk  Rapids.  It 
thence  passes  tortuously  through  Sherburne,  Isanti,  Kanabec  and  Pine 
counties,  leaving  the  state  where  the  St.  Croix  river  begins  to  form  its 
eastern  boundary.  On  the  south  side  the  same  contour  line  begins  at  the 
foot  of  Big  Stone  lake  and,  following  the  bluff's  of  the  Minnesota  nearly  to 
New  Ulm,  it  thence  winds  its  way  over  the  prairies  of  Brown  and  Waton- 


124  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Elevations. 

wan  counties,  under  the  influence  of  the  Cottonwood  and  Watonwan 
rivers  ;  enters  Blue  Earth  county  where  it  is  in  the  same  way  modified  by 
the  Blue  Earth  river  and  its  tributaries,  and  barely  enters  the  north  side  of 
Faribault  county.  It  passes  through  Le  Sueur  and  Scott  counties  east  of 
their  centers,  and  nearly  reaches  St.  Paul,  but  in  the  elevated  parts  of 
Dakota  county  it  is  suddenly  deflected  southward,  and  maintains  a  very 
crooked  course  among  the  bluffs  of  Goodhue  and  the  southeastern  counties, 
leaving  the  state  near  the  summits  of  the  bluffs  of  the  Mississippi  in 
Houston  county.  In  the  northeastern  part  of  the  state  this  contour-line 
includes  a  small  part  of  the  St.  Louis  valley  and  a  narrow  strip  along 
the  shore  of  lake  Superior  as  far  as  the  hills  of  Grand  Portage. 

ELEVATION   OF   LAKES   ABOVE   TIDE-WATER. 

Feet. 

Lake  of  the  Woods,  1025 

Lake  Saganaga,  1518 

Vermilion  lake,       -  -     1511 

Rainy  lake,  1150 

Red  lake,  -     1140 

Itasca  lake,  1500 

Cass  lake,  -     1300 

Winnibigoshish  lake,  1290 

Leech  lake,    -  1292 

Mille  Lacs,  1246 

Otter  Tail  lake,  1325 

Lake  Whipple,  -  1134 

Lake  Traverse,  970 

Big  Stone  lake,  962 

Lake  Minnetonka,  922 

Swan  lake,  (Nicollet  Co.)  970 

Heron  lake,  (Jackson  Co.)      -  -     1403 

Lake  Benton,  (Lincoln  Co.)  1754 

Lake  Shetek,  1475 

Lake  Pepin, -                -  664 


GENERAL  PHYSICAL  FEATURES. 


125 


Soils  and  subsoils.] 


Lake  St.  Croix,  672 

White  Bear  lake,  910 

ELEVATION  OF  HILLS,  VALLEYS  AND  PLATEAUS. 

Red  river  flats  at  Moorhead,  913 

Red  river  flats  at  St.  Vincent,   -  800 

Coteau  des  Prairies,  1800-1900 

Prairies  of  the  Minnesota  valley,     -  1000-1200 

Prairies  of  Waseca  and  Steele  counties,  -     1100-1200 

Prairies  of  Freeborn  and  Mower  counties,       -  1200-1400 
The  valley  lands  of  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries 
in   the   counties   of    Houston,    Fillmore,   Winona, 

Wabasha  and  Goodhue,  -     650-  900 

The  upland  prairies  of  the  same  counties,    -  -     1000-1200 

The  wooded  region  of  the  upper  Mississippi,  -  1200-1500. 

The  wooded  flats  between  Cass  lake  and  lake  of  the 

Woods,  -     1100-1400 

The  summits  of  the  Giant's  range,  2100-2200 

The  summits  of  the  Mesabi  range,  -     2100-2200 

The  summits  of  the  Sawteeth  range,      -  1800-2000 

Rolling  plateau  surrounding  Itasca  lake,      -  -     1500-1700 

Leaf  hills,  in  Otter  Tail  county,  1500-1750 

V.    THE  KINDS  AND  DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  SOILS  AND  SUB-SOILS. 

There  is  an  element  in  the  arable  soils  of  Minnesota  which  gives  them 
a  general  uniform  similarity  whatever  be  their  origin  or  chemical  qualities. 
They  are  seldom  stony.  The  materials  are  almost  everywhere  finely  com- 
minuted, constituting  a  clay,  or  a  loam,  or  a  sandy  loam,  or  a  pebbly  clay. 
Even  where  the  till  rises  to  the  surface  and  constitutes  the  soil,  the  chief 
ingredient  is  clay,  and  the  stones  that  naturally  belong  to  the  till  are  so 
few  that  none  are  found  to  interfere  with  agriculture.  The  areas  of  stony 
soils  are  restricted  to  the  broken  tracts  associated  with  the  great  moraines 
that  cross  the  state,  and  to  the  slopes  or  tops  of  hills  where  drainage  has 
so  denuded  the  till-surfaces  that  the  stones  it  contained  have  been 
concentrated. 


126  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Soils  and  subsoils. 

The  character  and  composition  of  the  soils  of  the  state  are  dependent 
on  two  general  causes;  (1)  the  nature  of  the  subsoil,  (2)  the  local  modify- 
ing circumstances,  the  chief  of  which  is  in  the  nature  of  the  local  drainage. 

(1)  The  nature  of  the  subsoil.  As  an  element  in  the  production  and 
modification  of  soil,  the  subsoil  is  most  potential.  Into  it  vegetation  sends 
its  principal  roots,  and  from  it  rise,  by  osmose  the  salts  that  renew  the  sur- 
face soil  when  impoverished  by  cropping  or  by  unfavorable  drainage,  or  by 
drouth.  The  soil  may  be  said  to  be  the  comminuted  and  modified  upper 
surface  of  the  subsoil.  The  subsoils  may  be  grouped  under  four  divisions: 

Subsoils  of  blue  till. 
Subsoils  of  red  till. 
Subsoils  of  gravel  or  of  sand. 
Subsoils  of  clay  or  of  clay-loam. 

Whether  the  subsoil  consist  of  blue  till  or  of  red,  its  physical  characters 
are  nearly  the  same,  except  that  the  blue  till  is  generally  closer  and  more 
impervious  than  the  red,  and  is  less  stony;  but  its  chemical  characteristics 
will  differ  considerably  according  as  it  is  blue  or  red.  There  is  nothing 
of  importance  in  the  difference  of  color.  The  color  simply  indicates  the 
origin  of  the  till,  and  its  accompanying  qualities.  The  blue  till,  in  gen- 
eral, is  derived  from  the  disintegration  of  the  (.'rt'fiin'oiiH,  and  the  red  from 
Cambrian,  though  there  are  exceptions,  and  a  blue  till  is  also  produced 
by  the  other  formations.  It  so  happens,  however,  that  in  Minnesota  a  large 
proportion  of  the  clayey  parts  of  the  blue  till  can  be  referred  to  the  Creta- 
ceous, with  as  much  certainty  as  the  red  to  the  Cambrian.  The  Creta- 
ceous being  a  marine  deposit,  of  an  age  when  the  ocean's  waters  in  the 
interior  of  North  America  were  charged  with  the  salts  of  the  alkalies  and 
of  the  alkaline  earths,  the  till  resulting  from  its  disintegration  and  distri- 
bution necessarily  exhibits  the  same  qualities;  and  as  the  soil  is  dependent 
largely  on  the  subsoil  for  its  characteristic  chemical  qualities,  it  follows 
that  soils  based  primarily  on  the  blue  till  in  Minnesota  will  exhibit  the 
same  alkaline  characters.  Such  is  the  case.  Soils  based  directly  on  the 
Cretaceous  rocks,  without  the  intervention  of  any  sheet  of  drift,  as  in  west- 
ern Dakota  and  in  Montana,  exhibit  these  chemical  qualities  still  more 


GENERAL  PHYSICAL  FEATURES.  127 

Soils  and  subsoils.] 

strongly.  Such  soils  are  naturally  supplied  with  abundance  of  soda,  lime, 
magnesia  and  potash,  and  they  constitute  by  far  the  largest  part  of  the 
immediate  surface  of  the  state.  With  the  exception  of  the  soils  based  on  the 
lacustrine  clays  of  the  Red  river  of  the  North,  and  those  in  the  southeastern 
part  of  the  state  based  on  the  loess-loam,  the  entire  prairie  part  of  the  state  is 
characterized  by  such  soils.  In  addition  to  this,  the  same  blue  till  underlies 
much  of  the  timbered  area  of  the  state,  in  most  places  extending  to  the  east 
of  the  Mississippi  river,  and  including  Scott  and  Le  Sueur  counties  east 
of  the  lower  Minnesota.  Still  the  characteristic  qualities  of  the  blue  till 
of  the  prairie  regions  become  less  and  less  marked  toward  the  east,  and  in 
the  timbered  areas  generally  the  soils  would  not  correctly  be  denominated 

• 

alkaline. 

Subsoils  of  red  till  differ  from  those  of  blue  till  in  containing  a  high 
percentage  of  iron -oxide,  and  little  or  none  of  the  salts  of  the  alkalies. 
They  are  generally  calcareous,  but  less  calcareous  than  those  of  the  blue 
till.  They  are  found  distributed  from  Pigeon  river,  on  the  international 
boundary,  southwestward,  coincident  with  the  strike  of  the  Cupriferous 
or  Potsdam  formation.  They  form  the  surface  as  far  as  St.  Paul,  and 
eastern  Hennepin  county;  and  further  southwest  they  are  covered  by  the 
blue  till.  Toward  the  south  and  southeast  from  St.  Paul  they  gradually 
blend  with  the  eastern  outrunning  limit  of  the  blue-till  subsoils  on  the 
west  and  with  the  clay -loam  subsoils  of  the  "driftless  area"  on  the  east. 
Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  blue  and  red  tills  give  the  dominant  characters 
to  the  soils  of  the  largest  pail  of  the  state,  and  that  of  these  the  blue 
till  is  the  most  important. 

Subsoils  of  gravel,  or  of  sand,  result  from  the  superficial  modification 
of  the  till  of  the  region.  They  are  always  underlain,  at  a  less  or  greater 
depth,  by  a  till  sheet,  and  if  wells  penetrate  them  they  obtain  the  charac- 
teristic water.  These  subsoils  give  little  effect  to  the  chemical  nature  of 
the  soils  based  on  them,  but  on  their  successful  cultivation  they  have  a 
powerful  influence,  since  they  are  quickly  susceptible  to  the  changes  of 
climate,  and  the  variations  of  local  drainage.  In  certain  seasons  they 
are  moi'e  productive  than  the  soils  based  on  a  clay  subsoil,  and  in  others 
they  are  nearly  sterile.  Such  subsoils  prevail  in  the  higher  areas  of  modi- 
fied drift  along  the  principal  water-courses,  accompanied,  in  the  proper 


128  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Soils  and  subsoils. 

latitude,  by  the  black  pine  (Pinus  Banksiana),  and  in  the  plains  of  modified 
drift  isolated  from  the  rivers,  as  well  as  in  the  rolling  gravelly  (and  stony) 
parts  of  the  Leaf  hills  moraine.  The  same  subsoils,  but  more  fine,  may  be 
said  to  exist  where  the  loess-loam  of  the  southeastern  part  of  the  state 
becomes  so  sandy  as  to  show  very  little  clay,  as  in  the  upper  part  of  the 
high  terrace  below  St.  Paul,  and  the  terrace  flat  on  which  Minneapolis  is 
situated.  This  is  also  seen  in  much  of  eastern  Dakota  county,  in  northern 
Ramsey  and  in  Anoka  counties. 

Subsoils  of  clay  or  clay-loam  are  found,  especially,  in  the  lacustrine  areas 
of  the  Red  river  of  the  North,  and  of  the  Mississippi  below  Red  Wing,  also 
in  some  of  the  flats  of  the  lower  St.  Louis  and  upper  Mississippi.     In  south- 
ern and  western  Rock  county,  also,  the  subsoil  passes  from  a  blue  till  to 
pebbly  and  finely  stratified  clays,  and  these  constitute  a  subsoil  of  this  class. 
The  soils  based  on  these  subsoils,  possess  the  characteristics  of  the  till  upon 
which  the  clays  lie,  and  from  which  they  may  be  derived,  but  in  a  modified 
and  much  lessened  degree.    The  alkaline  till  of  the  Red  river  region  is 
due  to  the  immediate  disintegration  of  the  marine  Cretaceous,  but  the  clays 
forming  these  subsoils  are  a  fresh-water  deposit;  and  in  the  act  of  deposi- 
tion a  considerable  part  of  the  soluble  alkaline  ingredients  of  the  country 
till  were  carried  by  drainage  to  the  ocean.     The  pebbly  clay  subsoil,  how- 
ever, of  Rock  county,  is  not  so  markedly  different  from  the  till  subsoils 
of  the  region,  in  these  chemical  qualities.     In  the  northwestern  part  of  the 
state  these  subsoils  spread  eastwardly  to  the  lake  of  the  Woods,  and  along 
Rainy  river  to  Rainy  lake,  including  very  much  of  the  Red  lake  and  Pembina 
Indian  reservations;  but  toward  the  south  the  distinctive  characters  of  the 
clay  subsoil  are  confined  to  a  narrow  belt  on  the  east  side  of  the  Red  river  of 
of  the  North,  and  disappear  entirely  at  Traverse  lake.     The  clay  subsoils  can 
easily  be  distinguished  from  the  blue  till  subsoils  of  the  same  valley,  ^ince 
where  they  prevail  no  stones  or  boulders  appear  on  the  surface.   These  are  seen 
scatteringly  in  passing  eastwardly  upon  the  subsoils  of  till.     Subsoils  of  this 
class  in  the  northeastern  part  of  the  state  are  found  in  the  St.  Louis  valley, 
below  Fond  du  Lac,  and  above  Knife  falls.     The  flats  of  the  East  Savannah 
river,  and  of  Leech  Lake  river  are  based  on  a  clay  subsoil.     In  the  south- 
eastern part  of  the  state  the  soils  of  the  loess-loam  are  based  on  a  clay 
subsoil,  though  sometimes  this  is  too  sandy  to  be  styled  clay.     Such  are 


GENERAL  PHYSICAL  FEATURES.  129 

Soils' and  Bubsoils.] 

found  throughout  -Ho  iston,  Winona,  Wabasha  and  most  of  Goodhue  coun- 
ties, and  the  eastern  portions  of  Washington,  Dakota,  Rice,  Olmsted  and 
Fillmore.  Such  soils  are  remarkable  for  their  mellowness  and  their  diver- 
sified capabilities. 

(2)  The  local  modifying  circumstances.  The  local  circumstances,  due 
mainly  to  differonce  of  drainage,  sometimes  so  modify  the  primary  drift  soils 
dependent  on  the  nature  of  the  original  drift,  as  to  completely  mask  their 
essential  arid  characteristic  qualities.  If  the  natural  drainage  has  been 
imperfect  for  a  long  period  of  time  the  original  soil  will  become  blackened 
by  accumulated  carbonaceous  matter,  or  whitened  by  the  evaporation  of 
calcareous  waters,  or  reddened  by  iron  from  chalybeate  waters.  If  these 
processes  be  carried  on  to  excess,  the  resultant  material  is  a  peat,  a  marl, 
or  a  bog-ore.  There  are  all  shades  of  gradations  between  these  substances 
and  the  original  soils  which  they  modify,  and  though  they  occupy  but  a 
comparatively  small  portion  of  the  area  of  the  state,  they  are  distributed 
from  north  to  south  throughout  its  whole  extent.  The  peaty,  or  mucky, 
soils  are  more  extensive  than  the  others,  and  are  found  both  in  the  rolling 
timbered  parts,  and  in  the  prairies.  The  accumulated  vegetation  some- 
times blackens  the  loams  and  the  subsoils  to  the  depth  of  six,  or  even  ten, 
feet.  This  is  due  not  alone  to  the  growth  and  decay  of  vegetation  on  the 
spot,  but  also  to  the  inflow  of  carbon  by  surface  washing  from  the  surround- 
ing areas.  Calcareous  or  marly  soils,  are  frequently  found  in  the  region  ot 
the  upper  Mississippi,  and  in  regions  where  the  drift  contains  much  lime- 
stone gravel  and  stones.  Strongly  alkaline  soils  are  found  in  low  grounds 
in  the  region  of  the  unmodified  blue  till,  and  reddened  or  ferruginous  soils 
occur  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  state  where  waters  draining  from  non- 
calcareous  gravels  and  sands,  evaporate  in  lower  grounds. 

In  addition  to  the  influence  of  natural  drainage  on  the  original  soils, 
another  important  cause  has  operated  to  blacken  and  enrich  the  soils  of  the 
entire  prairie  region  of  the  state.  The  fires  which  have  destroyed  the  grass 
of  the  prairies  for  many  successive  years,  have  annually  deposited  on  the 
surface  a  residuum  of  charred  unconsumed  matter,  which  has  entered  within 
the  soils  and  blackened  them  to  varying  depths,  so  that  nearly  everywhere 
the  surface  soil  of  Minnesota  is  a  rich  black  loam,  the  same  fires  having 

9 


130  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Lakes  and  rivers- 

• 

operated  to  calcine  and  disintegrate  the  few  stones  of  the  till  which  hap- 
pened to  be  within  their  reach. 

VI.     THE  LAKES  AND  RIVERS,  AND  THE  QUALITIES  OF  THE  WATEKS 
OF  THE  DIFFERENT  PORTIONS. 

Lakes.  The  number  of  lakes  in  Minnesota  is  about  ten  thousand. 
These  can  be  divided  into  three  classes  based  on  their  origin  and  topo- 
graphical surroundings;  but  the  classes  fade  into  each  other  along  the 
boundaries  of  the  areas  containing  them,  in  proportion  as  the  elements  that 
go  to  make  up  their  characteristics  become  less  powerful  and  are  replaced 
by  others.  Sometimes  a  large  lake  partakes  of  the  characters  of  two  or  of  all 
these  classes,  like  Mille  Lacs,  and  like  lake  of  the  Woods. 

1.  Lakes  of  the  morainic  till  areas. 

2.  Lakes  of  the  modified  drift  areas. 

3.  Lakes  of  the  areas  of  bare  rock. 

Lakes  of  the  morainic  till  areas.  This  is  by  far  the  most  numerous  and 
important  class,  embracing  more  than  three-fourths  of  all  the  lakes  in  the 
state.  The  most  remarkable  and  characteristic  of  these  areas  is  that  known 
as  the  Leaf  hills  or  park  region  in  Becker  and  Otter  Tail  counties,  where 
the  lakes  are  so  numerous  that  to  the  observer  one-half  of  the  surface  seems 
to  be  covered  by  water.  This  area,  however,  extends  northward  and  south- 
ward, and  in  some  other  parts  of  its  development  it  shows  almost  an  equal 
profusion  of  small,  deep  lakes.  This  is  true  in  some  parts  of  Douglas,  Carver, 
Hennepin  and  Le  Sueur  counties.  This  belt  of  lakes  crosses  the  state  to  the 
Iowa  line,  including  much  of  Scott,  Le  Sueur,  and  Freeborn  counties,  and 
the  western  portions  of  Dakota  and  Rice  counties.  It  does  not  show  so 
many  lakes  in  Waseca  and  eastern  Blue  Earth.  Toward  the  north  and  east 
this  series  of  lakes,  though  less  remarkable,  includes  the  region  of  Itasca 
lake,  Turtle  lake  and  the  "  Julian  sources  "  of  Beltrami,  the  lakes  that  feed 
the  Big  Fork  river,  flowing  northward,  as  well  as  those  that  are  drained 
southward  by  the  Mississippi,  the  Prairie  and  Swan  rivers.  Toward  the 
east  further  it  accompanies  the  Mesabi  range,  and  supplies  the  numerous 
streams  that  enter  lake  Superior,  terminating  in  the  Indian  reservation 
near  Pigeon  point,  where  some  of  its  lakes  exhibit  also  some  of  the  char- 
acters of  Class  No.  3.  This  belt  of  lakes  varies  in  width  from  ten  to  fifty 


GENERAL  PHYSICAL  FEATURES.  13] 

Lakes  and  rivers.] 

miles,  and  embraces  Leech  and  Winnibigoshish  lakes,  two  of  the  largest 
lakes  of  the  state,  though  they  do  not  perfectly  illustrate  the  lakes  of  the 
first  class.  Lake  Minnetonka,  in  Hennepin  county,  is  most  perfectly  typical 
of  the  lakes  of  this  class. 

The  lakes  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies  which  crosses  the  southwestern 
corner  of  the  state  Irom  Lincoln  county  to  Jackson  county,  belong  to  the 
first  cliiss,  but  they  are  not  so  thickly  spread  over  the  country  as  those  of 
the  central  part  of  the  state.  Another  important  area  of  till-based  lakes 
stretches  southeastward  from  Leech  lake  to  Mille  Lacs,  and  another  from 
Ramsey  county  northward  to  southern  Pine  county.  The  lakes  of  the  last 
area,  however,  are  not  characteristically  based  on  rolling  till,  but  frequently 
involve  the  features  of  the  second  class. 

Lakes  of  the  modified  drift  areas.  These  are  found  in  the  level  or  undu- 
lating portions  of  the  state  where  the  till,  which  is  usually  the  material 
which  confines  their  waters,  is  superficially  covered  with  stratified  clay 
or  sand  and  gravel.  They  are  comparatively  rare,  and  usually  shallow,  but 
they  constitute  the  largest  lakes  of  the  state.  Red  lake  belongs  to  this  class, 
being  the  largest  in  Minnesota,  containing  about  340  square  miles.  The 
northern  shores  of  Leech  lake,  and  the  southwestern  of  the  lake  of  the 
Woods  exhibit  the  characters  of  this  class.  Such  lakes  are  scattered  sparsely 
over  the  central  portions  of  the  state  in  Cass  and  ^adena  and  in  southern 
St.  Louis  counties.  Some  of  those  in  northern  Ramsey  are  lakes  of  this 
character. 

Lakes  of  the  areas  of  bare  rock.  These  have  rocky  basins,  and  are  due 
to  the  immediate  contour  of  the  rocky  surface.  The  lakes  of  the  northern 
boundary  of  the  state,  from  the  west  end  of  Rainy  lake  to  lake  Superior, 
and  the  numerous  clear  lakes  that  lie  on  either  side  of  the  boundary,  illus- 
trate this  class.  The  surface  has  been  subjected  to  severe  glaciation,  but 
for  some  reason  the  drift  is  almost  wholly  wanting.  The  lakes  take  the 
shapes  of  the  depressions  of  the  rocky  contour.  They  are  very  numerous, 
with  tortuous  and  bold  shores.  They  are  connected  by  lively  streams  that 
have  frequent  rapids  and  cascades.  There  are  here  no  deep  rock-gorges 
cut  by  drainage  courses,  but  the  surface  is  that  left  by  the  glacier,  and  the 
water  simply  gets  from  one  basin  to  another  by  filling  them  up  and  over- 
*  running  their  rims.  Lake  Superior  itself  is  a  stupendous  example  of  the 


132  THE  GEOLOGY  OP  MINNESOTA. 

[Lakes  and  rivers. 

same  class,  though  its  rock-rim  was  formerly  covered  by  drift  throughout 
much  of  its  extent.  This  has  largely  been  washed  off  in  Minnesota  to  the 
hight  of  about  500  feet  above  its  present  level,  by  the  former  action  of  its 
own  waves  which  have  left  terraces  and  other  water-marks  up  to  that 
hight.  The  lakes  of  this  class  extend  southward  to  Vermilion  lake,  and 
there  they  begin  to  blend  with  those  of  the  first  class.  Southwest  of 
Rainy  lake  they  blend  with  those  of  the  second  class.  The  northern  por- 
tions of  Rainy  lake,  and  of  lake  of  the  Woods,  exemplify  the  characters  of 
this  class,  but  the  southern  portions  belong  to  the  second  class. 

Lakes  Traverse  and  Big  Stone,  on  the  western  boundary  of  the  state, 
and  St.  Croix  and  Pepin  on  the  eastern,  do  not  belong  to  either  of  these 
classes.  They  are  simply  expansions  in  old  river-valleys,  not  yet  filled 
with  sediment ;  the  former  excavated  in  the  drift  sheet,*  and  the  latter  in 
the  Cambrian  rocks. 

Rivers.  The  waters  of  the  state  all  find  their  way  to  the  Atlantic 
ocean,  but  they  reach  that  level  through  three  of  the  cardinal  points  of 
the  compass — north,  east  and  south.  The  French  and  English  geographers 
of  the  last  century  also  located  in  Minnesota  the  source  of  another  great 
river  which  reached  the  Pacific  ocean  toward  the  west.  This  river,  which 
was  designated  as  the  "river  of  the  west"  was  sometimes  thought  to  be  the 
Oregon,  sometimes  tb£Rio  Colorado,  and  sometimes  was  confounded  with 
the  Saskatchewan  river  that  enters  the  north  end  of  lake  Winnipeg  from 
the  west.  Without  this  great  western  river,  however,  Minnesota  occupies 
in  a  pre-eminent  degree  the  summit  divide  of  the  waters  of  North  America, 
at  least  so  far  as  they  exist  within  the  United  States.  The  hight  of  the 
main  divide  in  the  state,  in  the  region  west  and  southwest  of  Itasca  lake, 
rises  between  1600  and  1700  feet  above  the  sea,  and  the  average  elevation 
of  the  entire  state  is  probably  not  far  from  1275  feet  above  the  sea,  the 
border  of  lake  Superior,  the  lowest  land  within  the  state,  being  602  feet. 
Hence,  the  streams  which  drain  the  surface  area  amounting  to  about 
84,286.53  square  miles,  are  not  characterized  by  water-falls  and  rapids,  but 
by  their  crooked  courses  and  gentle,  generally  navigable,  currents. 

The  water  area  of  the  state  is  greater  than  that  of  any  state  or  terri- 

*And  partly  In  the  Cretaceous. 


GENERAL  PHYSICAL  FEATURES.  133 

Lakes  and  rivers.] 
> 

tory  iu  the  Union,  being  5,637.53  square  miles,  without  including  any  part 
of  lake  Superior.*  This  averages  one  square  mile  of  water  to  every  fifteen 
of  land  for  the  entire  state.  This  unprecedented  water  supply  leaves  the 
state  by  the  valleys  of  seven  different  rivers,  viz:  the  Mississippi,  the  St. 
Louis  and  lake  Superior,  the  Red  river  of  the  North,  the  Rainy  river,  the 
Ues  Moines  river,  the  Rock  river,  and  the  Cedar  river. 

The  Mississippi  river  system.  By  far  the  largest  and  most  important 
of  these  drainage  systems  is  that  of  the  Mississippi.  It  is  the  only  one  that 
crosses  the  entire  state.  It  includes  the  most  of  the  area  of  the  great 
water-shed  formed  by  the  morainic  deposits  in  the  central  portions  of  the 
state,  its  whole  area  being  approximately  45,566  square  miles.  The  upper 
Mississippi  drains  the  timbered  regions,  and  the  Minnesota  the  southern 
prairie  portions  of  Minnesota.  It  runs  almost  exclusively  on  the  surface 
of  the  drift  to  the  falls  ot  St.  Anthony,  and  from  there  till  it  leaves  the 
state,  and  even  till  it  enters  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  it  runs  in  an  old,  rocky 
valley  excavated  in  pre-glacial  times.  All  its  tributaries,  also,  below  the 
falls  of  St.  Anthony  enter  it  through  similar,  deep-cut  gorges.  The  other 
tributaries  of  this  river,  however,  are  post-glacial,  and  have  excavated  their 
valleys  but  little  within  the  drift  sheet.  They  rarely  reveal  the  bed-rock. 
As  the  area  drained  by  the  upper  Mississippi,  as  well  indeed  as  that  of  the 
whole  state,  may  be  taken  all  together,  as  a  great,  but  slightly  roughened, 
or  undulating  plain,  the  valleys  exhibit  great  monotony  in  their  topography 
and  other  features. 

The  system  of  the  Red  river  of  the  North.  The  Red  river  of  the  North 
rises  in  the  same  rolling  region  as  the  Mississippi,  at  a  point  about  twelve 
miles  west  of  Itasca  lake,  at  an  elevation  of  1600  feet  above  the  ocean,  and 
leaves  the  state,  after  a  circuitous  route  by  the  south,  with  an  elevation  of 
767  feet.  The  entire  area  is  heavily  covered  with  northern  drift,  and  after 
leaving  the  rolling  morainic  regions  of  Becker  and  Otter  Tail  counties,  the 
river  passes  through  the  fertile  "Red  river  valley,"  which  in  its  flatness  and 
monotony,  no  less  than  its  area,  resembles  the  northern  steppes  of  Russia 
and  Siberia,  to  which  also  it  seems  to  have  had  an  analogous  origin.  The 
aggregate  area  of  the  state  drained  by  this  river  is  15,107  square  miles,  and 


134  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Lakes  and  rivers. 

the  river  is  navigated  by  steamboats  as  far  south  as  Moorhead.  When  the 
river  is  high  its  waters  are  connected  with  those  of  the  Mississippi  through 
the  valley  of  lakes  Traverse  and  Big  Stone,  and  boats  can  pass  from  the 
Mississippi  to  lake  Winnipeg  in  Canada,  without  unlading.*  Indeed  there 
is  every  evidence  of  the  former  existence  of  a  river  passing  through  this 
valley  and  draining  the  waters  of  the  Red  river  of  the  North,  and  lake 
Winnipeg,  by  way  of  the  Minnesota  to  the  Mississippi.  The  flat  portion 
of  this  drainage  area  is  generally  one  of  prairie,  but  it  extends  in  its  north- 
ern part  far  to  the  east,  embracing  Red  lake  and  its  tributaries,  and 
includes  a  large  area  that  is  timbered,  the  prairie-belt  at  St.  Vincent  being 
not  more  than  fifteen  miles  wide,  east  of  the  river. 

The  Rainy  river  drainage  system  has  an  approximate  area,  in  Minne- 
sota, of  10,330  square  miles.  It  extends  along  the  international  boundary 
from  the  water-divide  between  North  and  South  lakes  to  the  "north-west 
point"  of  the  lake  of  the  Woods.  Its  waters  are  derived  from  the  lakes  of 
the  "region  of  bare  rock,"  as  far  as  to  the  west  end  of  Rainy  lake.  To 
the  west  of  that  there  are  several  tributaries  from  the  south  which  rise  in 
the  northern  sweep  of  the  belt  of  morainic  hills,  and  in  the  flat  marshy 
tract  south  of  Rainy  river,  which  flow  entirely  upon  the  surface  of  the 

\ 

drift-sheet,  and  very  rarely  come  in  contact  with  the  underlying  rock.  Its 
area  in  the  state  is  smaller  than  that  of  the  Red  river  of  the  North,  but  the 
annual  discharge  of  water  is  apparently  about  double  that  from  the  Red 
river  valley.  It  receives  waters  from  land  more  than  two  thousand  feet  above 
the  ocean,  and  where  it  leaves  the  state  it  has  an  altitude,  in  the  lake  of 
the  Woods,  of  1025  feet.f  This  area  also  wa?  formerly  drained  wholly  or  in 
part,  by  the  Mississippi.  There  is  a  continuous  river  valley  between  the 
southern  end  of  Bow  String  lake  and  lake  Winnibigoshish,  in  which  in 
time  of  freshet  there  is  a  continuous  water-course  from  the  Mississippi  to 
Hudson's  bay.  In  the  same  manner,  but  among  the  rocks  of  the  north- 
eastern part  of  the  state,  the  North  and  South  lakes,  which  are  tributary, 
respectively,  to  the  Rainy  river  system  and  the  St.  Lawrence  system,  on 

*This  was  attempted  in  1869  by  Capt.  John  B.  Davis,  with  a  small,  flat^bottomed,  square-bowed  boat,  named  the 
Freighter,  owned  and  run  by  himself;  but  he  was  compelled  to  abandon  his  boat  about  ten  miles  below  Bi^  Stone  lake,  on 
account  of  the  subsidence  of  the  water  and  the  desertion  of  his  crew.  The  boat  was  pillaged  and  nearly  destroyed  by  the 
Indians,  but  the  timbers  of  its  bottom  were  still  visible  in  1879.  Capt.  Davis  stated  that  if  he  had  started  twenty  or 
thirty  days  sooner,  he  would  have  got  through  with  little  trouble. 

fThe  elevation  of  the  lake  of  the  Woods  here  given  is  that  determined  by  the  the  U.  S.  northern  boundary  com- 
mission, Maj.  W.  J.  Twining,  chief  astronomer,  based  on  Fort  Pembina  at  760  ft.,  all  determined  by  a  series  of  barometric 
observation:*.  Daily  means  for  one  year  were  reduced  with  this  result.  The  geological  report  of  C;ui;ula  for  1874  gives 
the  elevation  of  the  lake  of  the  Woods,  by  the  Canada  Pacific  R.  It.  survey,  at  1042,  which  is  the  same  ligure  as  that  of 
the  astronomical  station  of  the  northern  boundary  commission  at  the  "northwest  angle." 


GENERAL  PHYSICAL  FEATURES.  135 

Lakes  and  rivers.] 

opposite  sides  of  the  water  divide,  have  the  same  level,  and  probably  con- 
stitute one  connected  body  of  water,  although  they  have  no  visible  over- 
land connection.  A  short,  low  portage  trail  unites  them,  and  constitutes 
the  international  boundary  line. 

The  St.  Louis  and  lake  Superior  dminaye  system  includes  8,552  square 
miles,  not  counting  any  portion  of  lake  Superior  itself.  Taken  altogether 
this  is  the  most  elevated  and  most  hilly  portion  of  the  state.  Its  waters 
descend,  with  frequent  cascades,  from  over  2200  feet  above  the  sea  to  602 
feet,  the  level  of  lake  Superior,  the  most  rapid  fall  being  within  five  or  ten 
miles  of  that  lake,  and  sometimes  within  two.  The  upland  is  a  high  rock- 
plateau  marked  by  three  mountain  ranges,  a  large  part  of  the  northern- 
most, or  Giant's  range,  however,  being  tributary  to  the  Rainy  river  system. 
The  waters  of  this  system  have  at  present  no  visible  over-land  communi- 
cation with  those  of  the  Mississippi ;  but  in  glacial  times,  when  the  volumes 
of  all  the  streams  and  lakes  were  many  times  greater  than  now,  and  lake 
Superior  stood  five  hundred  feet  above  its  present  level,  or  1100  feet 
above  the  ocean,  it  had  a  continuous  water-channel  through  the  Moose 
and  Kettle  rivers  to  the  St.  Croix  and  thus  to  the  Mississippi.*  It  appears, 
therefore,  that  anciently  the  whole  drainage  of  the  interior  of  North 
America  may  have  been  carried  to  the  ocean  through  its  main  water-way, 
the  Mississippi. 

The  Des  Moines  river  runs  along  the  northeast  side  of  the  Coteau  des 
Prairies  from  which  it  receives  numerous  small  tributaries,  and  carries  off 
the  surface  waters  from  an  area  of  prairie,  in  Minnesota,  equal  to  about 
1940  square  miles.  As  this  water  finally  reaches  the  Mississippi,  it  might 
perhaps  with  propriety  be  embraced  in  the  drainage  system  of  that  river. 

The  Rock  river  system,  which  is  tributary  to  the  Missouri  river  through 
the  Big  Sioux,  includes  about  1702  square  miles,  and  embraces  Nobles,  Rock 
and  Pipestone  counties  in  the  southwestern  corner  of  the  state.  This  sys- 
tem is  confined  to  the  southwesterly  slopes  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies,  and 
the  surface  is  smooth  and  treeless. 

The  Cedar  river  system,  which  is  also  connected  with  the  Mississippi 
through  the  state  of  Iowa,  is  the  smallest  of  the  seven  drainage  areas  of  the 

*See  the  American  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts  (S),  If.  15,  for  an  account  of  another  ancient  outlet  of  lake  Superior 
into  lake  Michigan.  Lake  Michigan  was  tributary  to  the  Mississippi  through  the  Illinois,  and  lake  Erie  to  the  Missis- 
sippi through  the  W abash  river  in  Indiana. 


136  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Timber  distribution. 

state,  embracing  but  1089  square  miles  of  prairie  situated  mostly  in  Free- 
born  and  Mower  counties. 

Qualities  of  the  natural  surface  waters  in  Minnesota.  The  natural  waters 
of  the  lakes  and  streams  of  the  state  may  be  classed  in  two  main  divisions, 
viz.,  the  alkaline  and  hard  waters,  and  the  chalybeate  and  soft  waters.  These 
qualities  mix  in  many  streams  and  lakes,  indeed  in  most  of  them.  The 
natural  waters  of  the  Red  river  valley  may  be  taken  as  a  type  of  the 
former  class,  and  those  of  the  Pigeon  river,  or  of  any  of  the  streams  that 
enter  lake  Superior  below  Duluth,  as  types  of  the  second  class.  What  has 
been  said  respecting  the  nature  and  distribution  of  the  drift  and  the  sub- 
soils of  the  state,  should  be  borne  in  mind  in  considering  the  nature  of  the 
impurities  of  surface  waters  in  different  parts  of  the  state,  since  the  cause 
of  one  is  the  cause  of  the  other.  They  both  depend  on  the  nature  of  the 
underlying  till,  or,  in  the  absence  of  till,  of  the  bedded  rocks.  The  chemical 
peculiarities  of  the  blue,  or  gray  northwestern  till  are  impressed  on,  and 
even  are  made  manifest  by,  the  surface  waters.  Hence  we  find  the  alkaline 
and  hard  waters  occupying  the  most  of  the  state,  but  having  their  chaiac- 
ters  less  and  less  marked  in  the  eastern  portion;  we  find  the  irony  and  soft 
waters  draining  the  surfaces  of  red  till,  or,  in  its  absence,  of  bare  rock  in 
the  northern  part  of  the  state. 

VII.    THE  NATURE  AND  DISTRIBUTION  OF   THE  NATIVE   FOREST    AND   ITS 

RELATION  TO  THE  PRAIRIES. 

The  state  has  about  31,800  square  miles  of  prairie,  and  about  52,200 
square  miles  of  forest,  including  in  each  the  water-areas  adjacent  or  embraced 
within  them.  In  this  area  of  prairie,  however,  is  included  a  belt  of  thinly 
forested  country  which  is  interspersed  both  with  prairie  and  timbered  patches, 
the  forest  being  reckoned  to  extend  only  to  the  limit  of  large  trees  and  having 
a  continuous  margin.  Some  parts  of  the  prairie  portion  also  embrace  isolated 
patches  of  heavy  timber,  as  in  Fillmore,  Houston  and  Blue  Earth  counties, 
as  well  Olmsted,  Winona,  Dodge  and  Wabasha,  and  along  most  of  the  river 
valleys.  At  the  same  time,  even  within  the  heavily  timbered  portions  of 
the  state,  there  are  isolated  small  areas  of  prairie,  or  meadow  land,  but  these 
are  in  low  ground,  and  their  exemption  from  trees  cannot  be  attributed 
generally  to  the  same  cause  or  causes  as  those  that  have  produced  the  great 


GENERAL  PHYSICAL  FEATURES.  137 

Timber  distribution.] 

prairies  of  the  west.  Such  areas  are  found  along  the  lower  portion  of  the 
Minnesota  valley,  and  along  the  Mississippi  in  Benton,  Sherburne  and  Anoka 
counties,  and  about  the  shallow  lakes  of  the  modified  drift  areas  wherever 
they  occur.  There  are  also  large  areas  within  the  timbered  portions  that 
have  been  desolated  by  fire,  and  although  a  young  growth  of  trees  is  rapidly 
restocking  them  with  forest,  they  are  not  now  properly  regarded  as  timbered. 
Of  these  no  account  is  made  in  the  foregoing  statement  of  the  amount  ol 
prairie  in  Minnesota.  Such  burnt  tracts  are  most  numerous  north  and  east 
of  a  line  passing  northwestwardly  through  Mille  Lacs,  and  still  more  frequent 
north  and  east  of  a  parallel  line  passing  through  Duluth.  These  burnt  areas 
are  generally  flat  or  moderately  undulating,  and  have  a  light  soil. 

In  general  the  line  separating  the  prairie  from  the  forest  may  be  defined 
as  follows :  It  enters  the  state  from  Manitoba,  about  sixteen  miles  east  of 
of  the  Red  river  of  the  North,  gradually  diverging  from  the  river.  It  crosses 
Red  Lake  river  eighteen  miles  east  of  Crookston,  though  a  large  spur  of 
timber  follows  the  Red  Lake  river  westward  to  within  ten  miles  of  Crooks- 
ton.  It  crosses  the  Sand  Hill  river  about  the  center  of  town  147.44,  where  it 
rapidly  swings  east  to  town  144.38,  except  that  another  important  spur 
accompanies  the  north  side  of  Wild  Rice  river  as  far  west  as  town  144.44. 
At  Rice  lake  in  town  144.38  it  turns  south  and  then  west  to  the  center  of 
town  143.41.  Thence  it  again  turns  south  to  White  Earth  lake,  and  leaving 
the  sources  of  Pelican  river  on  the  east,  it  reaches  Fergus  Falls,  which  is 
situated  on  the  very  margin  of  the  timbered  area.  From  there  it  swings 
eastward,  and  then  southeastward,  with  a  very  crooked  course  to  Alexandria, 
which  is  also  on  the  margin  of  the  native  forest.  Sauk  Center  is  similarly 
situated.  The  Sauk  river  forms  the  limit  of  timber  through  Stearns  county 
to  its  great  bend  in  town  123.3/0.  Then  the  line  passes  southwestwardly,  by 
the  shortest  distance,  to  the  north  branch  of  Crow  river,  which  in  a  similar 
manner  defines  it  to  near  the  east  line  of  Meeker  county,  where  it  forms 
another  right  angle  and  reaches  the  south  branch  of  Crow  river.  Crossing  it, 
however,  north  of  Glencoe,  it  dodges  again  southwestward  from  Glencoe, 
about  ten  miles,  when  it  is  turned  southeast  along  the  south  side  of  a  trib- 
utary of  the  Minnesota,  and  reaches  the  vicinity  of  Henderson.  It  continues 
thence  southward,  to  the  west  of  St.  Peter,  but  with  considerable  interrup- 
tion by  prairie,  and  crosses  the  Minnesota  a  little  west  of  Mankato.  South- 


138  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Timber  distribution. 

ward  from  Mankato  it  sends  fingers  of  timbered  land  along  the  streams 
through  the  Undine  region  to  the  Iowa  state  line,  and  turns  eastward  along 
the  Le  Sueur  river  in  Waseca  county,  and,  with  a  tortuous  course,  reaches 
Faribault.  It  ascends  the  Cannon  valley  to  Owatonna,  with  a  width  of 
timber  on  the  east  side  of  about  three  miles,  returning  abruptly  from  Owa- 
tonna nearly  due  north  through  Rice  and  Dakota  counties.  At  fifteen  miles 
south  of  St.  Paul  it  turns  east  and  southeast,  crossing  the  Mississippi  about 
five  miles  above  Hastings.  This  includes  the  whole  of  Washington  and 
Ramsey  counties  within  the  timber  belt,  but  they  are  timbered  in  about 
the  same  manner  as  several  of  the  southeastern  border  counties,  with  gen- 
erally small  trees  and  numerous  openings  of  prairie. 

As  to  the  nature  of  the  •forests  of  Minnesota,  the  northern  portion  of 
the  timbered  tract  is  largely  coniferous.  The  most  southern  area  of  mer- 
chantable pine  was  in  Chisago  county  south  of  Taylor's  Falls,  in  the 
valley  of  Lawrence  creek.*  Yet  pine  trees  are  scatteringly  found  along 
the  bluffs  of  the  Mississippi  as  far  as  the  Iowa  state  line,  and  on  some  of 
its  tributaries  in  Fillmore  and  Olmsted  counties.  This  species  is  known  as 
the  white  pine  (Pinus  Strobus).  It  is  the  most  broadly  extended,  and  the 
most  valuable  of  all  the  coniferous  trees  of  the  state.  The  Norway  pine 
(P.  resinosa)  does  not  reach  so  far  south,  but  constitutes  a  large  and  impor- 
tant part  of  the  pine-supply  in  the  central  and  northeastern  portions  of 
the  state.  The  southern  limit  of  the  characteristically  pine  forest,  or  of 
merchantable  pine,  passes  north  and  northwestward  from  Lawrence  creek, 
in  Chisago  county,  to  the  southwestern  corner  of  Pine  county,  where  it 
turns  southwestwardly,  running  a  few  miles  north  of  Cambridge,  and  along 
the  north  side  of  Rum  river  above  Cambridge  to  Princeton,  and  thence  nearly 
in  a  right  line  till  it  strikes  the  Mississippi  about  ten  miles  below  the 
mouth  of  the  Crow  Wing  river.  On  the  immediate  west  bank  of  the  Missis- 
sippi pine  is  found  further  south.  The  same  line  starts  from  the  Mississippi 
about  two  miles  south  of  the  mouth  of  Swan  river,  and  with  a  bend  north- 
ward where  it  crosses  the  western  boundary  of  Morrison  county,  it  enters 
Todd  county  northeast  of  Long  Prairie  village,  but  passes  north  of  Long 
Prairie  about  six  miles  ;  and  thence  continues  northwestward  to  Rush  lake 


This  creek  was  named  from  Mr.  Sam.  Lawrence,  who  had  a  winter's  lumber-camp  in  its  valley  and  cut  most  of 
the  pine  then  standing. 


GENERAL  PHYSICAL  FEATURES.  139 

Timber  distribution.] 

in  Otter  Tail  county,  and  northward  along  the  west  side  of  Otter  Tail  river 
and  the  associated  lakes,  to  the  Rice  lakes  in  the  White  Earth  Indian  res- 
ervation, leaving  the  state  about  twenty-five  miles  east  of  the  Red  river 
of  the  North.  That  portion  of  the  state  north  and  east  of  this  line  is  not 
wholly  a  pine-producing  area,  but  various  species  of  deciduous  trees  con- 
stitute a  large  part  of  the  forest  throughout  the  most  of  it,  and  in  some 
large  tracts  other  members  of  the  cone-bearing  family  make  up  nearly  the 
whole.  In  the  northern  part  of  the  state,  between  Red  lake  and  the  lake 
of  the  Woads,  and  also  very  generally  eastward  to  Vermilion  lake,  the 
country  is  flat  and  poorly  drained,  the  trees  consisting  largely  of  tamarack 
and  spruce,  with  only  scattering  slight  elevations  where  the  white  pine 
flourishes.  The  Banksian  pine  is  found  abundantly  on  the  plains  of  modi- 
fied drift  on  the  upper  St.  Croix,  and  its  affluents  from  the  west,  also  in  a 
similar  situation  on.  the  upper  waters  of  the  St.  Louis,  as  well  as  through- 
out the  region  of  bare  rock  in  the  northeastern  part  of  the  state.  The 
other  coniferous  species  are  tamarack  (Larix  Americana),  spruce  (Picea 
nit/fa  and  alba),  white  cedar  (Thuja  occidentalis),  each  of  which  covers  large 
tracts ;  balsam  fir  (Abies  balsamea),  which  is  abundantly  mingled  with  the 
deciduous  forests  of  the  northern  part  of  the  state,  and  occurs  locally  as  far 
south  as  the  forests  of  northwestern  Fillmore  county,  near  the  Iowa  state 
boundary;  red  cedar  (Juniperus  Virginiand),  which  grows  about  the  bluffs  of 
lakes  in  the  central  part  of  the  state,  and  also  extends  southward  along 
the  Mississippi  river  and  other  streams,  to  the  southern  boundary  of  the 
state ;  the  American  yew  (Taxus  baccata,  var.  Canadensis),  which  is  a  shrub 
forming  dense  undergrowth  in  the  rolling  forest-covered  tracts  in  the  north- 
eastern part  of  the  state,  particularly  northwest  of  lake  Superior ;  juniper 
(Juniperus  communis),  which  is  mostly  found  in  the  central  part,  and  another 
prostrate  juniper  which  probably  is  J.  Sabina,  var. procumbens,  found  mainly 
in  the  northern  part  of  the  state.  Besides  these,  Tsuga  Canadensis,  or 
hemlock,  has  been  reported,  as  well  as  Pinus  mitis,  yellow  pine,  but  these 
identifications  are  considered  doubtful. 

The  deciduous  forest  consists  principally  of  various  species  of  oak, 
elm,  bass,  poplar,  maple,  and  ash,  of  which  the  detailed  distribution  will  be 
given  in  another  chapter.  Beech  does  not  occur  native,  nor  chestnut,  but 
the  black  walnut  (Jitglans  nigrd)  and  the  Kentucky  coffee-tree  (Gymno- 


140  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Geographical  and  commercial  position. 

cladus  Canadensis)  are  found  native  as  far  north   as  the  valley.j  of  the 
Minnesota  and  Cannon  rivers.* 

VIII.    THE  COMMANDING   GEOGRAPHICAL   AND   COMMERCIAL   POSITION    OF 

THE  STATE. 

The  geographical  position  and  natural  resources  of  the  state  of  Minne- 
sota are  destined  to  make  her  one  of  the  leading  states  of  the  Union.  In 
agriculture,  and  in  the  manufacture  of  flour,  she  already  has  an  advanced 
rank.  Her  facilities  for  diversified  manufactures  and  for  commerce,  and 
her  resources  of  timber  and  iron,  not  to  mention  copper  and  silver,  though 
as  yet  mainly  undeveloped,  will  in  time  make  her  the  center  of  important 
and  far-reaching  industries,  and  these  will  lead  to  a  corresponding  position 
in  political  influence  and  civil  institutions. 

No  state  in  the  Union  presents  greater  contrasts  ot  natural  surface 
than  Minnesota,  nor  a  wider  range  of  natural  resources.  From  the  flat  or 
undulating  prairies  of  the  southern  and  western  counties,  where  for  scores 
of  miles  a  furrow  can  be  turned  from  the  primeval  turf  without  deviating 
or  stopping  for  a  stone  or  a  snag,  one  may  pass  in  a  few  hours'  travel  to  as 
rough  and  impassable  hill  ranges  as  can  be  found  in  America,  or  to  as  dense 
and  majestic  a  "forest  primeval."  The  first  decades  of  a  new  state  are 
given  up  to  the  easiest  means  of  subsistence  and  income.  It  is  only  when 
the  exigencies  of  growth  and  civilization  begin  to  reach  out  for  new  fields 
that  the  more  comprehensive  industries  of  commerce  and  manufactures,  or 
of  mining,  are  brought  into  activity.  Minnesota  is  at  present  known  as  a 
great  wheat-raising  state.  That  is  natural.  Her  prairie  soil,  requiring  only 
the  plow  and  the  seed,  was  the  easiest  of  her  natural  resources  to  bring  into 
quick  development;  but  it  should  be  remembered  that  she  has  within  her 
limits  equal  advantages  for  other  kinds  of  wealth  and  influence.  The  com- 
manding commercial  position  of  Minnesota,  and  the  effect  it  must  have  on 
her  future  history,  have  been  thus  summarized  by  Wm.  H.  Seward  in  a 
public  speech  at  St.  Paul,  in  1860. 

WILLIAM  H.   SEWAED'S  OPINION  OF  MINNESOTA. 

I  find  myself  now.  for  the  first  time  upon  the  highlands  in  the  center  of  the  continent 
of  North  America,  equidistant  from  the  waters  of  Hudson's  bay  and  the  gulf  of  Mexico — from 
the  Atlantic  ocean  and  the  ocean  in  which  the  sun  sets.  Here,  upon  the  spot  where  spring  up 
almost  side  by  side  so  that  they  kiss  each  other,  the  two  great  rivers,  the  one  of  which,  pursuing 


*A  few  trees  of  black  walnut  once  grew  in  the  Mississippi  bottoms  near  Nininger  in  Dakota  county, 


GENERAL  PHYSICAL  FEATURES.  141 

Seward's  opinion.] 

its  strange,  capricious,  majestic,  vivacious  career  through  lake,  cascade  and  river -rapid,  and  lake 
after  lake,  and  river  after  river,  cataract  and  bay,  and  lake  and  rapids,  finally,  after  a  course  of 
two  thousand  miles,  brings  your  commerce  half  way  to  Europe ;  the  other,  after  passing  through 
highlands  and  prairie  a  distance  of  two  thousand  miles,  taking  tributary  after  tributary,  from  the 
east  to  the  west,  bringing  together  waters  from  the  western  declivities  of  the  Alleghanies,  and 
from  those  which  trickle  down  the  eastern  sides  of  the  Rocky  mountains,  finds  its  way  into  the 
gulf  of  Mexico. 

Here  is  the  place,  the  central  place,  where  the  agriculture  of  the  richest  region  of  North 
America  must  pour  out  its  tributes  to  the  whole  world.  On  the  east,  all  along  the  shore  of  lake 
Superior,  and  west  stretching  in  one  broad  plain,  in  a  belt  quite  across  the^continent,  is  a  country 
where  state  after  state  is  yet  to  arise,  and  where  the  productions  for  the  support  of  human  society 
in  other,  old,  crowded  states,  must  be  brought  forth. 

This  is  a  commanding  field  ;  but  it  is  commanding  in  regard  to  the  destinies  of  this  country 
and  of  this  continent,  as  it  is  in  regard  to  their  commercial  future  ;  for  power  is  not  permanently 
to  reside  on  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Alleghany  mountains,  nor  in  the  seaports.  Seaports  have 
always  been  overrun  and  controlled  by  the  people  of  the  interior ;  and  the  power  that  shall  com- 
municate and  express- the  will  of  men  on  this  continent  is  to  be  located  in  the  Mississippi  valley, 
and  at  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi  and  St.  Lawrence. 

In  our  day,  studying  perhaps  what  might  have  seemed  to  others  trifling  or  visionary,  I  had 
cast  about  for  the  future  and  ultimate  central  seat  of  the  power  of  the  North  American  people.  I 
bad  looked  at  Quebec,  New  Orleans,  at  Washington  and  San  Francisco,  and  Cincinnati  and  St. 
Louis,  and  it  had  been  the  result  of  my  conjecture  that  the  seat  of  power  for  North  America 
would  yet  be  found  in  the  valley  of  Mexico,  and  the  glories  of  the  Aztec  capital  would  be  surren- 
dered, in  its  becoming  ultimately,  and  at  last,  the  capital  of  the  United  States  of  America.  But  I 
have  corrected  that  view.  I  now  believe  that  the  ultimate,  last  seat  of  government  on  this  great  con- 
tinent will  be  found  somewhere  within  a  circle  or  radius  not  very  far  from  the  spot  on  which  I  stand,  at 
the  head  of  navigation  on  the  Mississippi  river. 


144  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

|  Crystalline  rocks. 

ance  of  the  plug-and-feather  in  reducing  the  large  blocks  to  sizable  and 
desired  dimensions. 

The  composition  of  the  red  syenite  from  East  St.  Cloud  (No  6)  is  not 
very  different  from  the  foregoing,  but  the  feldspar  is  mainly  flesh-red,  and 
all  the  grains  are  coarser.  It  also  has  a  higher  percentage  of  silica,  a  fact 
that  has  been  discovered  practically  by  the  owners  who  have  given  up  the 
general  use  of  it  because  of  its  being  more  costly  to  work.  In  some  of  the 
outcrops  west  of  St.  Cloud,  in  Stearns  county,  it  becomes  coarser-grained, 
somewhat  resembling  the  red  Scotch  granites  imported  to  the  United  States. 
In  the  winter  of  1874-5  a  block  weighing  ten  tons  was  taken  out  of  the  red 
granite  quarry  about  three  miles  west  of  St.  Cloud  for  a  monument  base. 
It  was  polished  at  St.  Cloud  and  was  delivered  to  its  purchaser  at  Chicago. 
This  was  very  fine  and  greatly  resembled  the  Scotch  granite  in  color,  grain 
and  polish.  At  the  point  where  this  was  taken  out  the  granite  rises  about 
twenty  feet  above  the  general  surface,  and  spreads  over  more  than  an  acre. 
A  similar  red  granite,  found  at  Watab  (No.  10),  has  furnished  several  hand- 
some monuments,  some  of  which  were  put  on  exhibition  at  the  Centennial 
Exposition  of  1876,  at  Philadelphia,  by  Mr.  Gurney,  the  owner. 

The  other  gray  granite  (No.  7)  which  is  found  at  the  East  St.  Cloud 
quarries  has  been  noticed  at  several  other  places,  and  it  is  probably  largely 
distributed  wherever  the  red  granites  are  found.  In  some  places  it  passes 
by  a  gradual  change  into  the  red,  in  such  a  way  as  to  suggest  that  the 
whole  was  originally  gray,  and  that  the  red  color  has  been  superinduced 
since  its  formation  by  some  difference  of  exposure  to  the  elements.  It  is 
No.  835  of  the  geological  survey  series.*  The  true  composition  of  this 
rock  is  not  readily  ascertained  by  simple  ocular  inspection,  since  the 
quartz  and  the  feldspar  are  very  similar  in  color  and  luster.  When  freshly 
quarried  they  both  appear  glassy ;  the  cleavage  of  the  feldspar  is  not  evi- 
dent, though  that  mineral  exhibits  an  irregular  parting  or  stepstone  frac- 
ture, and  when  in  compact  mass  it  seems  to  be  translucent.  Hence  the 
general  aspect  is  very  much  like  that  of  the  gabbro  of  Duluth  when  freshly 
quarried.  It  has  a  clear,  bluish-gray,  uniform  color,  and  is  feebly  trans- 
lucent. The  whole  content  of  silica  in  this  rock  is  74.72  per  cent.,  being  a 


•Tenth  annual  report,  p.  HI. 


BUILDING   STONES.  145 

Crystalline  rocks.] 

little  more  than  that  in  the  red  syenite,  and  for  the  same  reason  it  has 
ceased  to  be  wrought  at  East  St.  Cloud. 

Microscopic  characters  of  No.  1.  The  intimate  structure  of  the  fine-grained  gray  syenite  from 
East  St.  Cloud  can  be  seen  more  minutely  by  examining  the  colored  illustration,  plate  A,  fig.  1, 
which  shows  a  magnified  thin-section  of  the  rock  in  ordinary  light  increased  forty  diameters. 
The  dark  brown  grain  is  biotite,  the  light  brown  and  the  brownish-green  grains  are  hornblende, 
and  the  green  grains  are  chlorite.  The  most  of  the  figure  contains  minerals  that  are  not  individ- 
ualized in  common  light.  They  simply  show  a  general  cloudiness  due  to  such  included  impurities 
as  ochreous  limonite.  The  same  field  is  shown  in  the  same  position,  as  it  appears  in  polarized  light 
between  crossed  Nicols,  in  plate  A,  lig,  2,  where  that  portion  which  was  uuindividualized  in  com- 
mon light  is  seen  to  consist  of  numerous  different  grains,  the  larger  part  of  them  being  quartz. 

Microscopic  characters'  of  No.  4.  In  plate  A,  figures  3  and  4,  are  seen  the  characters  of  this 
rock  magnified  forty  diameters,  the  former  in  ordinary  light  and  the  latter  in  polarized  light 
between  crossed  Nicols,  the  same  field  being  represented  in  each.  The  green  mineral  is  derived 
from  a  change  in  the  hornblende,  and  is  as  near  chlorite  as  any  established  mineral ;  but  it  shows 
all  stages  of  change  from  pure  hornblende  to  a  green,  granular,  confusedly  polarizing  substance. 
When  this  green  substance  accumulates  abundantly,  it  acquires  a  minutely  foliated  structure 
which  indicates  chlorite.  The  large  striated  grain  in  the  center  (fig.  4)  is  plagioclase,  and  probably 
albite. 

Microscopic  characters  of  JVos.  6  a«d!10.  This  rock  has  very  evident  grains  of  quartz,  ortho- 
clase  and  hornblende,  but  they  are  all  more  or  less  affected  by  included  impurities.  The  quart/, 
shows  clouds  and  linear  groups  of  bubbles  and  cavities,  polarizing  brilliantly.  The  orthoclase  is 
filled  with  impurities  so  as  to  be  sometimes  nearly  opaque,  and  at  other  times  has  alternating  but 
nearly  parallel,  undulating  ;md  interrupted  lines  of  light  and  light  gray  ;  while  the  hornblende  is 
in  about  the  same  condition  as  described  in  the  last.  The  figure  (No.  5,  plate  A)  represents  a 
microscopic  field  containing  these  three  minerals  magnified  forty  diameters,  some  of  the  horn- 
blende evidently  being  darkened  by  emery  derived  from  the  polishing  lap.  With  an  objective 
magnifying  two  or  three  hundred  diameters  these  minerals,  particularly  the  quartz  and  feldspar, 
are  seen  to  contain  minute  crystallites,  some  of  them  being  acicular  like  apatite,  or  tremolite. 

Microscopic  characters  of  No.  7.  This  rock  is  composed  mainly  of  quartz  and  gray  orthoclase, 
which  are  about  equally  abundant.  The  quartz  is  pierced  by  numerous  irregular  fissures,  and  has 
lines  of  pores,  and  in  the  pores  are  undetermined  rnicrolites.  The  feldspar  shows  no  twinning 
striation,  but  has  the  generally  clouded  appearance  of  orthoclase  when  somewhat  changed. 

At  lake  Suganaga  are  other  granitic  rocks.  They  extend  over  very  large 
areas,  and  are  favorably  exposed  for  quarrying.  Some  of  them  are  quite 
light-colored,  or  very  similar  to  the  "white  granite"  of  Watab.  They 
change  to  a  bedded  light-colored  syenitic  gneiss. 

There  is  also  a  red  syenite,  which  is  seen  back  of  Duluth  in  the  hill- 
ranges,  and  probably  extends  from  there  northwestwardly,  in  an  interrupted 
manner  nearly  to  the  international  bo  undary  line.  It  is  associated  with  gab- 
bro  (No.  2)  intimately,  and  they  interchange  in  areas  so  quickly  that  they 
seem  to  have  been  once  both  molten  at  nearly  the  same  time.  This  rock 
has  not  attracted  much  attention,  and  has  not  been  quarried  except  at 
Beaver  Bay,  where  Messrs.  Wieland  Brothers  have  used  it  in  the  filling  of 
the  cribs  of  their  dock.  The  analysis  of  this  red  syenite  from  Beaver  Bay 

is  given  in  the  general  table  (No.  5)  showing  a  content  of  silica  amounting 
10 


140  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Crystalline  rocks. 

to  71.81  per  cent.    Another  analysis  of  a  sample  from  Duluth  gave  the  fol- 
lowing results.* 

Silica,  75.78 

Alumina,  11-09 

Sesquioxide  of  iron,  2.09 

Calcium  oxide,  .86 

Magnesium  oxide,  .65 

Potassium  oxide,         -  1.06 

Sodium  oxide,        -  6.43 

Water,  1.82 

99.78 

At  the  two  points  mentioned  this  red  syenite  is  fine-grained;  but  from  the 
occurrence  of  occasional  boulders  of  very  coarse  grain,  evidently  from  the 
same  formation  in  its  northeastern  extension,  along  the  shore  of  lake  Supe- 
rior, it  is  believed  that  this  rock  affords  a  very  beautiful  and  coarsely  crys- 
talline building  stone.f  Besides  quartz  this  rock  contains  red  orthoclase, 
hornblende  (often  changed  to  chlorite),  magnetite,  apatite  and  ferrite. 

In  the  Minnesota  valley,  extending  from  near  New  Ulm  to  Big  Stone 
lake,  are  numerous  exposures  of  crystalline  rocks.  Sometimes  these  rocks 
present  favorable  opportunities  for  the  prosecution  of  this  industry,  but 
they  differ  considerably  from  those  of  Stearns,  Benton  and  Sherburne  coun- 
ties. They  are  generally  gneissic,  instead  of  massive.  They  are  more  fre- 
quently true  granite.  They  are  always  red.  While  their  laminated  structure 
renders  them  more  easily  wrought,  and  thus  gives  them  an  advantage  over 
the  firm  gray  syenites,  of  the  Mississippi  valley,  it  also  renders  them  softer 
and  more  destructible  under  the  action  of  the  weather.  They  seem  to  have 
less  quartz,  and  more  of  the  cleavable  minerals  orthoclase  and  mica.  Still 
there  are  exceptions  to  the  gneissoid  structure  of  the  Minnesota  valley 
granites,  as  may  be  seen  in  some  of  the  exposures  at  Big  Stone  lake,  and  in 
the  railroad-cuts  near  Montevideo. 

At  East  St.  Cloud  and  Watab  there  is  still  another  variety  of  syenite 
(No.  9),  which,  however,  is  probably  only  a  coarser  crystalline  condition  of 
the  fine-grained  gray  syenite  (Nos.  1  and  4),J  since  on  analysis  it  has  about 
the  same  content  of  silica,  alumina  and  iron.  It  contains  more  lime  and 
magnesia,  but  less  potash  and  soda.  It  consists  essentially  of  the  minerals 
quartz,  orthoclase,  plagioclase,  hornblende  and  biotite.  At  East  St.  Cloud 

'Tenth  annual  report,  p.  204. 

tC'ompare  Nos.  667,  668  and  673 ;  also  685  and  68«,  tenth  report. 

{Nos.  801  and  805,  p.  106,  Tenth  annual  report. 


PLATE  A. 

EXPLANATION. 

Figure  1.    Fine-grained  gray  syenite  from  East  St.  Cloud p.  145 

Magnified  forty  diameters.    No.  1  of  the  systematic  table. 
Figure  2.    The  same  between  crossed  Nicols. 
Figure  3.    Fine-grained  gray  syenite  from  Sauk  Rapids p.  145 

Magnified  forty  diameters.    No.  4  of  the  systematic  table. 
Figure  4.    The  same  between  crossed  Nicols. 
Figure  5.    Red  quartzose  syenite  from  East  St.  Cloud p.  145 

Magnified  forty  diameters.    No.  6  of  the  systematic  table. 
Figure  6.    Gabbro  from  Rice  Point,  Duluth p.  147 

Magnified  forty  diameters.    No.  2  of  the  systematic  table. 


1'l.ATK   A 


.1  (MO) 


Fig.3. 


IV  ( 


VI  (-40) 


BUILDING   STONES.  147 

Crystalline  rocks. 1 

this  rock  was  opened  by  Messrs.  Saulpaugh  Brothers  in  1881,  for  use  in  the 
Northern  Pacific  railroad  bridge  at  Bismarck  over  the  Missouri  river. 

Microscopic  characters  of  No.  9.  The  feldspar  of  this  rock  shows  the  twinning  striation  of 
plagioclase  in  some  of  its  grains,  but  it  is  wanting  in  a  large  portion  of  them.  Magnetite  accom- 
panies the  biotite,  and  slender  cylindrical  colorless  microlites  cut  through  the  feldspar.  Pyrite  in 
small  quantity  is  associated  with  hornblende. 

The  so-called  "granite"  of  Duluth  (No.  2),  quarried  at  Rice's  Point, 
belongs  to  a  very  different  class  of  rocks,  and  is  now  generally  designated 
gabbro  by  lithologists.  This  term,  derived  from  Italy,  is  applied  to  an  igne- 
ous rock  consisting  of  the  triclinic  feldspar  labradorite,  augite  and  magnet- 
ite. These  minerals  are  all  softer  than  quartz,  which  is  wholly  absent  from 
the  Duluth  rock,  but  which  makes  up  so  large  a  part  of  the  foregoing  syen- 
ites. The  rock,  however,  is  more  difficult  to  quarry  on  account  of  its  tough- 
ness and  homogeneity.  It  has  no  gneissoid  structure,  and  the  cleavable 
labradorite  has  but  little  effect  in  producing  an  easier  fracture  in  one  direc- 
tion than  in  another.  While,  therefore,  taken  in  mass,  this  rock  is  softer 
than  the  St.  Cloud  syenites,  it  is  more  difficult  and  expensive  to  quarry  and 
to  reduce  to  convenient  blocks. 

This  gabbro  makes  the  chief  rock  of  an  important  range  of  hills  in  Min- 
nesota. The  "  Mesabi "  in  much  of  its  extent  consists  of  the  same  rock.  It 
is  found  to  vary  somewhat  in  its  color  and  composition,  yet  always  within 
narrow  limits,  constituting  on  the  one  hand  the  "felspar  rock"  of  Norwood,* 
where  the  ieldspathic  ingredient  predominates  largely  over  the  other  min- 
erals, and  is  of  a  clear,  almost  glassy  transparency,  and  of  a  gray  color, 
weathering  nearly  white,  and  on  the  other  hand  the  "trap-rock"  so-called, 
as  it  is  displayed  at  many  interesting  points  along  the  shore  of  lake  Supe- 
rior, where  it  has  frequently  been  described  as  "greenstone."  The  green 
color  in  the  latter  case  results  from  the  change  of  the  augite  to  delessite,  or 
to*  some  chlorite-like  mineral  under  the  influence  of  the  weather,  and  from 
the  absorption  of  iron.  The  former  variation  from  the  typical  gabbro  is 
No.  8  of  the  general  table,  and  the  latter  is  No.  11  or  No.  3  ;  the  last  being 
from  Taylor's  Falls. 

Microscopic  characters  of  Nos.  2  and  8.  The  labradorite  which  composes  the  largest  part  of 
this  rock  exhibits  beautiful  polarization  colors,  and  generally  an  evident  twinning  striation  in  some 
of  its  grains.  Sometimes  it  shows  a  banding  of  different  colors  between  crossed  Nicols.  It  is  cut 
by  innumerable  irregular  cracks,  by  which  finally  impurities  enter  and  change  its  average  compo- 
sition. The  augite  is  apt  to  be  somewhat  fibrous  from  incipient  decay,  but  when  fresh  its  play  of 

*Owen's  geological  report  of  Wisconsin,  Iowa  and  Minnesota,  p.  360. 


148  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Crystalline  rocks. 

colors  in  polarized  light  is  nearly  as  brilliant  as  that  of  the  labradorite.  Plate  A,  fig.  6  is  so  drawn 
as  to  show  a  fibrous  grain  of  augite,  surrounded  by  labradorite  containing  scattered  impurities. 
In  some  parts  of  this  rock  the  magnetite,  which  is  titaniferons,  is  very  rare,  and  then  it  becomes 
the  rock  No.  8,  and  in  some  places  it  is  so  abundant  as  to  compose  the  greater  part  of  the  mass, 
making  an  iron  ore.*  Figures  1  and  2,  plate  B,  represent  a  section  of  the  labradorite  of  Beaver  Bay 
(No.  8)  magnified  forty  diameters,  the  former  in  common  light  and  the  latter  between  crossed 
Nicols. 

The  "granites"  of  Minnesota  are  adaptable  to  a  wide  range  of  architect- 
ure. That  which  is  most  used  from  St.  Cloud  (No.  1),  is  of  a  neutral  gray 
color,  of  rather  fine,  inconspicuously  granular  texture,  and  has  a  resisting 
strength  of  over  twenty-five  thousand  pounds  per  square  inch.  It  resists 
fire  and  the  sudden  cooling  produced  by  cold  water  thrown  upon  it, 
better  than  the  more  quartzose,  and  more  coarsely  granular  rocks  quar- 
ried at  East  St.  Cloud  and  Watab.  The  other  varieties,  however,  are  more 
showy  in  construction,  on  account  of  their  lighter  color  as  well  as  their 
more  close  crystalline  texture.  Some  of  them  will  take  and  preserve  a  bet- 
ter polish,  particularly  Nos.  6  and  7,  and  are  to  be  preferred  for  that  reason 
for  fine  work,  such  as  monuments  or  tablets,  and  for  all  inside  trimmings. 
The  syenite  from  Beaver  Bay  has  a  uniformly  brownish  red  color  and  fine 
grain,  and  when  polished  is  very  beautiful. 

These  crystalline  rocks  have  been  used  in  some  of  the  principal  build- 
ings in  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis  for  trimmings,  and  have  been  sent  for  the 
same  purpose  to  several  other  cities,  particularly  to  Milwaukee,  Chicago 
and  DesMoines.  At  Sauk  Rapids  the  fine-grained  gray  syenite  (No.  1)  is 
made  into  monuments.  Stone  from  the  Sauk  Rapids  quarries  was  used  in 
the  trimmings  of  the  state  capitol  at  Des  Moines,  and  constitutes  the  entire 
front  wall  of  the  block  of  Nicols  and  Dean,  at  St.  Paul.  It  is  that  used  for 
paving  at  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul.  The  trimmings  of  the  U.  S.  custom 
house  and  post  office  at  St.  Paul  were  taken  from  the  East  St.  Cloud 
quarries,  and  embrace  all  the  principal  varieties  there  found,  i.  e.  Nos.  T,  6 
and  7.  Much  of  the  stone  put  into  the  bridge  over  the  Missouri  river  at 
Bismarck  for  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad,  came  from  East  St.  Cloud,  but 
at  a  point  further  southeast  than  the  quarries  of  Breen  &  Young,  and  con- 
sists of  another  variety  (No.  9)  of  syenite.  This  rock  seems  to  have  stood 
the  physical  tests  that  have  been  made  by  the  survey,  on  Minnesota 
building  stones,  less  successfully  than  the  other  crystalline  rocks.  This, 

•Tenth  annunl  report,  p.  80— Rock  sample  No.  695. 


BUILDING   STONES.  149 

Quartzytes.J 

howevei',  may  be  due  in  some  measure  to  the  fact  that  in  reducing  a  block 
for  a  test  to  the  required  dimensions  with  a  hammer  and  chisel,  it  is  more 
likely  to  be  checked  and  weakened  if  coarsely  crystalline,  as  this  rock  is, 
than  if  it  be  fine-grained;  and  some  of  the  tests  may  have  been  influenced 
by  such  imperfection  in  the  samples.  Still,  the  greatest  care  possible  was 
taken  to  avoid  any  unfavorable  results  from  such  a  cause. 

The  gabbro  of  Rice's  Point,  Duluth,  has  been  employed  in  a  few  build- 
ings at  Duluth,  both  as  cut  trimmings  and  for  rough  walls.  It  has  also  been 
used  for  monuments  and  for  bases,  to  which  it  is  specially  adapted,  being 
cut  under  the  chisel  and  polished  more  easily  than  any  of  the  crystalline 
rocks  that  contain  quai'tz.  The  same  kind  of  rock  at  Taylor's  Falls  has  been 
but  little  employed  for  any  purpose,  though  the  rock  there  is  favorably  sit- 
uated both  for  working  and  for  transportation. 

The  labradorite  rock  (No.  8)  has  a  lavender-blue  or  bluish-gray  color, 
and  is  vitreous  and  subtranslucent  in  thin  sheets.  It  does  not  have  the 
opalescence  which  distinguishes  the  labradorite  from  the  typical  locality 
and  from  Lewis  county,  New  York,  but  it  has  a  compact,  perfectly  crys- 
talline texture,  with  crystals  as  large  as  J  or  f  inch  across.  In  some  of  the 
"greenstone"  at  Beaver  Bay  are  perfect  crystals  over  two  inches  in  diameter, 
distributed  porphyritically  in  the  mass,  but  this  structure  is  very  rare.  This 
beautiful  rock,  when  suitably  handled,  will  constitute  a  valuable  material 
for  ornamental  slabs  and  columns,  and  probably  also  for  china  ware.  Titanic 
acid,  which  sometimes  is  found  in  this  rock,  even  in  large  quantities,  is  found 
in  nearly  all  porcelain  clays,*  at  least  in  those  of  New  Jersey,  and  suggests 
not  only  the  possible  origin  of  the  kaolinic  clays  used  for  earthen-ware,  but 
also  the  adaptability  of  the  undecayed  rock  to  the  same  uses. 

2.    QUAETZYTES. 

The  red  quartzyte  at  Redstone,  in  Nicollet  county,  which  also  is  seen  in 
Cottonwood,  Watonwan,  Rock  and  Pipestone  counties,  is  sparingly  used  for 
building  stone  at  points  contiguous;  and  one  or  two  car-loads  are  known  to 
have  been  shipped  to  Minneapolis.  It  is  the  hardest  stone  in  the  state,  or  in 
the  United  States,  probably,  that  can  be  stated  to  have  been  used  for  purposes 
of  building.  It  consists  almost  wholly  of  quartz  (84.52  per  cent.),  the  red 

•Report  on  the  clay  deposits  of  New  Jersey.    Cook,  1878,  p.  Z74. 


150  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Red  Quanzyte. 

color  being  due  to  iron  oxide  which  is  disseminated  among  the  grains 
and  throughout  their  cement.  As  a  layer  embraced  in  this  rock,  the  mate- 
rial known  as  "red  pipestone",  or  catlinite,  is  found  in  Pipestone  county  and 
other  places  in  southwestern  Minnesota.  This  rock  is  very  difficult  and 
costly  to  dress  into  dimension  blocks,  but  it  is  indestructible  when  once 
placed  in  a  wall. 

The  quarry  at  Redstone,  near  New  Ulm,  was  opened  in  1859  by  Nicholas 
Thinnes,  but  since  then  several  other  parties  have  done  most  of  the  quar- 
rying, none  of  it,  however,  in  a  systematic  manner.  The  quarries  are  con- 
tiguous and  exhibit  the  same  kind  of  rock.  Much  of  that  which  is  used  now 
is  thin-bedded,  from  one-half  inch  to  two  inches  thick,  but  the  stone  could 
be  got  of  any  size  and  thickness  desired.  The  layers  dip  about  15  degrees 
toward  the  N.  N.  W.  As  compared  with  the  rock  at  Sioux  Falls,  the  oppor- 
tunities here  for  quarrying  are  greater,  and  the  stone  is  much  more  easily 
wrought.  Its  bedding  is  thinner  and  softer,  though  it  is  likely  that  by  exra- 
vating  deeply  these  beds  would  be  found  to  be  firm  and  purplish  within. 
Some  of  the  stone  is  wholly  disintegrated,  or  loosened  so  as  to  be  a  sand- 
rock,  losing  its  color  to  the  depth  of  2 — 8  feet,  and  some  beds  are  loose- 
grained.  Some  of  the  lower  beds  are  syenitic.* 

'  Samples  of  the  Redstone  rock  in  construction  can  be  seen  in  Sommers' 
block  and  Frank  Erd's  residence,  both  at  New  Ulm,  and  also  in  the  basement 
of  the  Catholic  church  at  the  same  place. 

In  Cottonwood  county  an  extensive  ridge  of  this  rock,  mainly  covered 
by  the  glacial  drift,  runs  east  and  west  through  Storden,  Amboy,  Delton 
and  Selma  townships,  and  enters  Adrian  in  Watonwan  county.  Along 
the  branches  of  Mound  creek  in  Amboy  and  in  Germantown,  are  fre- 
quent and  favorable  exposures.  On  the  Little  Cottonwood  river  are  excel- 
lent opportunities  for  quarrying  flagging;  some  pieces  loosened  by  the 
action  of  the  water  being  five  or  six  feet  long  by  three  to  five  feet 
wide,  and  three  or  four  inches  thick.  Many  pieces  much  thinner  are  also 
found.  Outcrops  of  the  quartzyte  occur  frequently  along  the  summit  and  on 
both  slopes  of  this  ridge,  even  where  there  is  no  water-course.  The  rock 
here  has  mostly  a  reddish  gray  color.  Its  stratification  is  in  some  places 
nearly  horizontal,  but  more  commonly  it  dips  several  degrees,  often  toward 

•See  the  first  annual  report,  p.  75. 


BUILDING    STONES.  151 

Red  Quartzyte.] 

the  south.  This  range  of  quaitzyte,  being  the  only  rock  found  accessible 
throughout  a  wide  extent  in  that  part  of  the  state,  will  be  more  largely 
quarried  as  the  country  becomes  settled  more  thickly,  and  as  buildings  of 
more  substantial  character  come  to  be  required  in  the  larger  towns. 

In  Rock  county  are  numerous  exposures  of  the  same  red  qnartzyte,* 
the  principal  one,  known  as  The  Mound,  being  west  of  the  Rock  river,  near 
Luverne.  This  mound  is  caused  by  the  breaking  off,  nearly  perpendicularly, 
of  the  strata  of  an  extensive  high  plateau  running  northwest  from  there, 
consisting  of  this  rock.  The  elevation  is  175  feet  above  the  river.  The 
perpendicular  bluff  of  rock  rises  from  forty  to  sixty  feet  in  its  highest  part, 
but  owing  to  a  dip  of  about  twenty  degrees  from  the  horizon  toward  the 
west,  or  partly  northwest,  and  to  the  breaking  off  of  the  upper  layers,  caus- 
ing a  gradual  ascent  from  the  brow  of  the  hill  backward  through  several 
rods,  the  actual  thickness  of  beds  visible  may  be  150  feet.  The  rock  here 
appears  to  be  almost  entirely  a  reddish,  or  pink,  heavy-bedded  quartzyte. 
If  wrought  there  might  be  some  softer  and  thinner  layers  discovered,  and 
such  probably  exist  in  the  lower  parts  of  the  bluff,  now  hid  by  the  copious 
talus  of  refractory  and  large  blocks  fallen  from  the  hard  layers  above.  The 
main  bluff  curves  westwardly  at  both  ends,  and  by  reason  of  the  dip  and 
ravines  that  enter  the  valley  from  the  west,  its  exposed  layers  gradually 
disappear  under  the  soil  in  that  direction,  but  evidently  are  the  cause  of  the 
range  of  elevated  land  running  northwestwardly,  since  they  are  seen  in 
numerous  other  places. 

The  principal  locality  in  Pipestoue  county  is  at  the  famous  quarry 
of  the  Indians  near  Pipestone  City,  which,  however,  was  worked  by  them 
for  the  layer  of  metamorphosed  red  clay  which  is  embraced  between  the 
quartzyte  strata.  There  has  been  but  little  quarrying  done  at  this  place, 
the  greater  part  of  it  having  been  executed  by  the  Indians.  There  is  a 
ledge  of  rock  which  runs  north  and  south  nearly  three  miles,  consisting  of 
layers  of  red  quartzyte  with  a  gentle  dip  toward  the  east,  forming  a  per- 
pendicular escarpment  toward  the  west,  and  rising  at  its  highest  point  not 
more  than  twenty-five  feet  above  the  level  of  the  prairie  on  the  west.  The 
rock  here  in  general  is  exceedingly  hard,  in  heavy  layers  one  to  three  feet 
thick,  separated  by  jointage  planes  into  huge  blocks  of  angular  shapes,  that 


*Compare  the  .sixth  annual  report. 


152  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Red  Quartiyte. 

lie  often  somewhat  displaced.  The  color  is  sometimes  pinkish,  but  in  the 
massive  portions  it  is  also  purplish.  When  it  is  brick-red  the  strata  are  apt 
to  be  thin  and  also  more  aluminous. 

At  Sioux  Falls,  in  Dakota,  this  rock  has  one  of  its  characteristic  out- 
crops, not  only  being  the  cause  of  the  water-fall  but  presenting  perpendicu 
lar  walls  between  which  the  river  flows  for  some  distance  before  it  roadies 
the  falls.  The  rock  here  dips  six  or  eight  degrees  toward  the  south.  The 
beds  are  purple  within,  especially  the  thick  ones,  but  toward  the  outside  and 
along  the  joints  they  are  changed  in  color  to  a  rose-red,  or  to  a  pinkish  red. 
None  of  the  brick-red,  heavily  iron-stained  color  can  be  seen.  The  effect 
produced  by  weathering  not  only  changes  the  color  but  also  the  hardness, 
so  that  the  rock  goes  into  a  loose  sandrock  again  and  crumbles  in  the  hand. 
This  occurs  to  so  large  an  extent  that  in  suitable  places  it  is  gathered  and 
used  for  mortar.  There  are  also  some  beds  that  are  now  wholly  (so  far  as 
can  be  seen)  in  this  friable  condition.  The  sand  that  results  is  a  pure  silica, 
nearly  white,  and  translucent,  though  it  is  apt  to  show  at  h'rst  a  slight 
pinkish  tint,  arising  from  the  remains  of  the  cement  among  the  grains. 
There  is  visible  here,  of  the  bedding,  a  thickness  of  about  fifty  feet,  and  the 
river  goes  over  the  beds  from  south  to  north,  producing  a  fine  water-power. 
At  the  quarries  the  regular  strata  are  from  six  to  eighteen  inches  thick. 
Some  of  the  beds  are  purple,  but  that  color  seems  to  fade  out  gradually, 
passing  through  the  "fawn  color"  of  the  Kasota  stone  of  this  state,  to  a 
light  pink  sandrock.  The  county  jail  at  Sioux  Falls  is  built  of  this  rock, 
also  the  Queen  Bee  flouring  njill,  and  it  is  being  employed  exclusively  in  the 
territorial  penitentiary  at  the  same  place.  It  is  used  at  Omaha,  Nebraska, 
for  street  paving,  under  the  name  of  "  Sioux  Falls  granite." 

For  ornamental  purposes  this  rock  has  not  been  much  employed.  It 
will  take  a  perfect  polish,  owing  to  its  large  content  of  free  quartz,  and  will 
retain  it  longer  than  any  granite.  Small  ornaments  have  been  made  of 
some  of  the  richly  colored  strata,  and  sold  under  the  name  of  "jasper",  and 
some  monumental  bases  have  been  constructed  of  it.  The  strata  are  very 
regular  and  firm,  but  at  the  same  time  are  broken  with  a  heavy  sledge  at 
the  quarry.  They  break  at  random,  and  those  blocks  which  happen  to  pre- 
sent a  face  suitable  are  used  for  range-work  in  the  wall,  the  remainder 
being  needed  for  filling  and  for  the  back-side. 


BUILDING    STONES.  153 

Quartzytes.] 

This  stone  is  destined  to  be  extensively  used  in  the  southwestern  part 
of  the  state,  and  in  the  states  still  further  southwest,  notwithstanding  its 
refractory  nature,  because  of  its  accessibility,  and  the  absence  ot  all  other 
kinds  of  building-stone,  and  at  the  same  time  it  seems  to  be  one  of  the 
most  promising  formations  for  flagstone  in  the  state,  though  it  has  not  been 
employed  for  that  purpose.  Similar  quartzytes  are  found  in  the  northern 
part  of  the  state. 

There  is  another  silicious  rock,  perhaps  deserving  the  name  of  quartzy  te, 
of  a  very  different  color  and  belonging  in  a  very  much  later  geological 
period,  which  is  seen  at  several  points  in  the  banks  of  the  Minnesota  river 
between  New  Ulm  and  Mankato.  It  has  supplied  some  very  good  building 
material,  and  will  also  furnish  flagstone.  The  layers  are  about  four  inches 
in  thickness  as  they  appear  after  long  weathering  and  are  tough  and  firm. 
They  are  associated  with  alternating  layers  of  friable  sandstone  which  aid 
in  their  extraction.  These  beds  are  sometimes  so  coarse  as  to  warrant 
their  being  designated  a  conglomerate.  The  whole  rock  is  light  colored,  or 
sometimes  rusty,  and  horizontally  stratified.  As  a  building  material  it  is 
very  desirable,  but  the  toughness  and  hardness  of  the  texture,  and  the 
thinness  of  the  beds,  make  it  more  suitable  for  flagging  than  for  building. 
These  beds  are  exposed  on  the  N.E.  J  Sec.  16,  Courtland,  Nicollet  county, 
rising  35  or  40  feet  above  the  river,  favorably  situated  for  working.  Some 
of  the  layers  reach  a  thickness  of  six  feet  when  they  are  wrought,  this  effect 
arising  from  the  union  and  cementation  of  several  of  the  thin  layers  at  some 
depth  within  the  quarry,  a  phenomenon  which  is  common  to  all  formations. 

Microscopic  characters  of  No.  12.  The  quartz  is  in  rounded  grains  from  one-tenth"""-  to 
onemm.  jn  diameter.  They  all  have  the  optical  characters  of  crystallization.  They  are  generally 
not 'in  immediate  contact,  but  are  separated  by  the  cementing  substance.  They  contain  many 
impurities  which  seldom  have  an  evident  crystalline  form.  There  are  also  other  large  grains 
which  are  now  nearly  or  quite  opaque  from  decay.  These  seem  to  have  been  originally  some  other 
mineral,  perhaps  feldspar.  Some  of  these  are  red  in  reflected  light,  and  they  give  the  color  to  the 
rock,  but  when  reduced  in  size  they  seem  to  be  scatteringly  disseminated  even  through  the  quartz 
grains,  where  they  do  not  appear  red,  but  somewhat  yellowish,  and  semi-transparent.  The  cement- 
ing substance  is  composed  partly  of  this  red  amorphous  altered  mineral.  Figures  3  and  4  on  plate  U , 
show  this  rock  magnified  forty  diameters,  the  latter  in  polarized  light. 

3.    DOLOMITES. 

Under  the  term  dolomite  are  embraced  here  only  those  magnesian 
limestones  that  show,  on  analysis,  at  least  as  much  as  forty  per  cent,  ot 
carbonate  of  magnesia.*  It  will  be  seen  by  the  table  that,  so  far  as  they 

*Dolomite  is  a  compound  of  carbonate  of  magnesia  and  carbonate  of  lime,  the  lime  being  54.4  per  cent,  and  the 
magnesia  45.6. 


154  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Dolomite*. 

are  employed  as  material  for  construction,  the  dolomites  are  confined  to  the 
St.  Lawrence  formation,  and  at  the  same  time  that  none  of  them  reach  the 
percentage  of  magnesia  required  for  pure  dolomite.  Besides  the  analyses 
that  have  been  made  by  the  survey,  Dr.  Norwood's  may  be  referred  to,  exhib- 
iting the  same  fact,  viz: 

Carb.  lime.    Garb.  mag. 

From  the  shore  of  lake  Pepin,  52.  42.2 

From  lake  St.  Croix  below  Stillwater,  48.3  36.8 

From  Gray  Cloud  island,  a  short  distance  above  Hastings,  51.4  40.7 

From  thirty  miles  below  lake  Pepin,  29.7  9.7 

It  seems  not  only  that  the  formation  varies  slightly  from  place  to  place, 
in  respect  to  the  per  cent,  of  magnesia,  but  also  from  layer  to  layer  within 
itself,  since  from  the  same  quarry  (as  at  Stillwater)  the  compact,  even- 
grained  beds  which  are  most  highly  prized  for  building,  containing  over 
forty  per  cent,  of  carbonate  of  magnesia,  alternate  successively  with 
vesicular  and  irregular  strata  which  contain  somewhat  over  thirty-seven 
per  cent.  The  texture,  however,  does  not  always  vary  with  the  per  cent,  of 
carbonate  of  magnesia  in  the  same  direction  ;  at  Lanesboro  the  even-bedded 
and  compact  rock  contains  between  twenty-eight  and  twenty-nine  per  cent, 
carbonate  of  magnesia,  while  the  vesicular  beds  show  forty -two  per  cent. 
The  vesicular  texture  of  the  Lanesboro  rock,  however,  is  not  like  that  of 
the  rock  from  Stillwater  with  which  it  is  here  compared,  but  more  like  the 
finely  vesicular  texture  of  the  rock  from  Frontenac.  The  vesicular  rock  at 
Stillwater  is  irregularly  porous,  or  cavernous,  and  has  a  darker  color. 

The  St.  Lawrence  formation  is  the  limestone  which  is  conspicuously 
exposed  in  the  bluffs  of  the  St.  Croix  and  Mississippi  rivers  from  Stillwater 
to  the  Iowa  state  boundary.  It  generally  forms  the  tops  of  the  bluffs,  and 
causes  the  precipitous  portions,  the  lower  portions  being  made  up  of  fallen 
debris,  hiding  the  underlying  sandstones.  It  is  not  only  seen  abundantly 
along  these  streams,  but  also  along  the  bluffs  of  all  the  streams  that  flow 
into  the  Mississippi  from  the  west  between  Hastings  and  Brownsville.  Of 
the  limestones  of  the  state  it  affords  more  exposure,  and  is  more  generally 
employed  for  construction,  than  any  other.  Throughout  its  whole  extent  in 
Minnesota  it  furnishes  a  very  excellent  material  for  building— indeed  one 
of  the  best,  considered  in  all  respects,  to  be  found  in  the  United  States.  Not 
only  does  it  furnish  the  dolomites  (Nos.  13, 14,  15  and  16),  but  also  many  of 


PLATE  B. 

EXPLANATION. 

Figure  1.    Labradorite  feldspar,  from  Beaver  Bay p.  147 

Magnified  forty  diameters.    No.  8  of  the  systematic  table. 
Figure  2.    The  same  between  crossed  Nicols. 
Figure  3.    Bed  quartzyte  from  Pipestone  county p.  153 

Magnified  forty  diameters.    No.  12  of  the  systematic  table. 
Figure  4.    The  same  between  crossed  Nicols. 
Figure  5.    Dolomite  from  Frontenac p.  155 

Magnified  forty  diameters.    No.  13  of  the  systematic  table. 
Figure  6.    Dolomite  from  Stillwater p.  155 

Magnified  forty  diameters.    No.  14  of  the  systematic  table. 


1'i.ATi-:  tt. 


Fig  3. 


Fie. 5. 


VIII  f»  40) 


X1IH«40) 


BUILDING   STONES.  155 

Dolomites.] 

those  here  classed  as  dolomitic  limestones,  which  rank  (some  of  them)  higher 
on  the  comparative  scale  than  some  of  the  dolomites.  It  shows  also  some- 
times a  percentage  of  insoluble  matter  as  high  as  ten  or  eleven,  which  seems 
to  replace  carbonate  of  magnesia  rather  than  carbonate  of  lime.  When, 
however,  the  insoluble  matter  is  largely  aluminous  it  seems  to  replace  also 
carbonate  of  lime,  and  the  comparative  rank  of  the  stone  as  a  building 
material  is  injured. 

An  analysis  of  a  sample  from  Sugar  Loaf,  Winona,  largely  used  in  the 
State  Normal  School  at  that  place,  gave  the  following  result. 

Insoluble  (mainly  quartz),'  24.21 

Ferric  and  aluminic  oxides,  3.32 

Calcium  sulphate,  4.32 

Calcium  carbonate,  47.11 

Magnesium  carbonate,     -  20.67 

Total,  99.72 

In  this  case  the  high  rate  of  the  per  cent,  of  silica  was  due  partly  to  the 
existence  of  silicious  aggregations  isolated  from  the  mass  of  the  rock,  and 
partly  to  the  geodic  cavities  lined  with  fine  quartz  crystals.  The  bulk  of  the 
rock  probably  would  not  show  any  higher  rate  than  ten  or  eleven  per  cent. 

Microscopic  character  of  the  dolomites,  Nos.  13,  14,  and  16.  No.  13  is  seen  in  plate  B,  fig.  5, 
No.  14  in  plate  B,  fig.  t>,  and  No.  16  in  plate  C,  fig.  1.  They  are  all  magnified  forty  diameters. 
The  first  (No.  13)  is  interspersed  with  natural  cavities  which  the  rock  shows  to  the  naked  eye. 
These  seldom  exceed  a  millimeter  in  diameter.  In  some  places  there  are  similar  spots  in  the  thin 
section,  which  are  now  filled  with  a  very  fine-grained  substance  which  has  the  same  general  color 
as  the  rock  itself,  but  which  appars  isotropic  between  crossed  Nicols,  and  if  highly  magnified  does 
not  exhibit  any  crystalline  forms  of  microliths.  Sometimes  these  isotropic  spots  have  a  dim  con- 
centric banding  of  light  and  dark,  as  if  they  were  due  to  successive  accretions  from  the  surround- 
ing rock.  Sometimes  between  crossed  Nicols  they  show  a  black  cross  which  becomes  dissipated 
on  rotation  and  returns  again.  The  whole  rock  is  somewhat  stained  with  ochre,  and  shows  very 
rarely  a  small  grain  of  quartz.  The  individual  grains  of  dolomite  are  small,  and  do  not  often  show 
the  two  cleavage  systems. 

No.  14  is  a  much  more  dense  rock.  Its  individual  grains  are  from  one-fiftieth"""-  to  four- 
fiftieths"""-  in  diameter.  They  are  angular,  but  show  no  cleavage  lines.  They  are  flecked  with 
numerous  impurities.  When  seen  with  a  low  magnifying  power  they  polarize  between  crossed 
Nicols  in  colors  of  blue  and  yellow.  This  rock  also  contains  an  occasional  grain  of  quartz. 

No.  16  is  very  similar  in  all  respects  to  No.  14,  but  is  somewhat  coarser,  some  of  the  larger 
grains  sometimes  having  a  trace  of  the  natural  cleavage  remaining,  as  well  as  the  rhombic  form  of 
the  crystals. 

The  dolomites  here  spoken  of,  and  the  dolomitic  limestones  from  the 
same  formation  (Nos.  17,  18  and  21),  are  of  a  buff  color,  varying  to  a  light 
drab,  the  latter  appearing  in  the  coarsely  vesicular  beds,  as  No.  18,  from 
Stillwater,  and  they  have  therefore  a  lively  and  cheerful  expression  in  any 
building.  The  rock  is  but  slightly  changed  after  many  years  of  exposure 


156  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[  Dolomites. 

to  atmospheric  influences  ;  indeed  it  has  not  been  in  use  long  enough  yet  in 
the  state  to  show  any  change  whatever  by  lapse  of  time,  although  it  is  in 
some  of  the  oldest  buildings  of  the  state.  The  homogeneity  of  its  texture 
and  composition,  and  the  regularity  and  thickness  of  its  bedding,  are  quali- 
ties that  enable  it  to  supply  slabs  and  blocks  of  any  desired  dimensions.  At 
Frontenac  it  is  cut  into  ornamental  forms  with  comparative  ease,  and  the 
same  kind  of  beds  as  those  at  Frontenac  are  found  throughout  the  south- 
eastern part  of  Goodhue  county,  and  the  northern  portion  of  Wabasha.  Its 
resistance  to  pressure,  amounting  sometimes  to  25,000  pounds  per  square 
inch,  is  more  than  that  of  most  granites,*  and  is  sufficient  to  warrant  its  use 
in  all  structures,  while  for  door  moldings  and  caps,  for  sills  and  water-tables, 
and  for  all  trimmings  to  brick  structures  it  is  unsurpassed. 

As  a  material  for  building,  dolomites  and  dolomitic  limestones  rank 
very  high.  Numerous  remains  of  Roman  architecture  in  England,  and  par- 
ticularly at  York,  the  seat  of  the  commercial  and  military  power  of  the 
Roman  empire  in  Britain,  have  been  found  executed  in  dolomitic  limestone, 
and  many  of  them  are  in  a  better  state  of  preservation  than  the  generality 
of  structures  of  later  date.f  Conisburgh  castle,  as  old  as  the  time  of  the 
Normans,  situated  between  Doncaster  and  Rotherdam,  is  built  ot  a  coarse- 
grained, semi-crystalline  and  partially  oolitic  magnesian  limestone,  and 
some  of  the  blocks  still  show  the  marks  of  the  chisel.  The  old  Southwell 
church  is  constructed  of  magnesian  limestone  from  Bolsover  Moor.  The 
new  houses  of  parliament  at  Westminster  are  constructed  of  dolomite  or 
dolomitic  limestone,  quarried  at  Norfal  near  North  Anston,  England.  This 
stone  was  chosen  after  an  exhaustive  search  throughout  the  British  islands 
by  a  government  commission,  as  the  most  suitable,  all  things  considered,  for 
the  important  structures  that  were  contemplated,  notwithstanding  the  gra- 
tuitous offer  of  granites  from  Scotland.  This  stone  from  North  Anston  is 
nearly  a  pure  dolomite,  containing  from  forty-four  to  forty-five  per  cent,  of 
carbonate  of  magnesia,  and  about  two  per  cent,  of  silica,  iron  and  alumina. 
The  report  of  the  commission,  consisting  of  Sir  Henry  T.  De  la  Beche  and 
Dr.  William  Smith,  geologists,  Charles  Barry,  architect,  and  Charles  H. 


*Of  ninety-nine  tests  of  granites,  reported  by  general  Gillmore  in  the  report  of  the  chief  of  engineers,  1875,  part 
II.  p.  846,  not  one  reached  26,000  pounds  per  square  inch. 

tlathology,  or  observations  on  stone  used  for  building.    C.  H.  Smith. 


BUILDING  STONES.  157 

Dolomites.] 

Smith,  "  a  practical  man  well  acquainted  with  the  working  of  stone",  con- 
cludes with  the  following  recommendation  : 

"Having  weighed,  to  the  best  of  our  judgment,  the  evidence  in  favor 
of  the  various  building  stones  which  have  been  brought  under  our  con- 
sideration, and  freely  admitting  that  many  sandstones  as  well  as  limestones 
possess  very  great  advantages  as  building  materials,  we  feel  bound  to  state 
that  for  durability,  as  instanced  in  Southwell  church,  &c.,  and  the  results 
of  experiments  as  detailed  in  the  tables ;  for  crystalline  character,  com- 
bined with  a  close  approach  to  the  equivalent  proportions  of  carbonate  ot 
lime  and  carbonate  of  magnesia;  for  uniformity  in  structure,  facility  and 
economy  in  conversion,  and  for  advantage  of  color ;  the  magnesian  lime- 
stone, or  dolomite,  of  Bolsover  Moor  and  its  neighborhood,  is,  in  our  opinion, 
the  most  fit  and  proper  material  to  be  employed  in  the  proposed  new  Houses 
of  Parliament." 

This  preference  for  magnesian  limestones  is  confirmed  by  the  physical 
and  chemical  tests  that  have  been  conducted  by  the  survey  on  the  building 
stones  of  Minnesota,  and  by  observations  made  in  numerous  places  on  the 
practical  capacity  of  such  stones  to  resist  the  action  of  the  weather,  as  may 
be  witnessed  by  any  one  in  the  bold  and  precipitous  escarpments  of  the 
St.  Lawrence  limestone,  as  they  appear  in  the  bluffs  of  the  Mississippi 
river  between  Hastings  and  the  Iowa  boundary  line. 

If  the  inquiry  be  pushed  further,  and  some  cause  for  the  remarkable 
durability  of  dolomites  and  dolomitic  limestones  be  sought,  it  will  doubtless 
be  found  in  the  chemical  nature  of  magnesia  as  compared  with  lime,  or  ot 
carbonate  of  magnesia  with  carbonate  of  lime,  or  at  least  of  dolomite  as 
compared  with  calcite. 

Maynesid  as  compared  with  lime.  Magnesia,  which  is  represented  by  the 
chemical  symbol  MgO,  is  a  compound  of  the  metal  magnesium  and  oxygen; 
and  lime,  represented  by  CaO,  is  formed  by  uniting  calcium  and  oxygen. 
Either  one  may  be  obtained  by  the  calcination  of  their  carbonates,  which 
is  performed  in  any  ordinary  lime-kiln.  In  the  case  of  the  production  ot 
quicklime  from  a  magnesian  limestone  the  magnesia  and  lime  are  intimately 
connected.  In  the  burning  of  pure  limestone  a  pure  quicklime  is  obtained. 
In  the  former  case  the  magnesia  may  be  separated  from  the  lime  by  dissolv- 
ing them  first  in  hydrochloric  acid,  and  then  adding  a  solution  of  soda  or 


158  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Dolomites. 

potassa,  when  the  magnesia  is  precipitated  in  the  form  of  a  hydrate.  Mag- 
nesia and  lime  differ  in  solubility  in  water.  The  former  is  almost  insoluble 
in  water,  while  the  latter  unites  with  it  with  great  avidity,  the  heat  evolved, 
as  in  slaking  lime,  being  sufficient,  sometimes  for  the  ignition  of  wood.  The 
hydrate  thus  produced  is  soluble  in  530  times  its  weight  of  cold  water. 

Lime  has  a  much  stronger  attraction  for  carbonic  acid  than  magnesia, 
and  in  calcination  of  their  carbonates  the  magnesia  parts  with  it  sooner 
than  the  lime.  Non-air-slaked  magnesian  quicklime  (i.  e.  a  lime  produced 
by  the  calcination  of  a  magnesiau  limestone)  remains  in  a  caustic  state  much 
longer  than  pure  quicklime,  when  freely  exposed  to  the  air,  and  hence  is 
injurious  to  vegetation  when  mixed  with  soils,  for  several  months.  This  is 
owing  to  the  slowness  with  which  the  magnesia  extracts  carbonic  acid  from 
the  air.  But  pure  quicklime  very  soon  becomes  neutralized  or  "sets'"  by 
the  absorption  of  carbonic  acid  from  the  air.  It  is  for  the  slowness  of  set- 
ting, and  the  gentler  evolution  of  heat  in  slaking,  that  the  magnesian  quick- 
lime is  preferred  by  masons  ;  at  the  same  time  the  cement  is  more  perma- 
nent. These  distinctions  all  show  the  greater  immobility  and  permanence 
of  magnesia  as  compared  with  lime. 

Carbonate  of  magnesia  as  compared  with  carbonate  of  lime.  Magnesium 
carbonate,  or  magnesite,  which  occurs  in  nature  as  a  mineral,  is  infusible  in 
the  blowpipe  flame,  and  is  nearly  insoluble  in  cold  dilute  hydrochloric  acid. 
It  is  insoluble  in  water.  On  the  other  hand  the  carbonate  of  lime,  which 
constitutes  the  bulk  of  all  limestones  and  marbles,  is  not  only  soluble  in 
cold  acid  with  rapid  effervescence,  but  also  in  water,  making  what  is  known 
as  "  hard  water." 

Dolomite  compared  with  calcite.  If  a  grain  of  pure  dolomite  be  placed  in 
hydrochloric  acid  it  will  effervesce  very  feebly,  if  at  all.  On  applying  heat 
the  solution  is  more  evident.  Calcite  effervesces  rapidly  in  hydrochloric  or 
nitric  acid.  Dolomite  has  a  hardness  of  3|  to  4,  and  calcite  has  a  hardness 
of  3.  Water  containing  a  small  amount  of  carbonic  acid  derived  from  the 
soil,  passing  into  the  earth  dissolves  carbonate  of  lime  from  the  rocks  and 
becomes  hard.  When  it  evaporates  again,  as  in  caverns,  it  leaves  a  small 
sediment  which  by  long  accretion  forms  stalactites.  In  regions  of  magnesian 
limestones  the  incrustations  and  stalactites  that  are  formed  in  caverns  con- 
sist almost  wholly  of  carbonate  of  lime,  containing  only  a  mere  trace  of 


B.UILDING   STOXES.  159 

Dolomites.] 

magnesia.  When  it  is  remembered  that  atmospheric  air  contains  carbonic 
acid,  and  that  rain-water  contains  nitric  acid,  the  greater  destructibility  ot 
limestone  as  compared  with  magnesian  limestone,  not  only  in  the  weather 
but  also  when  subjected  to  artificial  physical  tests,  is  fully  explained  by  the 
foregoing  comparisons. 

The  oldest  quarry  in  this  formation,  in  the  state  of  Minnesota,  is  that 
of  Dr.  C.  Carli,  at  Stillwater,  now  operated  by  Mr.  Conkling,  opened  in  1847. 
It  is  near  the  northern  limits  of  the  city,  at  the  top  of  the  bluff  of  St.  Croix 
lake.  Since  then  several  other  quarries  more  favorably  situated,  have  been 
opened,  and  have  furnished  considerably  more  stone  than  that  of  Dr.  Carli, 
viz.  those  of  Hersey,  Staples  and  Hall,  and  of  Fayette  Marsh.  These  were 
begun  in  1854.  The  stone  from  all  these  quarries  is  of  about  the  same 
quality,  and  the  stratification  is  very  similar.  There  is,  at  least  at  the 
quarries  of  Mr.  Marsh  and  of  Hersey,  Staples  and  Hall,  an  alternation  of 
horizontal  strata,  from  three  to  six  feet  each,  of  differently  textured  rock, 
the  whole  thickness  amounting  to  about  seventy  feet.  One  kind  is  coarse 
and  vesicular,  of  a  dark  color,  and  is  used  only  for  heavy  masonry.  The 
blocks  taken  out  are  from  eighteen  to  thirty  inches  thick.  This  is  No.  18 
of  the  general  table.  Another  kind  (No.  14)  is  useful  for  all  work,  owing  to 
its  homogeneous  and  granular  but  compact  texture.  It  yields  a  good  sur- 
face under  the  hammer,  so  much  so  that  it  is  also  employed  for  bases  for 
marble  tombstones.  It  is  also  used  for  ashlers,  pilasters  and  copings,  and 
for  all  common  trimmings.  It  is  in  every  way  a  valuable  stone,  and  should 
compete  in  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul  successfully  with  the  argillaceous 
stone  imported  at  considerably  greater  cost  from  Iowa  (No.  40).  The  ridi- 
culous infatuation  for  an  iii/j>or/<'<l  xtone  is  exhibited  in  numerous  buildings  in 
Stillwater,  particularly  in  the  school-houses  and  churches,  where  can  be 
seen  the  blue,  disintegrating  shaly  limestone  of  St.  Paul  used  as  trimmings 
in  walls  made  of  much  more  durable  stone  quarried  at  Stillwater.  In  some 
places  the  blue  stone  is  already  splitting  apart  in  thin  laminae,  and  will 
wholly  disintegrate  long  before  the  walls  themselves  show  any  damage 
from  the  weather.  Sometimes  this  compact  and  fine-grained  rock  is  more 
coarsely  granular,  or  consists  of  little  crystals  of  dolomite,  in  certain  strata, 
in  which  condition  the  quarrymen  distinguish  it  as  "sandrock." 

Some  of  the  principal  buildings  that  contain  the  Stillwater  rock  are 


160  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Dolomites. 

the  following,  located  at  Stillwater,  viz.,  the  Irish  Catholic  church  and  the 
State  Prison  (both  with  trimmings  of  Kasota  stone,  No.  23),  the  public 
schools,  the  Holcombe  block,  the  store  of  Isaac  Staples,  the  Universalist 
church,  and  others  ;  the  Marsh  block,  the  Phalen  and  the  Torinus  blocks. 

At  Red  Wing  this  formation  is  more  used  for  quicklime  than  for  build- 
ing stone.  The  principal  quarries  are  owned  by  Dr.  W.  W.  Sweeney  in  Barn 
bluff,  R.  L.  Berglund  and  G.  A.  Carlson.  The  quarry  of  Dr.  Sweeney  was 
opened  in  1865,  and  has  been  in  constant  use  from  that  time  to  the  present. 
That  of  Mr.  Berglund  was  opened  in  1868,  and  Mr.  Carlson's  somewhat  later. 

The  stone  obtained  at  Red  Wing  from  the  quarries  exhibits  the  same 
kind  of  alternation  of  strata  as  that  which  has  been  described  at  Stillwater, 
except  that  the  vesicular  beds  are  somewhat  more  siliceous,  and  at  the  same 
time  not  so  coarsely  porous,  which  renders  the  whole  product  of  the  quar- 
ries somewhat  better  adapted  for  construction  than  that  of  the  quarries  at 
Stillwater.  At  Red  Wing  the  aggregate  thickness  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
formation  is  about  120  feet,  in  which  there  is  much  excellent  building-stone, 
some  layers  being  five  feet  thick.  Pieces  of  any  size,  limited  only  by  con- 
venience of  handling,  can  be  got  out,  and  some  of  it  is  very  conveniently 
quarried  in  the  form  of  flagging.  The  quarry  of  R.  L.  Berglund,  situated  in 
a  bluff  near  Oakwood  cemetery,  furnished  stone  which  has  been  cut  into 
rounded  columns  for  the  fronting  in  a  block  on  Bush  street,  between  third 
and  fourth.  They  are  ten  feet  long  tapering  from  about  a  foot  to  about 
nine  inches  in  diameter.  The  porousness  of  the  rock  makes  only  a  bush- 
hammer  dressing  suitable,  but  these  columns  show  that  the  rock  is  adapted 
to  a  great  range  of  architectural  uses.  The  stone  in  the  Catholic  church 
at  Red  Wing  came  from  the  quarry  of  Mr.  Berglund,  and  the  stone  in  the 
Episcopal  church  from  Mr.  Carlson's  in  Sorin  bluff.  The  Red  Wing  and 
the  Diamond  flouring  mills  are  built  of  the  Red  Wing  stone  ;  also  the  piers 
of  the  railroad  bridge  at  Hastings. 

The  rock  obtained  at  Frontenac  (No.  13),  known  as  the  Frmi/i'tiac  sfoiic 
is  light  buff,  and  evenly  and  finely  vesicular,  in  heavy  beds  of  five  feet  and 
less.  It  was  formerly  obtained  in  the  N.  W.  J  Sec.  21,  T.  112,  R.  13,  Florence. 
But  now  it  is  quarried  near  lake  Pepin,  at  Frontenac,  from  near  the  bottom 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  formation,  110  feet  below  the  top  of  the  bluff.  The 
perpendicular  exposure  of  the  beds  in  the  bluff  amounts  to  sixty-six  feet.  This 


BUILDING   STONES.  161 

Dolomites.] 

stone  is  largely  shipped  to  St.  Paul,  Minneapolis  and  other  cities  of  the  state. 
Machinery  (steam)  is  employed  at  Frontenac  for  sawing  and  rubbing  the 
stone.  It  has  been  put  into  the  Lindeke  &  Shurmeier  block  in  St.  Paul  as 
trimmings,  also  in  the  state  capitol,  and  composes  the  entire  wall  of  the  Bar- 
ney block.  In  Minneapolis  the  Wood  block  is  built  of  it.  According  to  the 
tests  of  general  Gillmore  (see  the  general  table)*  this  stone  has  greater 
strength  to  resist  crushing  when  set  "on  edge"  than  when  ''on  bed",  which 
is  an  unusual  peculiarity,  and  one  which  adds  considerable  to  its  desirability 
for  use  in  columns  that  are  to  be  subjected  to  great  weight.  The  future 
supply  of  this  stone  is  practically  unlimited.  The  same  vesicular  texture 
which  pervades  it  at  Frontenac,  and  the  same  ease  of  quarrying,  extends 
over  many  square  miles  in  southeastern  Goodhue  and  northern  Wabasha 
counties,  in  some  cases  passing  into  an  oolyte.  The  quarries  at  Florence 
were  opened  in  1855. 

At  Winona  the  firsfc  quarrying  was  done  in  1854,  at  the  quarry  now 
owned  by  John  O'Dae.  That  of  C.  H.  Porter  was  begun  in  1870.  E.  0. 
Wallace  also  has  a  quarry  in  the  same  bluff.  Generally  throughout  Winona 
county  the  uppermost  75-90  feet  of  the  St.  Lawrence  formation  are  cherty 
and  concretionary,  and  wholly  worthless  for  building  purposes,  and  nearly 
so  for  lime-burning.  There  are  hardened  masses,  or  tors,  projecting  from 
the  face  of  the  bluffs  in  numerous  instances,  some  of  which  may  be  seen 
in  the  valley  followed  by  the  Winona  and  St.  Peter  railroad,  and  others 
near  Homer,  which  are  due  to  the  concentration  of  this  siliceous  and  con- 
cretionary structure,  rendering  the  rock  more  capable  of  resisting  the 
attacks  of  the  weather.  The  lower  layers  are  the  most  valuable  for  con- 
struction, and  they  are  wrought  at  Winona  and  at  Dresbach.  The  rock  is 
fine-grained,  homogeneous  and  compact,  of  a  light-buff  color,  some  of  it 
also  being  stained  like  the  Kasota  rock,  but  in  stripes  horizontal  with  the 
beds.  See  the  general  table,  No.  15. 

At  Winona,  blocks  eight  by  nine  by  seven  feet  have  been  taken  out  by 
Mr.  O'Dae.  Indeed  there  is  no  trouble  at  any  of  the  quarries  in  obtaining  as 
large  blocks  as  may  be  needed  for  any  purpose.  Yet  the  most  of  the  pro- 
duct of  the  Winona  quarries  is  used  for  quicklime.  As  a  building  stone, 
it  has  been  sent  to  Minneapolis,  St.  Paul,  and  to  Deadwood,  in  Dakota 

"The  same  result  was  reported  in  1875,  by  general  Gillinore.      Report  oftHe  chief  of  engineers,  1875,  Part  II.  p.  851. 
11 


162  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Dolomites. 

territory,  and  has  formerly  been  considerably  used  for  bridges  and  other 
construction  on  the  line  of  the  Winona  and  St.  Peter  railroad.  It  is  seen 
in  the  Congregational  and  Episcopal  churches  at  Winona,  and  in  the 
county  jail.  The  Congregational  church  at  Winona  is  represented  on 
plate  E. 

The  most  extensive  quarry  in  this  formation  in  the  state  is  that  of  the 
Chicago  and  Northwestern  railway,  near  Stockton.  This  quarry  was  first 
opened  in  1876,  in  a  systematic  manner,  though  some  stone  had  been  taken 
out  at  intervals  before.  The  rock  lies  here,  as  in  other  quarries  men- 
tioned, in  regular  horizontal  strata,  from  nine  inches  to  twenty-five  inches 
in  thickness,  with  rather  more  frequent  and  irregular  joints  than  in  the 
quarries  along  the  Mississippi.  The  texture,  so  far  as  the  stone  is  used,  is 
homogeneous  and  fine,  though  somewhat  vesicular.  The  beds,  however, 
are  disturbed  by  porous  and  cherty  masses  which  obliterate  the  stratifica- 
tion, and  are  much  more  difficult  to  reduce  to  blocks  suitable  for  transpor- 
tation. This  is  only  fit  for  rip-rap  and  filling,  and  is  so  employed  largely. 
The  largest  block  ever  shipped  from  this  quarry  contained  sixty-eight  cubic 
feet.  Some  300  men  have  employment  about  these  quarries,  and  nearly 
fifty  more  are  engaged  in  dressing  the  stone  for  various  bridges  and  build- 
ings along  the  line  of  the  railroad.  The  formation  has  a  thickness  of  162 
feet,  as  measured,  back  of  Stockton,  on  the  road  to  Winona,  but  at  the 
quarries  the  thickness  visible  is  only  145  feet. 

This  formation  is  quarried  about  a  mile  east  of  Caledonia,  in  Houston 
county,  whence  it  has  furnished  the  stone  seen  in  several  large  buildings  at 
Caledonia,  notably  the  German  Catholic  church  and  the  county  jail.  The 
latter  is  a  fine  building,  the  courses  being  about  ten  inches  thick,  rubble- 
dressed,  with  trimmings  of  the  same.  At  La  Crescent  the  public  school- 
house  was  built  of  stone  from  the  St.  Lawrence,  quarried  in  the  bluff  north 
of  the  village.  At  Brownsville  is  a  quarry  in  the  same  rock,  which  sup- 
plied heavy  stone  for  the  railroad,  and  for  other  uses. 

The  quarries  at  Lanesboro,  in  Fillmore  county  (Nos.  16  and  21),  have 
been  used  in  the  construction  of  several  large  buildings  at  Lanesboro.  The 
most  of  the  rock  is  vesicular,  often  coarsely  so,  in  which  case  it  is  used  in 
heavy  blocks  for  the  coarse  masonry  of  bridge  piers  and  foundations.  When 
finer-grained  it  can  be  cut  into  delicate  forms.  When  dressed  for  window- 


PLATE  E. 

EXPLANATION. 

Congregational  Church,  Winona p.  162 

Erected  in  1880-82. 

Uuilt  of  dolomitic  limestone  quarried  at  Winona.  Has  tiimmings  of  Fond  du  Lac  sand- 
stone, except  the  carved  capitals  at  the  door-corners,  which  are  from  Frontenac. 
The  front  steps  are  from  Kasota. 


PLATK  E. 


CONGREGATIONAL     CHURCH 

WINONA 


PLATE  D. 

EXPLANATION. 

The  state  Capitol,  St.  Paul . .  p.  163 

Erected  in  1882. 

The  walls  are  of  red  pressed-brick  made  at  Red  Wing. 
The  trimmings  are  of  the  dolomite  quarried  at  Frontenac. 

At  the  grade  line  is  one  course  of  ten  inches  of  the  brown  sandrock  from  Fond  du  Lac. 
The  foundation,  and  the  range-work  below  the  water-table  are  from  the  limestone 
quarried  at  St.  Paul. 


PIRATE  D. 


STATE    CAPITOL 


Julius  Bi«i  *  Co  Lil)i 


BUILDING   STONES.  163 

Dolomitic  limestones.] 

caps  and  sills  the  cut  surfaces  appear  nearly  white.  The  bedding  varies  in 
thickness  from  two  or  three  inches  to  two  or  three  feet.  Similar  beds  are 
quarried  at  Whalen,  in  Fillmore  county,  and  at  Rushford.  At  Lanesboro 
the  Lanesboro  hotel,  the  large  flouring  mill,  the  Presbyterian  and  the  Cath- 
olic churches  and  the  public  school,  as  well  as  a  number  of  business  blocks, 
are  constructed  of  this  stone. 

The  state  capitol  at  St.  Paul,  erected  in  1S82,  is  built  wholly  of  Minne- 
sota materials  (plate  D).  The  walls  are  made  of  red  pressed-brick  from  Red 
Wing.  The  trimmings  of  the  windows  and  doors,  the  cornice  and  the  water- 
table,  are  of  the  dolomite  of  Frontenac  (No.  13).  At  the  grade  line  is  one 
course  of  ten  inches  of  the  brown  sandrock  from  Fond  du  Lac  (No.  34). 
The  foundation  and  all  below  the  grade  line,  is  of  the  blue  dolomitic  lime- 
stone of  the  upper  part  of  the  Trenton  quarried  at  St.  Paul  (see  No.  22),  and 
from  the  grade-line  to  the  water-table  the  walls  are  of  the  regular  blue 
limestone  of  the  Trenton  in  broken  ashler  work  (No.  28). 

4.    DOLOMITIC   LIMESTONES. 

As  already  remarked,  the  same  formation  which  furnishes  the  dolo- 
mites just  described,  also  furnishes  the  most  of  those  here  grouped  as 
dolomitic  limestones,  and  very  often  the  two  are  found  in  the  same  quarry 
in  regularly  alternating  strata.  The  characters  of  these  rocks,  and  their 
manner  of  occurrence,  have  been  described  therefore,  in  some  instances,  in 
giving  the  particulars  concerning  the  dolomites.  The  two  sorts  do  not  pre- 
sent such  unlike  physical  characters,  in  some  instances,  as  to  require  their 
separation  in  construction,  and  they  are  then  used  undistinguishably  in  the 
same  building.  This  is  particularly  true  of  the  quarries  at  Stillwater,  Red 
Wing,  Frontenac,  Winona,  Stockton  and  Lanesboro,  which  are  all  in  the 
St.  Lawrence  formation.  But  the  quarries  at  Shakopee,  Kasota  and  Man- 
kato,  situated  in-  the  lower  portion  of  the  Minnesota  valley,  are  from 
another  and  a  higher  formation  (the  Shakopee),  though  still  embraced,  in 
general,  in  the  same  series  of  alternating  sandstones  and  limestones,  which 
with  some  misapprehension  of  the  stratigraphy,  were  placed  by  Dr.  Owen 
partly  in  the  "  Lower  Magnesian,"  and  partly  in  the  Potsdam,  and  partly 
denominated  St.  Peter. 

The  rock  of  these  last  mentioned  localities,  however,  is  very  similar 


164  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Dolomitic  limestones. 

to  that  from  the  St.  Lawrence,  in  outward  characters,  a  circumstance  which 
explains  the  reference  of  its  outcrops  to  the  same  horizon  as  the  St.  Law- 
rence, by  Dr.  Owen  and  othei's.  In  chemical  constitution,  however,  it  is 
found  to  be  rather  more  silicious,  having  more  frequent  cherty  beds  or 
nodules,  and  distinctly  arenaceous  portions.  Toward  the  Mississippi  valley, 
however,  this  limestone  becomes  thinner,  and  its  line  of  outcrop  is  found 
inconspicuously  running  along  the  valleys  at  same  distance  back  from  the 
tops  of  the  bluffs,  and  often  invisible  over  many  square  miles.  It  is  very 
seldom  wrought  for  building  stone  in  the  counties  bordering  on  the  Miss- 
issippi river,  though  its  integrity  even  to  the  eastern  portions  of  Winona 
county,  distinct  from  the  St.  Lawrence,  has  been  fully  established  by  care- 
ful field  examinations.  The  most  eastern  point  where  it  is  worked  is  at 
Troy,  in  Winona  county,  where  the  Troy  mills  have  been  built  from  it.  It 
is  seen  there  twenty-five  feet  thick,  underlain  by  the  Jordan  sandstone, 
whereas,  at  points  in  the  Minnnesota  valley  it  exhibits  a  thickness  of  about 
seventy  feet. 

At  Shakopee  and  Louisville,  in  Scott  county,  this  rock  is  principally 
employed  for  lime-burning.  The  same  is  true  at  Ottawa,  in  Le  Sueur  county. 
At  Kasota,  in  Le  Sueur  county,  it  is  quarried  extensively,  and  is  shipped  to 
distant  markets  under  the  name  Kasota  stone.  Several  large  quarries  were 
opened  in  this  stone  at  St.  Peter,  and  the  stone  from  them  was  largely 
used  in  the  construction  of  the  older  portions  of  the  insane  asylum  at  that 
place.  Very  extensive  working  of  the  same  beds  is  carried  on  at  Mankato. 

The  rock  is  sub-crystalline,  homogeneous,  and  rather  compact  than 
vesicular. 

Microscopic  characters  of  the  dolomitic  limestones.  The  dolomitic  limestones  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence formation  (Nos.  17,  18  and  21)  do  not  differ  from  the  dolomites  in  microscopic  characters. 
In  chemical  composition  the  principal  difference  is  the  lower  percentage  of  carbonate  of  magnesia 
in  the  aggregate.  But  this  does  not  seem  to  express  itself  in  any  perceptible  manner  in  the 
forms  of  the  crytalline  grains.  Indeed,  the  percentage  of  carbonate  of  magnesia  sometimes  runs 
very  low  in  the  double  carbonate  of  lime  and  magnesia,  and  the  change 'cannot  be  distinguished 
under  the  microscope,  because  the  crystals  of  dolomite  and  calcite  have  the  same  forms.  Still,  as 
the  mineral  becomes  pure  calcite,  very  evident  colored  bands,  due  to  a  twinning  on  the  face 
— J  E  are  developed  when  the  analyzer  alone  is  used.  This,  however,  has  not  been  seen  in  any  of 
the  sedimentary  limestones  of  Minnesota.  Figure  2,  plate  C,  shows  the  manner  in  which  the 
impurities  resulting  from  decay  pervade  the  central  portion  of  the  individual  crystalline  grains  in 
the  rock  No.  17.  The  same  change  is  perceptible  in  the  rhombohedra  of  Nos.  18,  19  and  23.  In 
the  last,  however,  the  colored  area  is  enlarged,  and  sometimes  embraces  uniformly  the  whole  grain 
Some  of  the  grains  also  in  No.  23  are  evidently  irregular  detached  parts  of  larger  rhombodedra  . 
showing  traces  of  cleavage  in  one  direction.  In  general,  the  dolomites  and  dolomitic  limestones 
are  nearly  free  from  quartz  granules ;  the  principal  acquired  impurity  is  ocher.  The  granules  of 


PLATE  C. 

EXPLANATION. 

Figure  1.    Dolomite  from  Lanesboro p.  155 

Magnified  forty  diameters.    No.  16  of  the  systematic  table. 
Figure  2.    Dolomitic  limestone  from  Red  Wing p.  164 

Magnified  forty  diameters.    No.  17  of  the  systematic  table. 
Figure  3.    Dolomitic  limestone  from  Minneapolis,  from  the  upper  beds  of  the 

Trenton '. p.  165 

Magnified  forty  diameters.    No.  22  of  the  systematic  table. 
Figure  4.    Argillaceous  limestone,  St.  Paul p.  172 

Magnified  forty  diameters.    No.  28  of  the  systematic  table. 
Figure  5.    Pinkish-yellow  sandrock,  from  Hinckley p.  177 

Magnified  40  diameters.    No.  30  of  the  systematic  table. 
Figure  6.    The  same  between  crossed  Nicols. 


•/•/•:   c. 


XXX  (» .10) 


.Illhlls  liy.-Il  ,'i  C,,.lllh 


«       t    <     , '    r  V     '  '  '   '  ' 

• /-I'-,."; 


BUILDING    STONES.  165 

Dotomilic  limestones.] 

the  Mantorville  dolomite  (No.  20)  are  very  fine,  and  not  distinctly  angular.  In  Kos.  22  and  24,  are 
occasional  crystals  of  pyrite,  and  traces  of  organic  forms.  The  grains  also  of  Nos.  22  and  24, 
are  less  defined,  the  mass  appearing  more  like  a  hardened  calcareous  pulp.  In  No.  25  there  is  a 
sprinkling  of  fine  quartz  particles,  and  the  section  has  a  yellowish,  serpentinous  aspect.  No.  22 
is  illustrated  in  fig.  3,  plate  C.  When  rotated  with  only  one  Nicol  in  use.  very  distinct  cleavage- 
lines  are  made  visible  in  the  large  central  grain  (  x  250).  The  grain  itself  consists  of  numerous 
crystalline  parts,  each  witli  its  own  cleavage  lines. 

The  quarries  at  Kasota,  opened  in  1868,  are  owned  by  Brackenridge, 
Stewart  and  Buttars,  and  by  J.  W.  Babcock.  The  former  is  operated  by 
Messrs.  Breen  and  Young.  From  the  quarry  of  Brackenridge,  Stewart  and 
Buttars  has  been  taken  the  greater  portion  of  the  pinkish  stone  which  is 
characteristically  known  as  the  Kasota  stone,  and  which  was  described  as 
fawn-colored  by  G.  W.  Featherstonhaugh. 

Further  up  the  Bois  Franc  district,  a  stream  comes  in  from  the  left  bank  called  Wee-tali 
Wakatah,  or  Tall  island,  and  about  five  miles  higher  up  some  ledges  of  horizontal  fawn-colored 
limestone  jut  out  on  the  right  bank,  very  cherty  and  somewhat  vesicular ;  near  the  surface  it  takes 
a  reddish  salmon-color,  resembling  very  much  some  beds  I  had  previously  seen  on  the  Wisconsin 
and  upper  Mississippi.  Within  a  few  yards  of  these  ledges  and  north  of  them,  a  beautiful  pel- 
lucid stream  conies  in,  containing  the  purest  water  I  had  seen  in  the  country.  I  could  not 
learn  that  any  name  had  been  given  to  it,  and  as  it  is  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  first 
calcareous  rock  I  had  met  with  in  place  here,  and  its  purity  rendering  it  a  very  rare  stream  in  a 
country  where  all  are  turbid,  I  named  it  Abert's  run,  after  Col.  Abert,  of  the  United  States  army, 
and  chief  of  the  topographical  bureau.* 

The  quarry  of  Mr.  Babcock,  however,  furnishes  the  same  stone,  but  in 
less  abundance,  the  staining  of  the  natural  beds  having  been  carried  on  at 
different  points  with  different  degrees  of  color.  Indeed  the  same  beds,  as 
they  extend  north  and  south  from  Kasota  are  generally  not  so  colored,  but 
rather  have  the  usual  buff  color  ot  a  magnesian  limestone,  similar  to  the 
St.  Lawrence.  The  greater  change  of  color  at  Kasota  is  probably  due  to 
some  local  conformation  of  the  country  at  the  time  the  Minnesota  river 
constantly  flooded  the  terrace  in  which  it  is  quarried,  by  which  the  rock 
abstracted  from  the  water  there  more  of  the  coloring  ingredients  (probably 
iron  and  perhaps  some  manganese)  than  elsewhere.  A  sandstone  which 
seems  to  be  the  St.  Peter  is  stained  in  the  same  way  a  short  distance  above 
Fort  Snelling,  in  the  Minnesota  valley,  giving  it  a  rusty  pink  color,  and  at 
the  same  time  greater  tenacity  and  endurance  under  pressure.  The  bed- 
ding varies  from  a  few  inches  to  two  and  a  half  feet  in  thickness.  Toward 
the  bottom  of  the  quarry  the  regularity  of  the  strata  is  disturbed  by  dish- 
shaped  contortions  upward  and  downward. 


*Report  of  a  geological  reconnoif  sauce  made  in  1835,  from  the  seat  of  government  by  the  way  of  Green  bay  and  the  Wiscon- 
sin territory  to  the  Cuteau  des  Prairies,  p.  39.  It  has  already  been  stated  (p.  59.)  that  the  description  of  Mr.  Keatherstonhaugh 
may  have  been  applied  to  the  outcrop  at  Rocky  point,  though  Abert'fl  run  cannot  there  be  identified. 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Dolomitic  limestones 

The  Kasota  stone  is  shipped  to  nearly  all  parts  of  Minnesota,  to  Sioux 
City  and  Le  Mars  in  Iowa,  to  various  places  in  Wisconsin  and  Dakota,  as 
well  as  to  Chicago  and  Winnipeg.  It  may  be  seen  in  the  trimmings  of  the 
market  house  in  St.  Paul,  and  of  the  dry  goods  house  of  Auerbach,  Finch  & 
Co.  At  the  same  place  the  Baptist  church  is  constructed  of  it  (plate  F). 
Much  of  the  state  lunatic  asylum  at  St.  Peter  was  built  of  it.  The  trim- 
mings of  Christ  church,  Minneapolis,  and  of  the  Plymouth  church,  are  of 
the  Kasota  stone;  also  of  the  Drake  and  the  Odd  Fellows'  blocks  at  St.  Paul, 
and  of  Williams  hall,  one  of  the  buildings  of  Carleton  college. 

The  colored  rock  which  is  faintly  stained  with  iron  (No.  23)  is  that 
which  is  most  highly  prized  at  these  quarries,  on  account  of  its  peculiar 
color,  but  it  appears  from  the  tests  of  these  stones  made  by  the  survey,  that 
the  unstained  stone  (No.  19)  from  the  same  quarry,  though  not  varying 
much  in  chemical  composition  from  the  other,  ranks  higher  in  the  scale 
than  the  fawn-colored  stone.  It  resists  a  greater  crushing  weight,  but 
withstands  the  action  of  frost  and  water  and  of  corroding  vapors,  and  of  a 
moist  atmosphere,  less  successfully  than  the  fawn-colored  stone. 

At  Mankato  the  principal  quarries  are  owned  by  Geo.  Maxfield,  J.  E. 
Beatty,  the  Winona  and  St.  Peter  railroad  company  and  by  J.  R.  Beatty 
and  Co.  That  of  Maxfield  was  begun  in  1853;  that  of  Mr.  Beatty  in  1854. 
The  product  of  these  quarries  is  quite  extensive,  most  of  the  stone  being 
used  along  the  line  of  the  Winona  and  St.  Peter  railroad.  The  texture  of 
the  stone  here  is  about  the  same  as  that  at  Kasota,  but  less  of  it  has  the 
peculiar  color  of  the  Kasota  stone.  It  is  in  horizontal  heavy  strata  varying 
from  a  few  inches  to  over  two  feet  in  thickness.  Near  the  bottom  of  the 
quarry  most  wrought  there  is  a  change  of  color  to  a  light  blue.  This 
appears  first  in  the  center  of  the  strata,  but  gradually  increases  so  as  to 
involve  the  whole  rock.  This  seems  to  indicate  that  the  original  color  of 
the  whole  formation  was  blue,  and  that  it  has  lost  it  to  a  great  depth  (gen- 
erally below  the  depth  of  all  quarries)  by  exposure  to  the  air,  assuming  the 
prevalent  buff  color.  The  stone  here  is  used  for  all  purposes  of  construction, 
and  for  flagging.  Some  ornamental  cutting  has  been  done  (as  at  Kasota 
also)  for  building  and  for  tombstones.  It  is  sent  to  the  western  and  south- 
ern parts  of  the  state  and  to  some  points  in  Wisconsin  and  Iowa.  It  may 
be  seen  in  the  trimmings  of  the  public  school-houses  at  Sioux  Falls,  Dakota, 


PLATE  F. 

EXPLANATION. 


First  Baptist  Church,  St.  Paul 

Erected  in  1873-74. 
Built  wholly  of  the  fawn-colored  dolomitic  limestone  from  Kasota. 


PLATE  P. 


FIRST  BAPTIST   CHURCH 

ST   PAUL 


BUILDING  STONES. 

Dolomitic  limestones.] 

0 

and  Albert  Lea,  also  in  the  jail  at  Blue  Earth  City,  and  in  the  state  normal 
school  and  the  city  schools  at  Mankato. 

Besides  the  analyses  given  in  the  general  table,  of  the  Shakopee  lime- 
stone, which  show  a  high  per  cent,  of  insoluble  matter,  the  following  may 
be  added  from  the  same  formation  taken  five  miles  below  Mankato  from 
layers  burned  for  quicklime  by  Mr.  Geo.  C.  Clapp.  These  layers  are  in  the 
very  top  of  the  Shakopee,  and  are  slightly  fossiliferous  and  gray  with 
remains  of  organic  matter. 

Insoluble,  2.82 

Ferric  and  aluminic  oxides,  1.39 

Calcium  sulphate,    -  6.74 

Calcium  carbonate,  52.22 

Magnesium  carbonate,  -        36.04 


Total,      -  -        99.21 

The  dolomitic  limestone  quarried  at  Mantorville,  in  Dodge  county 
(No.  20),  is  from  the  Galena  formation,  which  lies  near  the  top  of  the  Lower 
Silurian,  separated  from  the  Mankato  and  Easota  quarries  by  a  thickness 
of  over  300  feet  of  strata.  This  formation  has  quite  an  extensive  area  in 
the  south-central  part  of  the  state,  and  is  also  quarried  at  several  other 
places  in  Dodge,  Olmsted,  Mower  and  Fillmore  counties.  While  this  stone 
is  not  so  strong  under  pressure  as  the  dolomites  and  dolomitic  limestones 
already  mentioned,  it  possesses  such  an  average  of  other  good  qualities, ' 
having  no  especially  weak  point  in  its  character,  that  it  ranks  well  with 
them,  and  at  the  same  time  its  resistance  is  sufficient  to  warrant  its  use 
in  all  ordinary  construction.  Its  usual  color  is  buff',  although  on  deep  and 
fresh  quarrying  it  also  shows  that  its  normal  color,  like  most  other  lime- 
stones, is  blue.  Its  texture  is  open,  even  porous,  with  minute  cavities.  In 
some  of  its  beds,  which,  however,  are  not  wrought  except  for  the  heaviest 
and  roughest  masonry,  it  exhibits  large  cavernous  patches  with  a  rough  and 
forbidding  aspect.  These,  however,  are  not  common,  the  sedimentation 
having  been  generally  so  undisturbed  by  chemical  or  mechanical  agencies 
that  the  layers  are  regular  and  continuous,  and  the  texture  uniform  through- 
out large  tracts.  Minute  crystals  of  brown  spar  often  line  the  cavities.  It 
also  sometimes  embraces  iron  pyrite,  which,  weathering  out,  stains  the  face 
of  the  rock  with  rust  of  iron.  The  grain  is  crystalline,  and  sometimes  gran- 
ular. This  granular  texture,  which  is  also  frequently  seen  in  other  magne- 


168  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Dolomitic  limestones. 

» 

sian limestones,  has  sometimes  made  it  pass  fora  sandstone.  It  has  a  light 
and  lively  color,  and  in  that  respect  it  has  the  advantage  of  the  darker- 
colored  stones.  As  a  material  for  building  it  is  a  little  surprising  that  this 
formation  has  not  been  more  employed.  It  occurs  in  fine  exposure  in  the 
western  part  of  Goodhue  county,  abundantly  in  Dodge  county,  as  well  as  in 
Olmsted  and  Fillmore,  along  the  streams,  and  can  be  wrought  extensively. 
It  not  only  furnishes  a  building  material  that  is  suitable  for  all  ordinary 
uses  in  foundations  and  abutments  for  bridges,  but  it  also  cuts  easily  to  a 
regular  and  smooth  surface.  Its  bedding  is  sometimes  heavy,  reaching  two 
or  three  feet  in  thickness,  and  the  stone  is  strong  enough  to  endure  both 
pressure  and  long  weathering. 

At  Mantorville  the  quarries  are  owned  by  Mr.  H.  Hook,  P.  Mantor, 
A .  Doig,  and  others.  Mr.  Mantor's  was  opened  in  1856,  and  Mr.  Hook's  in 
1866  ;  Mr.  Doig's  in  1870.  This  is  one  of  the  oldest  quarrying  localities  in 
the  state,  and  much  stone  from  here  had  been  hauled  over  the  country, 
before  the  construction  of  railroads,  to  Rochester  and  other  towns.  It  has 
been  employed  at  Mantorville  in  the  construction  of  Wright's  hotel,  the 
county  court  house,  and  a  couple  of  churches.  At  Rochester,  Cook's  block, 
the  court  house,  the  public  school  house,  and  the  state  insane  asylum,  are 
all  faced  or  trimmed  with  the  Galena  from  Mantorville. 

• 

It  will  be  seen  by  the  general  table  that  dolomitic  limestones  are  also 
found  in  the  Trenton  formation,  underlying  the  Galena,  and  that  they  are 
quarried  at  Minneapolis.  They  are  Nos.  22  and  24.  It  is  probable  that  this 
character  pervades  certain  beds  of  the  Trenton  on  about  the  same  horizon 
at  points  further  south,  but  they  have  not  been  detected,  although  there  is, 
even  in  the  blue  and  argillaceous  beds  of  the  Trenton  generally,  a  small  per- 
centage of  magnesia.  These  magnesian  strata  are  not  those  usually  employed 
and  desired  for  construction,  but  they  are  for  the  most  part  avoided  in  build- 
ing, or  are  put  in  the  interior  and  protected  portions  of  the  walls — at  least 
the  stone  represented  by  No.  22  is  so  treated,  while  No.  24  is  used  indis- 
criminately with  No.  27  at  the  same  place.  The  position  of  these  magnesian 
strata  in  the  Minneapolis  quarries  may  be  seen  by  examining  the  following— 

General  descending  section  of  the  Trenton  at  Minneapolis. 

1.  Dolomitic  limestone  (No.  22  of  the  general  table)  with  considerable  argillaceous  matter, 
crystalline,  rough  to  the  touch,  hard  but  splitting  lenticularly  under  the  weather.  This  has  a 


BUILDING  STONES.  169 

Dolomitic  limeslones.] 

blue  color  within,  but  is  faded  to  a  drab  to  a  considerable  depth  depending  on  the  exposure,  while 
the  immediate  surface  is  generally  a  dirty  buff.  The  grain  is  close,  except  for  cavities  resulting 
from  absorbed  fossils.  The  pieces  into  which  the  stone  weathers  are  brittle  and  somewhat  sono- 
rous.  Contains  abundant  specimens  of  Orthis  tricenaria,  and  Strophomena  Minnesotensis,  as  well 
as  occasionally  Murchisonia,  Leperditiu  and  Edmondia.  The  fossils,  however,  are  apt  to  be  in 
the  form  of  casts  and  impressions.  Thickness  about  eight  feet. 

2.  Similar  to  the  last,  but  gradually  becoming  more  impure  with  shale,  the  fossils  being 
gathered  more  into  sheets  or  layers,  making  mere  calcareous  belts.    Two  feet. 

3.  Green  shale,  calcareous,  weathering  blue,  with  but  few  fossils.     Occasionally  is  found  a 
large  specimen  of  Endoceras  magniventrum,  H.   in  this  shale,  the  form  only  being  preserved,  sur- 
rounded by  a  thin  black  film  of  bituminous  matter.    Four  feet,  eight  inches. 

4.  The  last  passes  gradually  into  a  calcareous  shale  resembling  the  well  known  building 
rock  of  this  place,  in  which  still  there  are  few  distinguishable  fossils.    This  stone  is  sometimes 
used,  like  No.  1  above,  for  rough  walls,  or  in  protected  positions.    It  is  markedly  set  off  from  the 
rock  below  by  a  projecting  shoulder  formed  by  the  upper  portion  of  No.  5.    Two  feet,  four  inches. 

5.  Blue  building-stone  layers  (No.  27  of  the  general  table),  used  extensively  at  Minneapolis 
and  St.  Paul.    This  stone  is  rather  too  argillaceous  to  be  a  reliable  building  material,  yet  it  is 
extensively  used.    The  shale  is  intimately  disseminated  through  the  calcareous  layers,  without 
showing  regular  lamination,  yet  causes  a  mottled,  or  blotched  color  over  the  surfaces  when  cut  or 
broken.    The  darker  spots  are  shaly  ;  the  lighter  ones,  which  constitute  the  most  of  the  rock,  are 
more  purely  calcareous.     The  color  of  the  whole  is  bluish  gray,  which  gives  it  the  appearance  of 
strength  and  durability,  when  placed  in  a  structure.    The  fossil  remains  in  this  number  are  apt  to 
be  comminuted  so  as  to  be  wholly  undistinguishable,  yet  sometimes  large  pieces  of  Endoceras 
magniventrum,  II.  are  found  in  the  layers.    Rarely  also  on  separating  the  layers  in  quarrying,  a 
rock  surface  is  disclosed  that  is  eminently  fossiliferous  with  forms  of  BhynchoneUa,  Orthis,  and 
other  genera  of  brachiopods  and  mcrusting  corals.    This  is  the  principal  and  most  constant  mem- 
ber of  the  Lower  Trenton.    Thickness  thirteen  feet. 

6.  Dolomitic  limestone  (No.  24  of  the  general  table),  somewhat  vesicular,  and  of  a  dirty  drab 
color,  less  affected  by  shaly  interlaminations  than  the  last,  in  heavy  beds  that  furnish  a  good 
building  material.    This  stone  is  used  indiscriminately  with  the  last  in  all  places,  but  is  evidently 
a  more  valuable  stone.    Two  feet. 

7.  Blue  shale,  parting  ehonchoidally  under  the  weather,  lying  on  the  St.  Peter  sandstone. 
Three  feet.    Total,  thirty-five  feet. 

These  dolomitic  layers  from  the  Trenton  (No.  22)  are  more  durable 
than  the  regular  building-stone.  The  upper  dolomitic  layers  do  not  appear 
in  the  quarries  near  the  falls,  but  they  are  seen  in  the  quarries  near  the 
university,  and  in  those  on  the  west  side  of  the  river  at  some  distance  be- 
low the  falls.  The  dip  of  the  formation,  and  the  erosions  of  the  past,  have 
destroyed  them  at  and  above  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony.  This  rock  gener- 
ally is  rejected  by  builders,  and  is  confounded  with  the  worthless  shale 
(Nos.  3  and  4  of  the  section  above)  that  separates  it  from  the  regular  build- 
ing stone  layers.  The  older  portion  of  the  state  university  contains  a  large 
amount  of  this  stone,  and  its  greater  durability  than  that  of  the  regular 
building-stone  can  there  be  seen.  The  lower  dolomitic  stone  from  the 
Trenton  (No.  6  of  the  above  section)  is  found  in  all  the  quarries.  It  is 
generally  not  distinguished  from  the  other  building-stone  layers,  though 


170  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Limestones. 

sometimes  the  quarrymen  have  noted  it  under  some  fanciful  description.* 
Tt  is  represented  by  No.  24  in  the  general  table. 

The  other  stone  which  in  the  general  table  is  placed  with  the  dolomi- 
tic  limestones  (No.  25)  is  hardly  worthy  of  being  ranked  with  the  building 
stones  of  the  state,  both  because  it  is  a  poor  material  for  construction  and 
because  it  is  not  much  employed.  It  contains  39  per  cent,  of  insoluble 
matter,  mainly  silica  or  silicate  of  alumina  hydrated.  The  strata  consti- 
tute an  earthy,  or  "argillo-magnesian"  limerock,  which  contains  much  silica, 
and  vary  in  composition  considerably  from  layer  to  layer.  The  layers  are 
usually  thin,  not  exceeding  five  or  six  inches.  It  is  fit  for  rough  walls,  if 
the  limy  layers  are  carefully  selected  and  the  shaly  ones  rejected.  This 
stone  is  exclusively  used  at  Lake  City  in  Wabasha  county,  and  at  Hokah  in 
Houston  county,  although  at  each  place  the  dolomites  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
formation  exist  in  the  same  bluffs  in  immediate  superposition.  At  Lake 
City,  however,  some  importation  has  been  made  of  the  Berea  sandstone  from 
Ohio  (No.  41).  Stone  of  the  same  kind  is  found,  wherever,  in  the  .state,  that 
geological  horizon  is  seen  in  outcrop,  and  hence  in  most  of  the  bluffs  in 
Winona,  Houston  and  Wabasha  counties,  and  the  eastern  portions  of  Good- 
hue  and  Fillmore  counties.  It  is  near  the  top  of  the  St.  Croix  sandstone, 
where  it  begins  to  fade  into  the  St.  Lawrence  limestone. 

5.    LIMESTONES. 

The  limestones  that  are  used  for  building-stone  in  the  state,  are  con- 
fined to  the  Lower  Silurian.  None  of  them  are  strictly  pure  carbonate  of 
lime.  The  purest  that  has  been  observed  is  the  rock  formerly  quarried 
near  Fountain  in  Fillmore  county  (No.  26),  containing  over  eighty-six  per 
cent,  of  carbonate  of  lime,  the  most  of  the  rest  being  insoluble  matter,  and 
less  than  a  half  of  one  per  cent,  carbonate  of  magnesia.  The  rocks  of  this 
group  also  vary  to  one  containing  nearly  sixteen  per  cent,  of  carbonate  of 
magnesia,  the  same  also  having  over  twenty-five  per  cent,  of  insoluble  mat- 
ter. The  last  is  from  Clinton  Falls  in  Steele  county  (No.  29),  and  pertains 
to  the  Hudson  River  formation. 

The  Trenton  limestone  as  quarried  near  Fountain,  is  found  in  the  bot- 
tom of  the  formation,  within  ten  feet  of  the  St.  Peter  sandstone,  in  hori- 


*In  some  cases  even  styling  it  granite. 


BUILDING   STONES.  171 

Limestones.] 

zontal  strata,  and  is  exposed  along  the  railroad  cut  east  of  the  village.  It 
is  stratigraphically  the  equivalent  of  the  beds  quarried  more  extensively  at 
St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis,  but  the  stone  differs  from  the  latter  in  being 
nearly  free  from  shaly  impurities.  It  is  of  a  drab  color,  but  passes  to  a 
bluish  color  on  being  opened  more  deeply,  and  has  a  very  compact  or  dense 
texture.  There  are  here  beds  of  shale,  but  they  are  distinct  from  the  lime- 
stone beds.  They  facilitate  the  operations  of  the  quarrymen,  but  do  not 
impair  the  quality  of  the  rock.  In  quarrying  the  layers  rarely  exceed  five 
inches  in  thickness.  On  the  weathered  bluff  they  appear  even  thinner 
than  that,  being  apparently  not  more  than  two  inches.  They  are  tough 
and  hard,  and  when  broken  they  often  fracture  chonchoidally  and  in  unex- 
pected directions.  The  same  kind  of  stone  is  quarried  at  Chatfield,  in  the 
upper  bluffs,  also  near  Faribault  and  Northfield,  both  in  Rice  county.  In 
passing  northward,  however,  and  thus  approaching  the  old  shore-line  of  the 
paheozoic  ocean,  more  argillaceous  shale  is  found  mingled  with  the  rock; 
so  that,  even  in  those  comparatively  quiet  times,  when  marine  animals 
flourished  and  on  their  death  supplied  a  calcareous  deposit,  there  was  pres- 
ent so  much  shaly  (or  clayey)  sediment  that  the  resulting  rock  is  not  so  pure  a 
limestone  as  further  south.  At  the  southern  points  the  quiet,  lime-producing 
epochs  were  less  characterized  by  this  impurity,  but  were  separated  more 
distinctly  by  periods  of  agitation  when  large  amounts  of  shale  were  depos- 
ited. Hence  in  this  formation  at  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul  the  argillaceous 
ingredient  is  distributed  with  the  calcareous  and  also  constitutes  heavy  beds 
of  itself;  while,  at  Northfield  and  F.aribault,  the  calcareous  layers  are  more 
nearly  pure,  and  at  Fountain  are  almost  free  from  alumina  and  silica.  At 
the  same  time  in  passing  toward  the  south  the  purely  argillaceous  beds 
become  thicker  as  the  calcareous  become  thinner.  This  is  unfortunate  for 
the  cities  of  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul  which  have  to  depend  very  largely  on 
the  Trenton  limestone  for  building  material,  or  to  import  from  other  places, 
but  it  is  fortunate  for  those  towns  in  the  southern  portion  of  the  state  which 
have  to  use  the  same  strata. 

The  quarries  near  Faribault  are  in  the  town  of  Cannon  City,  about  two 
miles  east  of  Faribault.  A  small  creek  (Fall  creek)  here  unites  with  the 
Straight  river  at  its  northern  bend,  and  in  its  bed  and  along  its  bottoms 
the  strata  appear  in  a  horizontal  position.  The  quarry,  owned  by  Philip 


172  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Limestones. 

Cromer,  was  opened  in  1865,  but  was  not  much  worked  till  1867.  The  beds 
quarried  attain  an  aggregate  thickness  of  about  twelve  feet  and  an  indi- 
vidual thickness  of  a  few  inches  to  three  feet.  They  are  easily  wrought, 
and  have  been  extensively  used  at  Faribault  where  the  principal  buildings 
have  been  constructed  of  them.  The  uppermost  stratum,  which  is  about 
eight  inches  in  thickness,  has  been  termed  "marble",  and  some  ornamental 
pieces  have  been  cut  from  it.  It  is  susceptible  of  a  fine  and  uniform  polish, 
has  a  compact  texture  and  gray  color.  The  polished  surface  shows  vari- 
ous markings  due  to  the  contained  fossils,  but  its  composition  and  origin 
are  the  same  as  the  other  strata,  except  that  it  probably  would  be  found 
on  analysis  to  contain  more  carbonate  of  magnesia.  At  Faribault  the  fol- 
lowing structures  were  made  of  this  stone,  though  not  perhaps  wholly  from 
this  quarry:  the  state  asylum  for  the  deaf  and  mute,  the  Shattuck  school 
and  surrounding  buildings,  the  Episcopal  church  and  the  public  school- 
house. 

Some  of  the  stone  used  in  construction  at  Northfield,  in  Rice  county,  is 
from  the  same  place  (Cromer's),  but  the  quarries  opened  in  the  valley  of 
Prairie  creek,  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  same  county,  supply  a  stone  of  the 
same  kind  and  equally  good.  Here  are  numerous  quarries,  but  they  are  not 
wrought  so  extensively  as  those  near  Faribault.  Willis  hall,  of  Carleton 
college,  is  built  of  the  Trenton  quarried  near  Dundas,  the  sills  and  caps  of 
the  doors  and  windows  and  the  steps  at  the  entrance  being  from  the  Fari- 
bault quarries. 

Microscopic  characters  of  No.  26.  Throughout  the  section  can  be  seen  the  forms  of  sections  of 
fragments  of  fossils.  They  are  characterized  by  a  transparency  that  is  not  seen  in  the  rest  of  the 
rock,  due  to  the  pure  and  crystalline  condition  of  the  calcite  that  constitutes  them.  It  seems  as 
if  much  of  this  rock  were  derived  from  comminuted  shells  and  corals,  since  it  cannot  be  resolved 
into  granules  that  show  individual  crystallization,  but  rather  remains  an  amorphous  or  confused 
substance  through  which,  at  crossed  Nicols,  a  few  isolated  rays  of  light  can  be  seen  to  penetrate. 
It  has  scattered  particles  of  pyrite. 

Microscopic  characters  of  Nos.  27  and  28.  Most  of  this  rock,  at  least  the  compact  calcareous 
portions,  is  exactly  like  the  rock  from  Fountain.  The  figure  (Fig.  4  on  plate  C)  shows  dissemi- 
nated crystals  of  calcite  in  the  general  amorphous  mass  of  calcareous  matter,  somewhat  in  the 
manner  of  porphyry,  drawn  from  a  section  of  the  rock  from  St.  Paul,  and  magnified  forty  dia- 
meters. 

The  quarries  in  the  Trenton  limestone  at  St.  Paul  are  on  both  sides  of 
the  river.  The  principal  owners  are  Wm.  Dawson,  A.  Gotzian,  Breen  and 
Young,  M.  Roche,  Wm.  Zollman  and  W.  F.  Davidson.  The  rock  lies  hori- 
zontal, in  beds  that  vary  from  a  few  inches  to  about  two  feet  in  thickness, 


BUILDING    STONES.  173 

Limestones.] 

though  the  thickness  of  the  bedding  at  individual  quarries  is  an  element 
that  is  very  indefinite,  and  -varies  according  to  the  length  of  time  the  rock 
has  been  exposed  to  the  weather,  and  the  depth  to  which  the  excavation 
has  been  carried.  The  heaviest  beds  now  wrought  were  split  into  several, 
much  thinner,  when  the  quarries  were  first  opened,  but  as  the  work  has 
progressed  the  thin  beds  have  gradually  become  consolidated.  The  quar- 
ries near  the  state  capitol,  owned  by  Messrs.  Breen  and  Young,  M.  Roche, 
and  Win.  Zollman,  were  opened  in  1856,  and  have  been  in  uninterrupted 
use  ever  since.  Those  of  Win.  Dawson  in  West  St.  Paul,  were  begun  in 
1S5S,  those  of  the  Fort  street  road  in  1870,  and  those  on  Dayton's  bluff  in 
1869.  Mr.  Gotzian's  quarries  on  Dayton's  bluff  were  opened  in  1870. 

As  has  already  been  stated  under  the  head  of  dolornitic  limestones,  this 
rock  contains  a  considerable  amount  of  bluish,  shaly  matter  coarsely  dis- 
seminated throughout  even  the  calcareous  layers,  rendering  it  an  inferior 
building  stone.  For  that  reason  it  is  not  now  generally  employed  in  first- 
class  structures,  except  in  the  foundations  and  inner  walls  where  it  is  pro- 
tected from  disintegration  under  the  weather.  The  stone  itself  has  an 
attractive  and  substantial  aspect,  when  dressed  under  the  hammer  the 
variegations  due  to  the  alternating  shaly  and  limy  parts  giving  the  face  a 
clouded  appearance  as  of  gray  marble,  without  being  susceptible  of  a  uni- 
form polish.  When  protected  from  the  weather  the  shale  will  endure  and 
act  as  a  strong  filling  for  the  framework  of  calcareous  matter  for  a  long 
time;  but  under  the  vicissitudes  of  moisture  and  dryness,  and  of  freezing 
and  thawing,  it  begins  to  crumble  out  in  a  few  years.  This  result  is  visible 
in  some -of  the  older  buildings,  both  in  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis,  and  has 
provoked  a  very  general  inquiry  for  some  suitable  substitute  in  those  cities. 
The  natural  color  of  the  stone,  on  deep  quarrying,  is  blue,  but  it  is  often 
faded  to  an  ashen  drab  to  the  depth  of  several  feet,  depending  on  the  ease 
with  which  water  and  air  find  access  within.  The  porous  layers  are  apt  to 
be  most  faded.  The  long- weathered  surface  is  of  a  light-buff  color,  or  if  iron 
be  present  in  dripping  water,  or  contained  in  the  stone  as  pyrites,  so  sit- 
uated as  to  be  oxydized,  the  color  is  sensibly  deepened  to  a  rusty  yellow,  and 
at  the  same  time  the  stone  is  rendered  more  enduring  on  account  of  the 
irony  cement.  The  protoxide  of  iron,  also,  which  is  in  the  shale,  and  con- 
stitutes one  of  the  elements  of  weakness  in  the  rock,  is  changed  to  a  per- 


1  74  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Limestones. 

oxide  on  weathering.  This  change  of  color  is,  noticeable  in  the  rock  of  the 
river-bluffs  wherever  they  were  cut  out  before  the  last  glacial  epoch.  The 
layers  there  have  endured  the  exposure  of  a  much  longer  period  than 
in  the  river  bluffs  between  Fort  Snelling  and  Minneapolis,  where  the  strata 
have  been  cut  by  the  falls  since  the  last  glaciation.  The  shaly  portions  in 
particular,  when  closely  mingled  with  the  calcareous  are  so  stained  and 
hardened  that  the  rock  seems  almost  another  formation.  It  becomes  sep- 
arated into  layers  of  two  or  three  inches,  which  have  a  dirty  yellow  color. 
The  quarries  near  Minneapolis,  situated  near  the  Ahoka  county  line,  exhibit 
this  condition  perfectly.  Some  of  the  first  large  buildings  erected  in  St. 
Paul,  were  made  largely  or  wholly  from  such  iron-stained  and  weathered 
parts  of  this  formation,  and,  although-  they  do  not  present  that  uniformity 
of  color  and  appearance  of  solidity  and  strength  that  the  dark  blue  stone 
lately  quarried  gives  to  a  building,  the  stone  itself  has  withstood  the  climate 
and  storms  of  this  latitude  more  successfully  than  later  buildings  con- 
structed wholly  of  the  blue  stone.  Toward  the  southern  portion  of  the  state 
this  changed  condition  is  not  so  noticeable,  indeed  is  not  so  possible.  The 
beds  are  more  compact  and  calcareous,  and  have  less  protoxide  of  iron,  and 
the  effect  of  the  elements  is  more  superficial.  Hence,  while  this  formation 
as  a  building  material  at  its  northern  outcrops  at  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis 
is  rather  inferior,  at  its  southern  exposures  it  furnishes  a  dark  blue  stone  of 
excellent  quality.  Nothing  can  be  more  suitable  for  heavy  walls,  and  espe- 
cially for  foundations  below  the  water  table,  and  for  all  Gothic  structures, 
than  the  blue  limestone  taken  from  it  at  Fountain  or  at  Faribault. 

Some  of  the  principal  buildings  made  wholly  of  this  stone  in  St.  Paul 
may  be  mentioned,  viz.,  the  walls  of  the  United  States  custom  house  and 
post  office  are  of  this  stone,  the  Catholic  cathedral  and  the  German  Catholic 
church  are  built  wholly  of  it,  also  the  Fire  and  Marine  Insurance  building, 
the  McQuillan  block,  Dawson's  bank  building,  and  many  other  business 
blocks  and  several  other  churches,  the  St.  Paul  Roller  mill,  and  the  Wash- 
ington and  Franklin  school-houses. 

At  Mendota  Gen.  H.  H.  Sibley  in  1836  built  the  first  stone  residence 
in  Minnesota.  It  is  still  in  good  condition.  It  is  constructed  of  the 
Trenton  limestone,  but  shows  the  light  yellow  or  buff  color  common  to  the 
old  stone  buildings  of  St.  Paul.  The  first  stone  structure  in  the  state  was 


PLATE  G. 

EXPLANATION. 

Universalist  Church,  Minneapolis • p.  175 

Erected  in  1873-75. 
Built  wholly  of  the  blue  limestone  quarried  at  Minneapolis. 


PIRATE  G. 


UNIVERSALIST   CHURCH 
MINNEAPOLIS 


15U1LDINU    STONES.  175 

Limestones."] 

erected  in  1820,  of  the  Trenton  limestone.     It  was  a  portion  of  what  subse- 
quently became  Fort  Snelling. 

The  common-building  stone  of  St.  Paul  is  represented  by  No.  28  of  the 
general  table. 

What  has  been  said  concerning  the  Trenton  limestone  as  seen  in  St. 
Paul,  and  its  qualities  as  a  building-stone,  is  true  of  it  at  Minneapolis,  where 
it  is  abundantly  wrought  in  the  numerous  quarries  along  the  river  bluffs 
below  the  falls,  and  on  Nicollet  island.  The  quarries  first  considerably 
wrought  were  opened  in  1856,  and  are  situated  a  short  distance  below  the 
university  on  the  east  side  of  the  river.  In  1857  the  first  portion  of  the 
state  university  was  constructed  of  stone  from  this  quarry.  In  1864  the 
quarries  were  opened  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  particularly  that-  owned 
by  Weeks  and  Holscher.  Mr.  W.  W.  Eastman's  quarries  on  Nicollet  island, 
were  begun  in  1865,  Mr.  Franklin  Cook's  in  1873.  Several  others  were  begun 
in  1878,  and  in  1879. 

The  towers  of  the  suspension  bridge  over  the  Mississippi  at  Minneapolis 
are  constructed  of  this  limestone,  and  most  of  the  flouring  mills  of  the  city, 
as  well  as  numerous  business  blocks  and  dwelling  houses.  The  Universalist 
church,  erected  in  1873-75,  and  dedicated  in  1876,  is  wholly  constructed  of 
this  stone.  It  is  shown  in  plate  GK  The  regular  building-stone  layers  of 
the  Trenton  in  Minneapolis,  are  represented  in  the  table  by  No.  #7,  taken 
from  Nicollet  island. 

In  the  use  of  the  Trenton  limestone  quarried  at  St.  Paul  and  Minne- 
apolis, regard  should  be  had  constantly  to  its  laminated  structure.  The 
beds  quarried  now  are  as  they  were  originally  deposited,  and  as  cut  for  use 
embrace  in  every  block  many  layers  of  from  one-half  to  two  inches  in  thick- 
ness. These  consist  of  alternating  clayey  and  calcareous  portions,  the  latter 
constituting  the  hard  and  enduring  part  of  the  stone.  These  layers  are  not 
always  distinct  and  continuous  over  large  surfaces,  but  they  blend  or  shade 
into  each  other  every  few  inches.  Yet  in  process  of  time,  under  natural 
weathering,  they  get  separated  so  as  to  fall  apart,  the  clayey  parts  disinte- 
grating first  and  causing  the  calcareous  structure,  which  sustains  the  whole, 
to  break  up  into  small  sheets  or  fragments.  Hence  this  stone  should  never 
be  placed  on  edge,  but  in  the  same  position  it  occupied  in  the  quarry.  It 
should  never  be  allowed  to  form  projecting  or  exposed'  parts  of  a  building. 


176  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Sandstones. 

Most  especially  if  it  be  on  edge,  and  in  a  projecting  cornice  or  capital,  it  is 
a  source  of  weakness  to  the  structure,  as  well  as  of  danger  to  all  passers, 
from  the  dropping  of  sheets  or  fragments  as  the  weather  by  wet  or  frost 
separates  them  from  each  other.  The  color  of  the  Trenton  makes  it  very 
suitable  for  foundations,  and  for  the  ranges  below  the  water-table,  but  even 
there  it  should  be  well  bedded  in  mortar  and  protected  by  the  water-table 
in  order  to  keep  out  the  water. 

The  limestone  quarried  at  Clinton  Falls,  near  Owatonna,  in  Steele  county, 
belongs  to  the  Lower  Silurian.  It  is  from  strata  higher  than  the  Trenton 
as  seen  atFaribault,  and  has  been  parallel!  zed  with  the  Hudson  River  form- 
ation. The  strata  are  from  two  to  six  inches  in  thickness  and  are  broken 
by  frequent  joints.  The  stone  is  of  a  bluish-drab  color,  and  uniform  char- 
acter of  texture.  It  is  useful  for  common  construction,  but  owing  to  the 
thinness  of  the  bedding  it  cannot  be  used  for  first-class  buildings  and  heavy 
masonry.  It  is  associated  in  the  stratification  with  much  shale,  and  the 
stone  itself  is  affected  by  considerable  argillaceous  matter,  which  causes  it 
to  be  damaged  by  freezing  and  thawing,  and  by  corroding  vapors  in  some- 
what the  same  degree  as  the  Trenton  stone  at  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis. 
The  shale,  however,  is  minutely  disseminated  throughout  the  rock,  instead 
of  being  in  lenticular  interlaminations  as  in  the  Trenton.  The  chief  quarry 
is  owned  by  Messrs.  Lindersmith  &  Son,  and  its  product  is  principally  used 
at  Owatonna,  and  in  the  surrounding  country. 

Microscopic  characters  of  No.  29.  In  thin  section  under  the  microscope  this  has  very  much 
the  same  appearance  as  No.  26,  but  has  a  few  distinctly  formed  crystals  of  calcite  porphyritically 
distributed. 

6.    SAJSTDSTONES. 

The  stone  quarried  at  Hinckley  in  Pine  county,  by  the  St.  Paul  and 
Duluth  railroad  (No.  30),  bears  so  strong  a  resemblance  to  that  quarried  near 
Fort  Snelling  in  Dakota  county  (No.  31),  by  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and 
St.  Paul  railway,  both  in  general  outward  appearance  and  in  its  chemical 
and  physical  characters,  that  it  may  on  these  grounds  be  supposed  to  belong 
to  the  same  formation.  And  since  there  are  no  stratigraphical  nor  struc- 
tural difficulties  opposed  to  such  a  reference,  but  rather  evidences  of  such 
irregularities  as  to  require  it,*  they  are  here  considered  as  belonging  to  the 

•See  tenth  annual  report,  1881.    Geology  of  a  deep  well  at  Minneapolis. 


BUILDING   STONES.  177 

Sandstones.] 

• 

Potsdam  formation,  near  the  horizon  of  its  passage  into  the  St.  Croix.  The 
Hinckley  rock  is  but  slightly  exposed,  and  has  not  been  much  wrought,  but 
on  account  of  its  evidently  very  superior  qualities,  it  will  be  sought  for  more 
for  general  building  than  heretofore,  and  hence  it  is  probable  that  some  of 
its  exposures  farther  clown  the  valley  of  the  Grindstone  river  will  be  opened 
for  that  purpose.  The  present  quarry  is  situated  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Grindstone  river  where  the  railroad  crosses  it,  the  rock  rising  about  eight 
feet  above  the  water.  The  railroad  bridges  along  the  dalles  of  the  St.  Louis 
river  have  foundations  of  this  stone,  and  some  other  railroad  works  have 
been  made  with  it.  Tts  color  is  light-yellow  or  sometimes  with  a  pinkish 
tint,  and  its  grain  is  uniform  and  arenaceous.  Its  strength  under  pressure 
is  very  great,  amounting  to  17,500  pounds  per  square  inch  when  placed  on 
edge,  and  19,000  pounds  per  square  inch  when  on  bed. 

Microscopic  characters  of  Nos.  30  and  31.  The  largest  of  the  individual  quartz  grains  com- 
posing this  rock  are  about  one-half  millimeter  in  diameter,  but  in  general  they  are  about  one- 
tenth  millimeter.  They  are  rounded  as  by  attrition  among  themselves,  and  their  shape  is  sub- 
angular.  Their  exterior  is  minutely  roughened  and  in  these  depressions  is  deposited  the  cement 
which  furnishes  the  bond  of  the  rock.  Many  of  the  grains  also  are  interpenetrated  by  impurities 
which  are  ferruginous  and  give  them  a  yellowish  tint,  but  for  the  most  part  the  quartz  is  pure  and 
perfectly  clear.  Cavities  in  the  quartz  grains  are  sometimes  in  parallel  lines.  While  the  exte- 
rior of  the  quartz  grains  is  coated  with  a  sprinkling  of  yellowish  ochreous  impurities,  the  cement- 
ing bond  is  largely  calcareous,  but  so  meager  that  there  are  interstitial  cavities  bet  ween  the  grains 
of  quartz.  Figures  5  and  6,  plate  C. 

The  sandrock  No.  31,  quarried  near  Fort  Snelling,  has  occasionally  a  grain  of  feldspar  min 
gled  witli  the  quartz,  and  some  of  the  quartz  contains  small  acicular  crystal  inclusions  that 
resemble  apatite.  Otherwise  it  is  exactly  like  No.  30.  It  has,  however,  a  little  more  copious  and 
darker-colored  cement,  with  an  occasional  rounded  grain  of  magnetite. 

Rock  No.  31  has  been  used  in  the  foundations  of  the  railroad  bridge  at 
Port  Snelling,  one  of  the  piers  of  this  bridge  being  constructed  mainly  of 
this  stone,  and  in  the  piers  of  the  new  highway  bridge  at  the  same  place, 
crossing  the  M  ississippi  river.  The  quarry  is  on  an  island  near  Fort  Snelling, 
so  near  the  water  level  of  the  Minnesota  river  that  it  can  be  operated  only 
in  the  winter,  when  the  blocks  can  be  hauled  away  on  the  ice.  The  Port 
Snelling  quarry  was  opened  in  1869,  but  was  not  used  very  much,  after  the 
construction  of  the  railroad  bridge  over  the  Minnesota,  till  1878,  when  the 
highway  bridge  over  the  Mississippi  was  constructed.  The  strata  are  homo- 
geneous, horizontal  and  about  two  feet  thick  as  quarried,  the  color  being  a 
rusty  yellow  with  some  broad  banding  of  lighter  yellow.  It  is  liable  to 

inequalities  in  hardness  and  durability.     Its  color  gives  it  an  attractive 
12 


178  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Sandstones. 

exterior,  and  renders  the  tall  piers  of  the  Fort  Snelling  bridge  an  object  of 
admiration  to  all  architects. 

The  sandrock  quarried  at  Dresbach,  in  Winona  county  (No.  32)  is  largely 
feldspathic,  and  rather  soft,  but  it  becomes  harder  on  the  drying  out  of  the 
water  which  it  contains  in  the  quarry.  It  belongs  to  the  St.  Croix  forma- 
tion and  very  near  its  lowest  part.  The  great  anticlinal  of  that  formation 
crosses  Winona  county,  bringing  to  view  lower  strata  of  the  St.  Croix  than 
can  be  found  along  the  Mississippi  in  any  other  county  in  that  part  of  the 
state.  These  lowest  beds  cannot  be  found  in  the  Mississippi  bluffs  further 
south,  nor  north.  They  probably  might  be  opened  in  numerous  places  in  the 
valley  of  Koot  river  and  its  tributaries,  in  Houston  and  Fillmore  counties, 
in  the  direction  of  the  anticlinal,  which  enters  the  state  from  Wisconsin.  In 
the  valley  of  Black  river,  at  Black  River  Falls,  thirty-three  miles  from  the 
Mississippi,  east  of  Winona,  the  crystalline  granites  and  schists  appear, 
brought  to  the  surface  by  this  anticlinal. 

The  stone  is  evenly  granular,  gray,  and  of  a  medium-sized  grain,  very 
much  resembling  the  Berea  sandstone  of  Ohio.  It  is  in  beds  that  are  quar- 
ried out  from  six  inches  to  three  or  four  feet  thick.  It  is  free  from  nodules 
of  pyrite  or  of  coarse  quartz  pebbles.  It  can  be  sawn  easily,  and  dressed 
with  great  facility  with  a  hammer  and  chisel.  Its  strength  in  crushing 
pressure  is  6,500  pounds  per  square  inch  when  placed  on  its  bedding  plane, 
and  3,750  pounds  when  placed  on  its  edge.  Though  ranking  somewhat 
lower  than  the  Berea  stone  in  that  respect,  it  will  become  stronger  as  the 
quarries  progress,  the  present  working  not  having  penetrated  beyond  the 
effects  of  long  weathering,  while  the  stone  from  the  Berea  quarries  with 
which  it  has  been  compared  was  from  old  and  much  used  quarries  where 
the  stone  shows  its  best  estate.  Its  strength  is  ample  for  the  largest  struc- 
tures, and  its  durability  under  the  weather  is  evinced  by  tne  projecting 
terrace-like  shoulder  which  it  causes  along  the  base  of  the  Mississippi 
bluffs.  Its  naturally  gray  color  is  found  at  a  depth  of  a  few  feet  from  the 
weathered  surface,  the  weathered  and  faded  condition  of  the  same  strata 
being  seen  in  the  quarries  at  Dakota  (No  36)  about  a  mile  above  Dresbach. 
It  then  becomes  lighter,  both  in  weight  and  in  color,  absorbs  moisture 
much  more  readily,  is  more  affected  by  freezing  and  thawing,  and  also  is 
less  able  to  maintain  itself  intact  in  case  of  fire  followed  by  water  thrown 


BUILDING   STONES.  179 

Sandstones.] 


upon  it.  It  also  loses  from  one-sixth  to  one-third  of  its  crushing  strength. 
The  Dresbach  quarry  is  owned  by  J.  F.  Tostevin,  Jr.,  and  was  opened  in 
1881.  It  was  the  direct  result  of  a  visit  by  the  state  geologist,  who,  in 
examining  the  "lead  mine"  'of  the  Winona  mining  company,  called  atten- 
tion to  the  quality  of  the  excavated  stone,  comparing  it  with  the  Berea 
sandstone  of  Ohio  now  largely  imported  to  the  state.  The  stone  has  not 
yet  been  extensively  introduced,  but  has  been  put  into  several  buildings 
in  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis,  and  in  the  trimmings  of  Ladies  Hall,  one  of 
the  buildings  of  Carleton  college.  It  is  confidently  asserted  by  the  own- 
ers that  this  stone  will  successfully  compete  with  the  Ohio  stone  not  only 
in  the  country  west  of  the  Mississippi  but  even  in  the  markets  of  Chicago 
and  Milwaukee.  The  Catholic  church  at  Rollingstone,  in  Winona  county, 
is  built  from  the  St.  Croix,  but  not  quarried  at  Dresbach. 

Microscopic  characters  of  No.  32.  The  grains  are  angular  or  sub-angular,  and  include  some 
that  are  f  eldspathic.  The  latter  retain  a  trace  of  cleavage  in  the  parallel  disposition  of  the  lines  of 
minute  impurities  which  darken  them,  and  occasionally  also  show  a  minute  striation  as  if  triclinic. 
The  stone  shows,  in  thin-section,  frequent  grains  of  green  sand  which  have  a  closely  netted  inter- 
nal structure,  which  in  high  powers  shows  an  aggregation  of  globules.  Scattered  through  the  sec- 
tion are  conspicuous,  elongated,  nearly  parallel,  somewhat  club-shaped,  brown  grains  which  are 
probably  sections  of  fragments  of  phosphatic  bivalves.  An  occasional  aggregation  of  minute  pyrite 
crystals  may  also  be  seen  in  reflected  light.  Muscovite  is  the  only  mica,  and  that  is  in  very  rare 
scales.  Ocher  is  nearly  wanting  in  the  gray-colored  stone  of  Dresbach,  but  is  much  more  frequent 
in  the  weathered  stone  quarried  at  Dakota  (No.  36)  in  the  form  of  irregular  clouds  and  patches. 

The  stone  quarried  at  Jordan,  in  Scott  county  (No.  33),  is  from  the 
typical  locality  of  the  Jordan  sandstone  formation,  and  is  very  similar  in 
all  respects  to  the  rock  from  Dresbach,  except  that  it  has  a  greater  amount 
of  insoluble  matter,  and  less  of  calcareous  cement ;  its  alumina  also  is  in 
greater  proportion.  This  rock  is  but  little  quarried  in  the  state.  Its  line 
of  outcrop  is  quite  narrow,  being  situated  between  two  firm  and  persistent 
limestones.  Hence  its  superficial  exposure  is  mostly  confined  to  a  turfed 
slope  along  the  bluffs  of  rivers  near  the  top,  just  below  the  Shakopee  lime- 
stone. It  is  thus  seen  in  numerous  places  in  Fillmore,  Olmsted,  Winona 
and  Houston  counties,  at  points  some  miles  away  from  the  Mississippi  river. 
It  is  not  known  at  any  place  in  the  bluffs  of  the  Mississippi  south  of  Hastings. 
It  can  be  seen  at  Stillwater,  in  Washington  county,  and  probably  exists  in 
the  second  terrace  flat  at  Nininger  in  Dakota  county.  Its  outcrop  at  Jordan 
is  along  Sand  creek,  and  rises  but  few  feet  above  the  water.  No  other  rock 
formation  is  visible,  and  were  it  not  for  the  relation  in  which  it  is  placed 


180  *HE  GEOLOGY  OF  MIXNESOTA. 

[Sands  tones  t 

by  the  dip  of  the  formation  as  seen  at  the  islands  in  the  river,  and  at  Louis- 
ville, its  true  position  in  respect  to  the  outcrop  at  St.  Lawrence  would  not 
be  made  out  correctly.  The  principal  quarries  are  owned  by  F.  Nicolin 
and  Philip  Kipp  ;  the  former  opened  in  1858  and  the  latter  in  1862.  From 
these  quarries  was  taken  the  stone  used  in  the  construction  of  the  Jordan 
City  mills  and  the  mill  of  Foss  and  Wells,  at  Jordan.  The  strata  are  from 
two  inches  to  two  feet  in  thickness,  but  cut  by  rather  frequent  joints  ;  still 
there  is  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  blocks  as  large  as  needed  for  ordinary 
construction. 

When  the  rock  is  taken  from  below  the  water  level,  or  from  deep  exca- 
vation, it  has  the  gray  color  of  the  Dresbach  stone,  but  that  put  in  the  Jor- 
dan City  mills  is  much  stained  in  stripes,  parallel  with  the  sedimentation, 
with  iron-rust.  This  probably  renders  it  firmer,  as  well  as  darker,  and  gives 
it  much  the  appearance  of  the  rock  quarried  near  Fort  Snelling  already 
mentioned  (No.  31).  The  crushing  tests  that  have  been  made  on  rock  of 
these  two  colors  from  the  same  quarry  (Nos.  33  and  35)  show  the  greater 
strength  of  the  rusty  layers.  They  also  show  that  the  rusty  stone  absorbs 
moisture  more  rapidly,  and  is  easily  destroyed  by  corrosive  and  other  vapors, 
at  least  in  the  case  of  those  portions  containing  considerable  lime  and  mag- 
nesia, rendering  them  less  valuable  as  a  building  stone. 

Microscopic  characters  of  No.  33.  Th!s  stone  has  no  greensand  grains,  or  very  few  ;  some  of 
the  grains  are  of  orthoclase  feldspar ;  occasionally  a  mnscovile  scale  can  be  seen  ;  films  of  ocher  are 
common,  some  of  them  being  square,  as  if  the  product  of  changed  pyrite.  The  most  of  the  rock 
consists  of  fine  quartz  grains  which  are  rounded  or  sub-angular,  some  of  the  largest  being  a  fifth 
of  a  millimeter  in  diameter. 

The  red  sandstone  from  Fond  du  Lac,  St.  Louis  county  (No.  34),  is  of  the 
Potsdam  formation,  and  extends  along  the  south  shore  of  lake  Superior  east- 
ward, forming  the  bluffs  of  the  Apostle  islands  and  of  the  mainland  at  nu- 
merous points.  At  Siskiwit  bay,  near  the  west  end  of  lake  Superior,  the 
rock  No.  39  was  taken  from  it.  This  rock  is  of  the  same  formation,  pre- 
sumably, as  the  quartzyte  that  has  been  described  near  New  Ulm  and  in 
Pipestone  county  (No.  12).  The  layers  are  tilted,  at  Fond  du  Lac,  toward 
the  southeast.  They  are  associated  with,  and  overlie,  a  vast  amount  of  soft 
red  shale  which  passes  sometimes  to  a  shaly  red  conglomerate,  the  same 
that  in  other  places  about  lake  Superior  is  in  contact  with  the  igneous  rocks 
and  becomes  copper-bearing.  This  red  sandstone  is  well  known  in  Milwau- 
kee, Chicago  and  Detroit.  The  quarries  in  it  further  east  furnished  the  red 


BUILDING  STONES.  181 

Sandstones.  ] 

sandrock  used  in  the  Milwaukee  court  house,  and  a  great  many  brown  stone 
fronts  in  that  city  and  in  Chicago  were  obtained  from  it.  It  was  formerly 
quarried  on  the  south  side  of  Siskiwit  bay,  on  Lsle  Royale,  and  sold  in 
Detroit  as  Tsle  Royale  brownstone.  While  it  consists  largely  of  quartz,  the 
grains  are  not  so  firmly  cemented  or  united  as  to  render  it  objectionably 
hard  except  when  it  has  been  subjected  to  metamorphic  agencies,  a  in 
Pipestone  county  and  in  some  of  the  analogous  knobs  seen  in  the  northern 
part  of  the  state.*  On  Isle  Eoyale,  when  quarried,  it  is  fine-grained  and 
rather  brittle,  being  more  metamorphosed  than  at  Fond  du  Lac.  At  some 
points  it  has  a  mottling  of  red  and  gray,  as  at  Sault  St.  Marie,  at  the  eastern 
end  of  lake  Superior,  where  the  ship  canal  is  cut  in  it,  and  largely  built 
of  it.  At  Fond  du  Lac  it  has  also  a  mottling  of  green,  particularly  at  the 
quarry  on  Mission  creek.  In  some  places  it  is  so  loosely  cemented  as  to 
crumble  and  to  be  rendered  useless  for  building,  and  in  others  it  contains 
pebbles,  and  even  stones  several  inches  in  diameter,  of  white  quartz,  or  even 
becomes  wholly  conglomeritic.  Nearly  all  these  features  can  be  seen  at 
Fond  du  Lac,  but  there  is  still  at  that  place  a  great  abundance  of  fine  stone 
of  the  best  quality.  Its  strength  under  pressure  is  from  five  to  eight  thou- 
sand pounds  per  square  inch,  tested  for  the  survey  by  general  Gillmore. 

At  Fond  du  Lac  this  stone,  while  in  general  of  a  reddish-brown  color, 
is  variously  marked  with  spots  and  stripes  of  lighter  shade.  It  also  has 
occasional  grains  of  quartz  as  large  as  a  pea,  or  even  as  large  as  a  hen's  egg, 
distributed  especially  through  the  lighter  colored  portions,  but  not  much  of 
it  is  conglomeritic.  Sometimes  flattened  lumps  of  red  shale  from  two  to  five 
inches  across  are  seen  arranged  in  belts  coincident  rudely  with  the  strati- 
fication. The  strata  are  of  all  thicknesses  up  to  three  or  four  feet,  and  very 
large  blocks  are  obtainable.  The  principal  quarry  is  owned  by  Mr.  M.  Boyle. 
It  is  situated  in  the  bluff  of  the  St.  Louis  river  a  short  distance  above  Fond  du 
Lac,  at  the  first  rapids,  and  was  first  opened  by  Mr.  M.  E.  Chambers  in  1870. 
The  stone  appears,  and  has  been  worked,  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  but  the 
principal  excavation  is  on  the  Minnesota  side  from  twenty  to  forty  feet 
above  the  water,  near  the  St.  Paul  and  Duluth  railroad.  It  is  also  opened 
on  Mission  creek,  north  of  Fond  du  Lac,  by  James  G.  McDonald,  where  some 


•Tenth  annual  report,  p.  101.    Nos.  784,  785. 


182  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Lemont  stone. 

very  fine  stone  has  been  taken  out.     The  product  of  this  quarry  is  sent  to 
Winnipeg,  where  a  Manitoba  college  is  trimmed  with  it. 

This  sandrock  is  seen  in  the  Clark  and  Hunter  blocks  at  Duluth,  but 
the  principal  structure  of  this  material  in  the  state  is  the  Westminster 
church  at  Minneapolis,  illustrated  by  plate  H.  It  has  been  used  as  trim- 
mings in  a  few  buildings  both  in  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul. 

Microscopic  characters  of  No.  34.  About  two-thirds  of  this  rock  consists  of  rounded  and  sub- 
angular  grains  of  quartz,  the  most  of  it  being  pure  and  limpid,  but  some  of  it  having  numerous 
globular  inclusions.  Nine-tenths  of  the  remainder  may  be  regarded  as  feldspar.  This  is  often 
crowded  and  darkened  by  ocher  and  ferrite  but  is  sometimes  white  and  kaolinic.  Occasionally 
can  be  seen  a  fibrous,  light-green,  angular  grain  that  has  apparently  resulted  from  hornblende  or 
from  augite.  A  few  fibrous  serpentiuous  partings  surround  and  separate  some  of  the  feldspars. 
Apatite  spicules  cut  some  of  the  quartz.  A  few  black  grains  are  magnetite.  A  little  calcite  is 
distinguishable. 

The  sandrock  which  has  been  somewhat  quarried  and  used  at  Taylor's 
Falls  (No.  37)  is  very  similar  to  that  obtained  at  Jordan.  It  is  of  a  light 
color,  rather  friable  on  first  quarrying,  hardens  on  exposure,  and  is  in  heavy 
natural  strata  from  which  blocks  of  any  desired  size  may  be  taken.  It  be- 
longs to  the  St.  Croix  formation,  and  is  extensively  exposed  in  the  bluffs  of 
the  St.  Croix  and  Mississippi  rivers,  but  in  a  higher  horizon  than  the  Dres- 
bach  stone. . 

7.  STONES  FROM  OTHER  STATES. 

Owing  to  the  use  of  several  building  stones  in  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis, 
and  to  some  extent  in  Hastings,  Faribault,  Red  Wing  and  Winona,  from 
other  states,  it  has  been  thought  best  to  include  in  the  tests  that  have  been 
made,  samples  of  these  stones,  in  order  to  ascertain  their  qualities  and  com- 
parative merits.  The  results  are  given  in  the  general  table.  The  pieces 
selected  for  these  tests  were  obtained  from  the  blocks  that  have  been  sent 
to  Minnesota  for  use  m  some  prominent  structure,  and  may  be  taken  as 
rather  above  the  average  for  quality  for  the  respective  stones.  The  tests 
were  made  in  exactly  the  same  manner,  and  frequently  in  the  same  solu- 
tion, and  at  the  same  moment,  as  the  tests  made  of  Minnesota  stones. 

Of  these  the  Lemont  stone  (No.  38),  also  frequently  known  as  the  Joliet 
stone,  from  the  Niagara  formation,  in  Illinois,  comes  through  the  series  of 
tests  with  a  higher  rank  on  a  scale  of  100  than  any  of  the  others,  being  in 
that  respect  on  a  par  with  the  Minnesota  dolomite  (No.  13)  furnished  by  the 


PLATE   H. 

EXPLANATION. 

Westminster  Presbyterian  Church,  Minneapolis .  .p.  182 

Erected  in  1881-83. 
Built  wholly  of  the  brown  sandrock  quarried  at  Fond  du  Lac. 


PLATE  H. 


WESTMINSTER  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 

MINNEAPOLIS 


BUILDING  STONES.  183 

Stone  City  and  Berea  stone.] 

quarries  at  Frontenac,  in  Gooclhue  county.  They  both  stand  77.  This 
stone  has  been  employed  in  the  fronts  of  several  large  business  blocks  in 
Minneapolis,  the  principal  being  the  Casey  block,  between  Washington 
avenue  and  Third  street,  on  Mcollet,  and  the  Hennepin  block  on  Hennepin 
avenue. 

The  Stone  City  stone,  from  Iowa  (No.  40),  is  from  the  same  formation 
as  the  Lemont  stone,  but  it  has  lost  its  original  color  (which  is  that  of  the 
Lemont  stone)  by  long  exposure  in  the  bluffs  of  the  river  where  it  is  wrought. 
The  acquired  color  penetrates  the  formation  there  to  a  depth  greater  than 
that  reached  by  any  of  the  quarries.  It  is  now  light  buff,  which  is  the  color 
of  nearly  all  of  the  limestones,  where  exposed  in  the  "driftless  area,"  what- 
ever they  may  be  where  they  are  buried  under  the  drift  sheet  at  other 
places.  As  quarried  at  Stone  City  (in  Jones  county)  the  Niagara  seems  to 
be  much  more  a  magnesian  limestone  than  at  Lemont  in  Illinois,  the  inso- 
luble portion  being  less  than  one  per  cent.,  and  its  content  of  lime  and  mag- 
nesia together  being  over  95  per  cent.  As  compared  with  the  Lemont  stone 
for  purposes  of  construction,  the  tests  that  have  been  made  by  the  survey 
show  the  Lemont  stone  is  much  stronger  under  pressure,*  but  that  it 
weathers  much  more  rapidly,  The  latter  is  probably  due  to  its  larger  per- 
centage of  alumina,  which  gives  it  a  finely  striped  surface  when  dressed  on 
the  edges  of  the  bedding,  and  produces,  but  much  more  slowly,  the  same 
laminated  disintegration  as  is  seen  in  the  Trenton  limestone  (No.  27).  The 
Stone  City  dolomitic  limestone  was  employed  in  the  construction  of  the  Bos- 
ton block  and  the  Windom  block,  at  Minneapolis,  and  for  the  curbing  of 
the  paved  streets. 

The  Berea  sandstone,  Number  41  of  the  table,  is  one  that  has  a  wide 
reputation  in  the  United  States  for  its  excellence  in  all  kinds  of  building. 
It  has  a  uniform  color  and  rather  fine  and  arenaceous  grain,  with  occasional 
feldspar  (?)  and  muscovite  particles,  the  cement  being  carbonate  of  lime. 
This  may  be  seen  in  numerous  buildings  in  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis,  as  well 
as  in  Stillwater,  Red  Wing,  Wiriona  and  other  cities.  The  Syndicate  block, 
at  Minneapolis,  is  the  largest  in  the  state  wholly  faced  with  this  stone. 

*The  Lemont  stone  is  exceptionally  strong  for  a  limestone. 


184  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Qualitative  tests. 


(B.)    GENERAL  TABLE  OF  QUALITATIVE  TESTS  OF  MINNESOTA 
BUILDING  STONES. 

For  the  purpose  of  reaching  results  that  would  serve  as  a  basis  for  com- 
paring the  building-stones  of  Minnesota  with  each  other,  and  with  those 
from  other  states,  average  samples  were  obtained  and  subjected  to  such 
physical  tests  as  could  be  devised  that  would  represent  the  intensified  nat- 
ural action  of  the  weather.  These  physical  tests  were  performed  by  Prof. 
J.  A.  Dodge  of  the  University  of  Minnesota,  and  the  chemical  analyses  of 
the  same  stones  were  also  done  by  him,  or  under  his  direction  by  Mr.  C.  F. 
Sidener.  At  the  same  time  duplicate  two-inch  cubes  were  subjected  to 
pressure  at  Fort  Wadsworth,  Staten  Island,  under  the  direction  of  Gen.  Q. 
A.  Gillmore,  one  cube  being  crushed  in  the  direction  of  the  bedding,  and 
the  other  in  a  direction  across  it,  between  steel  plates.  The  results  of  these 
tests  are  brought  together  for  comparison  in  the  Systematic  table  of  the  qual- 
ities of  Minnesota  building  stones,  already  referred  to. 

In  the  same  table  these  results  are  carried  out  into  mathematical 
expressions,  by  a  series  of  credits  on  a  scale  of  ten,  the  final  results  being 
placed  on  a  scale  of  rank  from  100  downward,  so  that  each  stone  stands  in 
the  final  result  wherever  the  sum  of  its  credits  may  warrant.  In  getting 
these  credits  of  the  individual  stones,  in  each  case  the  highest  attained 
result  has  been  taken  as  10  and  the  lowest  as  1.  The  intermediate  results 
have  been  distributed  proportionately  between  10  and  1.  In  those  cases 
where  the  first  results,  are  not  expressed  by  figures,  an  estimate  has  been  made 
and  expressed  in  figures,  the  highest  rank  (10)  being  given  to  those  stones 
that  stood  the  test  in  question  most  successfully.  This  comparison  is  made 
on  the  assumption  that  all  the  tests  included  in  the  credit  columns  are  of 
equal  value  in  indicating  the  comparative  worth  of  the  stones,  but  in  reality 
some  are  of  much  more  value  than  others.  It  is  evident  that  specific 
gravity  may  be  reckoned  either  a  favorable  or  unfavorable  element.  In 
some  situations,  or  for  some  uses,  it  is  desirable  to  have  a  light  stone,  and 
in  others  a  heavy  one.  The  same  is  true  in  regard  to  some  of  the  other 
qualities.  Those  elements,  in  general,  which  go  to  make  up  a  very  durable 
building-stone,  and  thus  act  affirmatively  for  the  stone  as  a  part  of  the 
structure,  also  go  to  make  it  incorrigible  in  the  builder's  hands,  and  to  that 
extent  act  negatively.  For  these  reasons  specific  gravity  has  not  been 


BUILDIKG  STOKES.  185 

Qualitative  tesls.] 

included  in  ascertaining  the  individual  credits  of  the  stones,  but  another 
element,  not  included  in  the  physical  tests,  has  been  introduced,  viz.,  facility 
of  dressing,  which  plainly  is  governed  by  the  hardness  or  the  toughness  of 
the  rock  ;  the  former  depending  on  its  content  of  free  silica,  and  the  latter  on 
the  crystalline  texture,  or  the  nature  of  the  cement  in  the  case  of  sediment- 
ary rocks.  This  operates  disastrously  on  the  crystalline  rocks,  and  wholly 
to  the  advantage  of  the  softest  rocks.  Yet  there  is  good  reason  for  allow- 
ing this,  though  this  quality  has,  perhaps,  less  to  do  with  the  actual  value 
of  the  stones  as  material  for  building,  since  an  excess  of  hardness  (or  crush- 
ing resistance)  at  least  up  to  25,000  pounds  per  square  inch,  which  is  equally 
unimportant  in  ordinary  construction,  has  been  allowed  to  act  in  its  full 
capacity  in  favor  of  the  crystallines.  The  variation  of  texture  induced  by 
lamination,  or  accompanied  by  it,  is  a  very  important  element  in  sediment- 
ary rocks. 

In  forming  any  judgment  of  the  comparative  value  of  these  building- 
stones  for  individual  markets,  other  elements  should  be  included  along  with 
these  physical  tests,  such  as  ease  of  quarrying,  accessibility  of  the  quarry, 
facility  of  transportation  and  permanence  of  the  supply. 

THE  METHODS  OF  THE  PHYSICAL  TESTS. 

The  detail  of  the  methods  of  the  physical  tests,  as  given  by  Trof.  Dodge,  is  as  follows : 
Determination  of  specific  gravity.  This  was  executed  by  the  usual  method  for  solid  bodies, 
with  the  use  of  an  analytical  balance.  The  specimens  were  nearly  of  the  same  size  and 
approximately  cubical,  having  been  split  out  by  hammer  and  chisel.  They  measured  from  an  inch 
to  an  inch  and  a  half  on  a  side,  and  weighed  on  an  average  about  50  grammes.  They  were  in  an 
air-dried  state,  having  been  allowed  to  lie  on  a  table  in  a  warm  and  dry  room  for  several  weeks 
before  their  specific  gravity  was  determined.  They  were  then  severally  weighed.  They  were  then 
immersed  in  water  and  allowed  to  remain  about  twenty-four  hours,  when  all  evolution  of  air  bub- 
bles had  ceased.  They  were  then  weighed  in  water,  suspended  by  a  thread.  The  weight  in  air  was 
divided  by  the  loss  of  weight  in  water,  and  the  result  was  taken  as  the  specific  gravity. 

Determination  of  the  absorption  of  moisture  from  a  damp  atmosphere.  The  samples  of  stone 
were  placed  in  the  cells  of  a  hot-water  bath  for  several  days,  to  expel  their  hygroscopic  moisture. 
They  were  then  allowed  to  cool  in  desiccators,  over  sulphuric  acid,  and  were  weighed.  They  were 
then  placed  upon  a  set  of  glass  shelves  standing  in  a  pan  of  water,  and  a  tight  cylinder  was  inserted 
oyer  the  shelves,  the  mouth  of  the  cylinder  being  s?aled  by  the  water,  after  the  manner  of  a  gas 
holder.  The  apparatus  remained  thus  in  a  room  whose  temperature  was  pretty  uniform,  from  60° 
to  70°  Fahrenheit,  for  seven  weeks,  the  water  being  replenished  from  time  to  time,  so  as  to  main- 
tain a  constant  closure  of  the  cylinder.  Then  the  stones  were  removed  to  bell-jars  in  which  they 
were  supported  over  water,  and  thus  taken  to  the  balance  and  weighed.  The  stones  submitted  to 
this  test  were  somewhat  larger  than  the  pieces  used  for  making  the  determination  of  specific  gra- 
vity. They  had  an  average  weight  of  about  70  grammes.  They  were  roughly  shaped.  The  min- 
imum absorption  of  moisture  .03  per  cent,  of  the  weight  of  the  stone,  is  so  small  in  amount  as  to 
be  practically  nothing.  The  maximum,  3.94  per  cent  of  the  weight  of  the  stone,  seems  quite  con- 
siderable. It  seems  probable  that,  in  the  atmosphere  saturated  with  moisture  in  which  they  were 
kept  for  seven  weeks,  some  of  the  stones  absorbed  all  the  moisture  they  were  capable  of  taking  up, 


18(5  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Qualitative  tests. 

while  others  by  a  longer  exposure  to  the  same  conditions  would  have  shown  still  higher  figures. 

Determination  of  the  absorption  of  water  by  soaking.  A  third  set  of  stones  with  an  average 
weight  of  about  70  grammes,  approximately  rectangular  and  measuring  from  an  inch  to  an  inch 
and  a  half  on  a  side,  were  dried  in  the  hot-water  hath  to  expel  moisture.  They  were  then  cooled 
in  the  desiccator  and  weighed.  They  were  then  placed  in  a  large  porcelain  dish  of  water  and 
allowed  to  soak  for  four  days.  They  were  then  severally  taken  from  the  water,  and  after  the 
water  had  been  removed  from  their  surface  by  pressing  bibulous  paper  upon  them,  they  were 
weighed  as  expeditiously  as  possible  to  avoid  loss  by  drying.  The  increase  of  weight  is  expressed 
in  percentage  figures.  The  increase  of  weight  thus  shown,  especially  by  several  sandstones,  is  in 
some  cases  very  considerable.  In  other  cases  the  absorption  of  water  by  soaking  is  scarcely  greater 
than  the  absorption  from  a  damp  atmosphere  after  the  lapse  of  some  weeks. 

Detei-mination  of  the  action  of  carbonic  acid.  A  set  of  pieces,  similar  in  size  and  shape  to 
those  used  in  the  previous  determination,  were  dried  for  six  days  at  2 12"  Fahrenheit,  then  weighed. 
They  were  then  suspended  by  strings  in  a  glass  vessel  of  water,  not  in  contact  with  one  another,  and  a 
stream  of  carbonic  acid  gas  was  run  through  the  water  for  several  hours  at  short  intervals,  so  as 
to  maintain  the  water  pretty  well  saturated.  The  gas  was  washed  before  entering  the  vessel  con- 
taining the  stones.  The  water  was  changed  every  few  days  by  use  of  a  siphon.  The  action  was 
continued  for  six  weeks.  The  stones  were  then  soaked  in  pure  water,  wiped,  dried  at  212°  F.  for 
six  days  and  weighed.  The  loss  of  weight  is  given  in  percentage  figures.  Two  glass  vessels  were 
used  in  the  experiment.  The  limestone  pieces  were  placed  in  one,  the  sandstone  and  granite  in 
the  other.  The  two  were  treated  as  nearly  alike  as  possible.  The  stones  suffered  scarcely  any 
visible  change.  But  the  water  in  the  vessel  holding  the  limestones  became  highly  impregnated 
with  carbonate  of  lime ;  that  in  the  other  much  less  so. 

Determination  of  the  action  of  strong  acid  fumes.  Another  set  of  pieces  of  stone,  similar  in 
size  and  shape  to  the  preceding,  were  dried  for  six  days  at  212°  F.,  then  weighed.  They  were  then 
placed  in  an  apparatus  similar  to  that  used  for  determining  the  absorption  of  moisture,  constructed 
of  glass  and  porcelain,  the  porcelain  pan  containing  strong  muriatic  acid,  and  a  bottle  containing 
nitric  acid  being  placed  within  the  apparatus,  as  also  a  bottle  containing  muriatic  acid  and  black 
oxide  of  maguanese,  for  the  purpose  of  evolving  chlorine.  In  this  apparatus,  exposed  to  the  strong 
fumes,  the  stones  remained  during  seven  weeks.  They  were  then  removed  and  placed  in  water  to 
soak,  this  water  being  repeatedly  changed.  When  free  from  acid  they  were  dried  for  six  days  as 
at  first,  then  weighed.  The  loss  of  weight  is  given  in  percentage  figures. 

The  design  of  this  test  was  to  determine  the  disintegrating  and  staining  effects  produced  by 
oxydizing  agents,  representing  the  action  of  the  atmosphere  intensified  in  degree  and  concentrated 
in  respect  to  time. 

Determination  of  the  effect  of  frost.  In  this  determination  the  pieces  which  had  been  used  to 
test  the  absorption  of  water  by  soaking,  whose  weight  dry  had  been  previously  learned,  were 
placed  in  a  shallow  iron  pan,  nearly  covered  with  water,  and  exposed  outside  the  building  in  a 
sheltered  place  to  freezing  and  thawing  from  February  4th  to  April  1st,  eight  weeks  To  thaw, 
they  were  occasionally  brought  into  a  warm  room  for  a  few  hours.  During  the  time  stated  very 
little  intense  cold  was  experienced,  but  the  water  in  the  pan  was  in  a  frozen  state  nearly  all  the 
time.  After  this  exposure,  the  pieces  were  carefully  examined,  then  dried  for  six  days  as  usual 
and  weighed.  The  figures  show  the  loss  of  weight  caused  by  slight  crumbling  of  edges,  etc.,  by  the 
action  of  frost. 

Determination  of  the  effect  of  heat.  For  this  determination  a  muffle  furnace  was  made  use  of. 
The  temperature  of  the  muffle  was  raised  to  a  red  heat ;  then  the  samples  of  stone,  one  after  an- 
other, were  exposed  to  the  heat  of  the  muffle,  being  at  first  placed  near  the  open  mouth  of  the 
muffle,  then  gradually  moved  inward  until  they  came  into  the  hottest  part  and  were  heated  to  red- 
ness. Observations  were  made  of  the  effect  of  the  heating.  They  were  lifted  out  with  tongs  once 
or  twice  and  closely  inspected.  After  the  heating  test  in  the  muffle,  the  pieces  were  severally 
removed  from  the  muffle  and  while  still  very  hot,  but  at  a  temperature  below  red- 
ness, they  were  immersed  in  a  tank  of  water  for  a  few  minutes.  The  action  of  the 
water,  in  crumbling  or  cracking  the  heated  stones  was  observed  and  noted.  The  pieces 
used  were  in  size  rather  larger  than  those  used  in  previous  tests,  being  from  one  and  a  half 
to  two  inches  on  a  side  for  the  most  part.  They  had  been  well  air-dried  at  the  time  this  test  was 


BUILDING   STONES.  187 

General  conclusions.] 

made  with  them.    In  these  observations,  as  in  those  of  the  preceding  tests  not  depending  on  the 
balance,  correctness  depends  much,  of  course,  on  the  judgment  of  the  operator. 

(C.)    GENERAL  CONCLUSIONS  RESPECTING  THE  QUALITIES  OF 
BUILDING  STONES. 

The  weathering  of  a  building-stone  which  results  in  its  final  demolition 
is  partly  physical  and  partly  chemical.     These  processes  aid  each  other.     A 
stone  that  is  easily  rent  by  frost,  or  is  washed  and  eroded  rapidly  by  rains  or 
hail,  or  wind,  will  quickly  prove  an  element  of  weakness  in  a  building; 
and  one  that  is  able  to  resist  these  physical  agents  successfully,  when  aided 
by  the  invisible  action  of  rapid  chemical  change,  will  also  soon  disintegrate 
when  favorably  exposed  to  all  these  forces.    For  instance,  if  a  limestone  be 
so  placed  in  a  building  as  to  be  protected  from  the  physical  action  of  wind 
and  rain,  it  becomes  coated  with  a  film  of  dirt  which  results  both  from  its 
own  chemical  change  and  the  accumulation  of  dust.     This  film  acts  to  pro- 
tect the  stone  from  the  chemical  changes  due  to  the  vapors  or  acids  that 
float  in  the  air,  or  that  are  in  solution  in  rainwater;  if,  however,  the  same 
stone  be  freshly  washed  by  every  pelting  rain,  its  corners  become  rounded 
and  its  entire  exterior  surface  slowly  wears  away,  under  the  unobstructed 
action  of  both  chemical  and  physical  forces.     The  same  is  true  of  sandstones, 
especially  those  having  a  calcareous  cement,  and  also  of  the  crystalline 
rocks.     In  the  case  of  granite,  however,  the  change  is  so  slow  that  the  co- 
operation of  chemical  and  physical  forces  can  only  be  seen  and  estimated 
in  their  natural  beds  where  there  has  been  time  sufficient  for  the  change  of 
one  mineral  to  another  by  the  substitution  of  different  elements  and  the 
removal  of  some  of  those  which  were  there  at  first.    After  this  change  has 
been  effected,  if  physical  causes  remove  the  weakened  mineral  a  fresh  sur- 
face is  presented  for  the   continuance  of  a  slow  chemical  change.     The 
glacial  epochs  have  thus  operated  to  keep  the  crystalline  rocks  fresh  in 
northern  latitudes,  while  further  south,  and  beyond  the  limit  of  glaciation, 
the  decayed  material  of  the  crystalline  rocks  has  frequently  accumulated 
to  great  thicknesses.*     The  crystalline  rocks  of  Minnesota,  so  far  as  they 
have  been  quarried,  and  tested  by  the  survey,  seem  to  show  the  freshness 
of  the  glaciation  that  has  passed  over  them  in  their  remarkable  strength 
under  pressure. 

"Compare  the  report  of  K.  W.  Raymond  on  tile  mining  resources  of  the  United  States,  1874,  p.  335.    The  Silver  City 
mining  district  of  New  Mexico. 


188  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[General  conclusions. 

It  is  evident  therefore  that  the  value  of  a  building-stone  depends  both 
on  its  chemical  constitution  and  its  physical  structure.  A  rock  so  consti- 
tuted that  either  of  these  is  liable  to  rapid  attack  by  the  weather,  is  neces- 
sarily a  poor  one  for  construction. 

A  stone  that  absorbs  moisture  abundantly  and  rapidly  is  apt  to  be 
injured  by  alternate  freezing  and  thawing.  Hence  clayey  constituents  are 
injurious.  An  argillaceous  stone  is  generally  compact,  and  often  has  no 
pores  visible  to  the  eye.  Such  will  disintegrate  rapidly  either  by  freez- 
ing and  thawing,  or  by  corrosive  vapors. 

A  stone  that  is  compactly  and  finely  granular  will  exfoliate  by  freezing 
and  thawing  more  easily  than  one  that  is  coarse-grained. 

A  stone  that  is  laminated  in  structure,  so  as  to  absorb  moisture  unequally, 
will  expand  by  heat  and  contract  by  cold  unequally,  and  especially  by 
freezing  and  thawing.  Such  a  stone  will  gradually  separate  into  sheets 
coincident  with  its  laminated  structure. 

A  stone  that  has  a  granular  texture,  as  contrasted  with  one  that  is  crys- 
talline or  fibrous,  will  crumble  sooner  by  frost  and  by  chemical  agents, 
because  of  the  easy  dislodgment  of  the  individual  grains. 

A  stone  which  has  an  open  texture  will  serve  as  a  lodging  place  for  float- 
ing particles  of  dust,  and  lichens  and  fungus  growths  will  appear  on  its 
surface.  These  give  off  by  their  decay  organic  acids  which  attack  the  car- 
bonates, of  which  the  rock  may  be  largely  composed,  and  unless  removed 
they  will  cause  the  decomposition  of  the  stone  to  some  depth,  and  its  con- 
version to  a  loose  powder.  A  loose-textured  stone,  however,  does  not  trans- 
mit heat  so  rapidly  as  a  dense  one  ;  and  in  cold  climates,  especially  if  they 
are  also  dry  and  free  from  dust,  it  would  be  a  warmer  building  material  as 
well  as  perhaps  more  durable,  than  a  dense  stone. 

A  doloinit ic  limestone  is  more  durable  than  a  pure  limestone.  The  lime- 
stones of  Minnesota  are  all  of  them  somewhat  magnesian,  but  the  Trenton 
is  not  sufficiently  so  to  be  distinctively  denominated  a  magnesian  limestone. 
Nearly  all  the  others  are  so  highly  magnesian  as  to  reach  occasionally 
more  than  forty  per  cent,  of  carbonate  of  magnesia,  when  they  have  been 
classed  as  dolomites  in  the  accompanying  table. 

A  siliceous  rock,  other  things  being  equal,  is  more  durable  than  a  lime- 
stone; but  the  durability  of  a  siliceous  rock  plainly  depends  on  the  state 


BUILDING   STONES.  189 

General  conclusions.] 

of  aggregation  of  the  individual  grains  and  their  cementing  bond,  as  well 
as  on  the  chemical  relation  of  the  silica  to  the  other  chemical  ingredients. 
For  instance,  a  nearly  pure  arenaceous  rock  of  quartz,  like  the  St.  Peter 
sandstone,  containing  about  ninety-eight  per  cent,  of  quartz,  is  still  so  fra- 
gile that  it  is  easily  excavated  with  the  fingers  alone,  there  being  no  suffi- 
cient cementing  material  to  bind  the  grains  to  each  other.  The  same  kind 
of  sandstone,  however,  with  a  sufficient  cement,  makes  a  very  fine  build- 
ing material,  as  the  stone  at  Hinckley  in  Pine  county,  No.""  30.  If 
furthermore  there  be  a  partial  chemical  union  between  the  silica  and  the 
other  elements,  as  in  the  Pipestone  quartzyte  (No.  12),  the  stone  is  rendered 
more  durable  still,  and  more  firm  under  pressure.  And  if  the  chemical 
union  be  complete,  so  as  to  result  in  a  perfect  crystallization  of  the  rock, 
the  stone  becomes  one  of  the  granites  or  syenites  and  necessarily  takes  the 
highest  rank  in  the  comparative  scale  of  values. 

A  stone  that  has  a  high  percentage  of  alumina  (if  it  be  also  non-crystal- 
line), or  of  organic  matter,  or  of  protoxide  of  iron,  will  generally  dis- 
integrate rapidly.  Such  stones  generally  are  of  a  bluish  color. 

A  stone  of  rather  poor  quality  by  reason  of  a  weak  physical  structure 
or  an  unfortunate  chemical  composition,  is  improved  by  the  absolution  of  iron. 
The  sesquioxide  of  iron  furnishes  a  bond  to  hold  the  grains  together,  in  case 
of  an  originally  weak  cement,  and  it  takes  the  place  of  the  protoxide  of  iron, 
or  of  organic  impurities. 

A  stone  of  high  grade,  having  a  crystalline  texture,  or  a  superior  chem- 
ical constitution,  is  impaired  by  the  absorption  of  iron  through  the  process  of 
weathering.  The  first  effect  of  weathering  in  granites  is  visible  in  the  loss 
of  transparency  of  the  individual  grains  either  of  feldspar  or  of  some  of 
the  other  minerals,  the  result  of  the  penetration  of  ferruginous  matters 
within  them.  A  dolomite  which  is  changed  in  color  by  this  means  is  also 
weakened.  This  is  apparent  on  comparing  No.  19  with  No.  23,  or  No.  38 
with  No.  40. 

A  stone  that  has  no  very  weak  element  in  the  list  of  its  credits,  will  be  found 
more  valuable  than  one  that  reaches  an  average  result  perhaps  higher,  but 
has  one  or  more  very  low  points  on  the  scale  of  credits.  The  ultimate  use- 
fulness of  a  stone  in  average  construction,  depends  on  its  weakest  element. 

Durability,  texture,  color.     These  are  the  essential  qualities  to  be  consid- 


V 


190  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[General  conclusions. 

ered  in  the  discussion  or  selection  of  a  building-stone.  The  more  nearly 
these  three  are  combined  in  favorable  degrees  in  the  same  stone,  the  more 
valuable  that  stone  becomes. 

Previous  to  the  opening  of  a  quarry  the  rock  in  its  natural  beds  should  be 
carefully  examined,  and  a  full  and  scientific  description,  including  a  compari- 
son of  the  different  layers,  ought  to  be  made  of  the  appearance  of  the  rock  in 
the  hands  of  nature,  as  testimony  to  its  weathering  power.  The  enduring 
formations  are  the  sources  of  our  best  building-stone,  and  the  individual 
layers  will  be  found  conspicuous,  or  hid  by  the  decay  of  their  own  forms,  in 
proportion  as  they  have  been  able  to  withstand  the  alternations  of  heat  and 
cold  and  of  moisture  and  dryness.  There  they  have  been  subjected  to  these 
vicissitudes  for  thousands  of  years. 

Permanence  of  color,  and  the  presence  of  pyrite,  may  be  determined  best 
by  the  appearance  of  the  natural  outcrop.  Before  demolition  by  the  weather 
a  rock  assumes  different  colors.  Whatever  may  be  the  color  of  a  stone  fresh 
from  the  quarry,  it  can  not  be  permanent.  Most  of  our  limestones  show 
three  different  colors,  according  to  the  degree  of  exposure  and  the  ease  ot 
access  within  for  air  and  water.  For  instance,  the  Galena  limestone,  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  state,  as  seen  along  the  river  bluffs,  is  of  a  dark  buff  or 
rusty -buff  color  on  the  long- weathered  surface.  This  color  pervades  that 
portion  of  the  stone  that  is  undergoing  rapid  disintegration  in  its  natural 
position,  and  is  generally  not  more  than  half  an  inch  in  depth.  Under  that~ 
is  the  light  buff  color  seen  in  most  of  the  stone  quarried  from  that  forma- 
tion, and  it  pervades  the  stone  to  a  great  depth.  Where  the  texture  is 
open  this  color  has  apparently  gone  through  all  the  beds,  but  it  is  an 
acquired  color  produced  on  the  rock  by  atmospheric  causes.  The  same 
effect  is  produced  on  all  magnesian  limestones,  the  depth  of  the  change 
depending  largely  on  the  percentage  of  argillaceous  impurities  the  rock 
may  contain.  Deep  within  the  rock  may  finally  be  seen  the  natural  color, 
where  exposure  has  not  yet  produced  any  change.  It  is  blue,  and  at  first  is 
seen  only  in  the  centre  of  the  layers,  surrounded  by  a  layer  of  the  light 
color.  These  different  colors  can  be  seen  in  the  Trenton  at  St.  Paul  and 
Minneapolis;  but  owing  to  the  close  and  clayey  nature  of  this  formation, 
the  blue  color  is  better  preserved,  and  is  that  seen  in  the  stone  now  most 
used.  Formerly  the  stone  used  was  of  a  dirty-drab  or  yellowish  color,  very 


BUILDING   STONES.  191 

Stone  buildings  in  St.  Paul.] 

largely,  as  the  quarries  had  not  penetrated  below  the  natural  weathering. 

(D.)    THE  USE  OF  STONE  IN  MINNESOTA. 
STONE   BUILDINGS   IN    ST.  PAUL   AND   MINNEAPOLIS. 

The  use  of  stone  for  construction  in  Minnesota  has  but  fairly  begun. 
This  is  owing  to  the  lateness  of  the  settlement  of  the  country  by  Europeans, 
and  the  ease  with  which  other  material  has  been  obtained.  Pine  lumber 
and  brick  are  both  abundantly  and  cheaply  supplied.  From  the  log  house 
of  the  pioneer  to  the  elegant  stone  mansion  of  his  successor  of  to-day  there 
is  necessarily  a  slow  change,  in  most  of  the  western  country,  but  in  many 
parts  of  Minnesota  this  change  has  been  so  rapid  that  a  single  generation 
has  witnessed  both.  For  the  purpose  of  making  a  punctuation-point  in  this 
transition,  so  that  the  future  may  look  back  on  a  definite  stage  in  what  is 
now  the  present,  in  the  growth  of  the  two  principal  cities,  the  following 
statement  of  the  use  of  stone  in  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis  is  given,  based  on 
an  enumeration  made  in  1SS1.*  Every  business  front,  was  considered  a 
building ;  and  if  a  corner  block  had  also  an  important  entrance  from  the 
cross  street,  that  entrance  was  estimated  as  a  building. 

Stone  buildings  in  St.  Paul  in  1881. 

Composed  entirely  of  limestone  quarried  at  St.  Paul  (No.  28),  324. 

Of  these  three  have  iron  fronts,  three  have  granite  trimmings,  and  four  have  Kasota  trim- 
mings ;  and  several  have  the  rear  walls  of  brick.  This  class  includes  many  of  the  largest  struc- 
tures in  the  city  :  the  Catholic  cathedral,  the  Unitarian  church,  St.  Paul's  Episcopal  church,  St. 
Mary's  (Catholic)  church,  the  United  States  custom  house  and  post  office,  the  Adams,  Franklin 
and  Washington  schools,  the  county  jail,  and  other  schools  and  churches. 

Composed  entirely  of  Kasota  stone  (No.  23),  2. 

These  are  the  Baptist  church  and  the  residence  of  Mr.  N.  W.  Kittson  on  St.  Anthony  hill. 

Composed  of  Trenton  limestone  walls  and  fronts  of  Kasota? 

If  any  such  exist  they  were  counted  either  as  wholly  of  Trenton  or  as  of  brick  walls  with 
Kasota  fronts. 

Composed  of  Trenton  limestone  with  Frontenae  fronts? 

If  any  such  exist  they  were  counted  either  as  wholly  of  Trenton  or  as  of  brick  walls  with 
Frontenae  fronts. 

Composed  of  Trenton  limestone  walls  and  brick  fronts,  82. 

Two  of  these  have  Kasota  trimmings.    The  Windsor  House  is  in  this  class. 

Composed  of  brick  walls  with  fronts  of  Trenton  limestone,  9. 

Composed  of  brick  walls  with  Kasota  fronts,  1. 

This  is  the  Greve  block,  on  Third  street  between  Minnesota  and  Robert. 

Composed  of  brick  walls  and  fronts  of  Frontenae  stone  (No.  13),  3. 

Composed  of  brick  walls  and  fronts  of  granite  from  Minnesota,  3. 

These  are  the  fronts  of  Nicols  and  Dean,  on  Third  street. 

Composed  of  brick  walls  and  fronts  of  Berea  sandstone,  4. 

*The  main  results  of  this  enumeration  have  also  been  furnished  the  United  States  census  bureau,  for  1880. 


192  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Stone  buildings  in  Minneapolis. 

These  include  the  Manheimer  block  and  the  German  American  Bank.  One  has  partly 
granite.  The  Manheimer  block  has  a  Kasota  base. 

Composed  of  brick  walls  with  trimmings  of  Trenton  limestone,  208. 

Of  these  six  have  partly  granite  in  the  trimmings.  This  class  includes  the  capitol,*  and 
some  school-houses. 

Composed  of  brick  walls  with  Kasota  trimmings,  107. 

Of  these  five  have  trimmings  in  part  of  granite.  In  this  class  are  the  Drake  and  the  David- 
son blocks,  the  headquarters  building  of  the  Chicago,  St.  Paul,  Minneapolis  and  Omaha  railway, 
the  market  house,  three  of  the  engine  houses  of  the  fire  department,  and  two  school-houses. 

Composed  of  brick  walls  and  trimmings  of  Frontenac  stone,  49. 

Eleven  of  these  have  some  granite  in  the  trimmings.  In  this  class  falls  the  block  of  Auer- 
bach,  Finch  and  Van  Slyck. 

Composed  of  brick  walls  and  trimmings  of  Fond  dn  Lac  sandstone  (No.  34),  7. 

Three  of  these  also  include  some  marble  in  their  trimmings. 

Composed  of  brick  walls  with  trimmings  of  Berea  sandstone,  30. 

Five  have  partly  granite  trimmings. 

Composed  of  brick  walls  with  white  marble  trimmings,  1. 

This  is  a  residence  on  Dayton's  bluff. 

Buildings  partly  trimmed  with  granite,  28. 

Total  number  of  buildings  in  the  city  (estimated  at  one  for  every  six  inhabitants),  6912. 

Total  number  of  stone  buildings,  326. 

Percentage  of  stone  buildings,  4|. 

The  school  houses,  in  St.  Paul,  are  built  generally  of  brick.  The  following  list  embraces  all 
but  the  frame  buildings,  viz  :  Madison  school,  Bluff  street  west,  is  of  red  brick,  with  Trenton 
base  and  trimmings.  Lincoln  school,  on  Collins  street,  cream-colored  brick,  with  Trenton  trim- 
mings and  base.  Van  Buren  school,  on  Bates  street,  Dayton's  bluff,  is  of  cream-colored  brick, 
with  Kasota  trimmings  and  Trenton  basement.  Adams  school.^  on  Tenth  street,  wholly  of  Tren- 
ton limestone.  Webster  school,  corner  of  Sibley  and  Laurel  avenues,  is  of  cream-colored  brick 
with  Trenton  basement  and  Kasota  trimmings.  Jackson  school,  on  University  avenue,  is  of  red 
brick,  with  Trenton  base  and  trimmings.  Jefferson  school,  on  Pleasant  avenue,  is  of  cream-color- 
ed brick,  trimmed  with  Trenton  limestone  and  iron.  Monroe  school,  on  Fort  street,  is  of  red  brick, 
with  Trenton  basement  and  trimmings.  Washington  school,  corner  of  Olive  and  Eighth  streets, 
Trenton  limestoneV  (stuccoed),  with  Trenton  trimmings.  Franklin  school,  corner  of  Broadway 
and  Tenth  streets,  wholly  of  Trenton  limestone. 

Stone  buildings  in  Minneapolis  in  1881. 

Composed  entirely  of  Trenton  limestone  quarried  at  Minneapolis  (No.  27),  155. 

This  includes  the  largest  structures  of  the  city,  such  as  the  Washburn  A,  B  and  C  flouring 
mills,  the  Pillsbury  A  flouring  mill,  the  University  of  Minnesota,  the  College  hospital  (formerly 
Macalester  college),  the  Universalist  church,  the  Irish  and  the  French  Catholic  churches,  and 
several  of  the  school-houses  of  the  city. 

Composed  of  Fond  du  Lac  sandrock  (No.  34),  1: 

This  is  the  new  Westminster  Presbyterian  church ;  its  inner  walls  are  of  Trenton  limestone. 

Composed  of  Trenton  limestone  walls  and  fronts  of  Berea  sandstone,  5. 

Composed  of  Trenton  limestone  with  brick  fronts,  34. 

Composed  of  Trenton  limestone  with  Kasota  trimmings,  9. 

Composed  of  Trenton  limestone  and  trimmings  of  Minnesota  granite,  12. 

Composed  of  Trenton  limestone  with  trimmings  of  brick,  8. 

Buildings  of  brick  with  fronts  of  Berea  sandstone,  5. 

Buildings  of  brick  with  fronts  of  Joliet  (or  Lemont)  stone,  8. 

Buildings  of  brick  with  Stone  City  stone  (No.  40),  4. 

Buildings  of  brick  with  trimmings  of  Trenton  limestone,  177. 

Buildings  of  brick  with  trimmings  of  Berea  sandstone,  60. 


•This  capitol  building  was  burned  in  the  winter  of  1880-81. 

tThis  has  since  been  torn  down, and  in  its  place  has  been  erected  a  new  High  school  building  of  brick,  with  Kasota 
stone  for  trimmings. 


BUILDING  STONES.  193 

City  and  State  buildings.] 

Buildings  of  brick  with  trimmings  of  Frontenac  limestone,  13. 

Buildings  of  brick  with  Joliet  (or  Lemont)  trimmings,  3. 

Buildings  of  brick  with  Fond  du  Lac  sandstone  trimmings,  48. 

Buildings  of  brick  with  Kasota  trimmings,  11. 

Buildings  of  brick  with  granite  trimmings,  6. 

Buildings  partly  trimmed  with  granite,  21. 

Buildings  of  brick  with  white  marble  trimmings,  1. 

Total  stone  buildings  in  the  city,  224. 

Total  buildings  in  Minneapolis  (estimated  at  one  for  every  six  inhabitants),  7814. 

Percentage  of  stone  buildings,  2J. 

In  several  residences  artificial  stone  (concrete)  is  found  for  window-caps  or  other  trimmings, 
but  with  Trenton  sills,  basement  and  water-tables.  Lemont  water-tables  are  seen  in  a  few  build- 
ings which  have  other  stone  for  trimmings.  Kasota  steps  and  water-tables  are  frequently  put  in 
buildings  that  have  other  stone  for  trimmings.  There  is  probably  not  a  foundation  laid  in  Min- 
neapolis of  any  other  stone  but  the  Trenton  limestone.  There  are  perhaps  twenty  other  brick 
buildings  with  artificial  stone  trimmings,  of  which  no  account  has  been  made. 

The  city  buildings.  The  city  hall  building  is  made  of  the  Trenton  limestone  trimmed  with 
St.  Cloud  granite.  The  fire  department  buildings  are  as  follows :  corner  Second  street  and 
Third  avenue  north,  two  fronts,  cream  brick  walls,  with  granite  water-tables  and  Trenton  trim- 
mings ;  between  Sixth  and  Seventh  avenues  south,  on  Third  street,  cream  brick  walls,  artificial 
stone  trimmings  and  granite  water-tables ;  Washington  avenue  south,  between  Fourteenth  and 
Thirteenth  avenues  south,  two  fronts,  cream  brick  with  Berea  sandstone  trimmings,  and  granite 
door-corners;  on  Plymouth  avenue, cream  brick,  with  ai^ificial  stone  trimmings  and  granite  door- 
corners;  on  Second  street  S.  E.,  near  Central  avenue,  cream  brick,  Trenton  limestone  sills  and 
keystone  ;  Main  street  and  Thirteenth  avenue  N.  E.,  Trenton  limestone,  cream  brick  front,  artifi- 
cial stone  trimmings.  The  school  buildings  are  as  follows :  Washington  school,  Fourth  street  and 
Third  avenue  south,  wholly  of  Trenton  limestone ;  the  High  school,  Trenton  and  Kasota  trim- 
mings ;  Monroe  school,  Franklin  avenue  and  Twenty-fourth  avenue  south,  cream  brick  with  Berea 
sandstone  trimmings,  slate  roof,  and  Kasota  steps;  Winthrop  school,  in  East  Minneapolis,  wholly 
of  Trenton ;  Marcy  school,  East  Minneapolis,  cream  brick  walls  and  Trenton  trimmings ;  Jack- 
son, corner  of  Fifteenth  avenue  south  and  Fourth  street,  cream  brick  walls,  iron  caps  and  wooden 
window  sills,  no  water-table,  Trenton  basement ;  Jefferson,  Seventh  street  and  First  avenue 
north,  cream  brick  with  trimmings  of  artflcial  stone,  slate  roof,  Trenton  basement,  shows  the 
poor  architecture  of  a  granite  column  and  pedestal  standing  on  a  base  of  artificial  stone  ;  Webster 
school,  in  N.  E.  Minneapolis,  cream  brick  walls,  Trenton  base,  Berea  sandstone  water-tables  and 
trimmings;  Sumner  school,  Sixth  avenue  north,  between  Nineteenth  and  Twentieth  streets, 
cream  brick,  with  Trenton  base  and  sills;  Humboldt  school,  cream  brick,  Trenton  limestone 
base,  artificial  stone  water-tables  and  trimmings;  Adams  school,  cream  brick  with  Trenton  trim- 
mings ;  Garfield  school,  on  Chicago  avenue,  cream  brick,  Berea  trimmings,  granite  sills,  slate  roof 
and  Kasota  steps  ;  Everett  school,  Sixth  avenue  north  and  Third  street,  East  Minneapolis,  cream 
brick,  Trenton  trimmings  and  basement ;  Madison  school,  Fifteenth  street,  between  Fifth,  and 
Sixth  avenues  south,  cream  brick,  Trenton  basement,  iron  trimmings  ;  Clay  school,  Fourth  street 
and  Twentieth  avenue  south,  cream  brick,  Berea  trimmings,  slate  roof ,  Kasota  steps;  Franklin 
school,  Fourth  street  and  Fifteenth  avenue  north,  cream  brick  and  Trenton  base  and  trimmings; 
Lincoln  school,  Washington  avenue  north,  between  Sixth  and  Seventh  avenues,  cream  brick, 
Trenton  basement  and  iron  trimmings;  Hennepin  county  jail  and  sheriff's  residence,  Trenton  lime- 
stone ;  court  house,  cream  brick  with  Trenton  trimmings  ;  city  market,  cream  brick  walls,  trimmed 
with  artificial  stone  and  red  brick,  inner  walls  of  Trenton  stone ;  city  lock-up,  Trenton  limestone ; 
water-works,  Trenton  limestone ;  the  piers  of  the  suspension  bridge,  and  its  anchorages,  are  of 
Trenton  limestone  trimmed  with  granite  ;  the  piers  of  the  other  highway  bridges,  and  of  the  rail- 
road bridge  over  the  Mississippi,  are  of  Trenton,  though  the  arched  bridge  across  the  east  channel 
of  the  Mississippi,  has  Red  Wing  stone  in  the  angles. 

Buildings  belonging  to  the  State  of  Minnesota. 

The  capital,  at  St.  Paul,  is  described  on  page  163,  and  is  illustrated  in  plate  D. 
The  university,  at  Minneapolis,  embraces  two  buildings.    The  principal  or  general  academic 

13 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[State  buildings. 

building  was  partly  erected  in  1857,  and  the  rest  in  1874-5.  The  building  which  accommodates 
the  Agricultural  Department  was  erected  in  1874  -5.  The  former  structure  is  built  of  the  Trenton 
limestone  quarried  at  Minneapolis,  and  the  latter  of  cream-colored  brick  trimmed  with  Trenton 
limestone. 

The  state  prison,  at  Stillwater.  was  begun  in  1852  and  has  been  enlarged  at  different  times. 
It  is  composed  almost  entirely  of  the  dolomitic  stone  quarried  at  Stillwater,  but  has  some  trim- 
mings of  the  pinkish  Kasota  stone. 

The  insane  asylum  at  St.  Peter  was  begun  in  1867.  Portions  were  built  in  1868,  '69,  '71,  '73 
and  '74.  It  is  all  built  of  the  Kasota  and  St.  Peter  stone,  and  lined  with  brick.  The  only  con- 
trast in  the  trimmings  is  made  by  cutting  them  finer  than  the  other  stone. 

The  asylum  for  the  deaf  and  mute,  at  Faribault,  is  constructed  and  trimmed  of  limestone  quar- 
ried near  Faribault.  It  was  erected  at  intervals  of  time  as  money  was  appropriated  by  the  legis- 
lature, each  addition  being  five  years  later  than  the  preceding,  beginning  in  1866  and  ending 
with  1881. 

The  second  insane  asylum,  at  Rochester,  is  made  of  brick,  with  windows  and  chimney- 
caps  of  stone  quarried  about  three  miles  east  of  Mantorville.  The  basement  is  of  the  Trenton. 
The  building  was  begun  in  1877-8,  but  was  more  than  doubled  in  size  in  1882. 

The  reform  school,  at  St.  Paul,  was  erected  in  1862  and  consists  largely  of  the  Trenton  lime- 
stone, quarried  at  St.  Paul.  Some  of  the  subordinate  buildings  are  of  brick  trimmed  with  Trenton . 

The  school  for  the  blind,  at  Faribault,  is  a  frame  building  veneered  with  red  brick,  with  trim- 
mings of  the  same,  erected  in  1874. 

The  school  for  idiots  and  imbeciles  was  erected  in  1881.  It  is  located  at  Faribault,  and  was 
built  of  the  Trenton  limestone  quarried  near  that  city. 

The  foregoing  pages  are  intended  to  give  some  idea  of  the  quality  of 
Minnesota  building  stones.  All  builders  and  architects  of  the  state  ought 
to  have  regard  for  the  products  of  our  quarries,  and  to  avoid  the  importa- 
tion of  foreign  stone  when  suitable  material  can  be  got  within  the  limits 
of  Minnesota.  There  seems  to  be  no  reason  to  believe  that  the  state  is  de- 
ficient in  stone  suitable  for  all  styles  and  kinds  of  architecture.  On  the 
contrary  almost  every  kind  of  stone  can  be  got.  The  stone  to  be  obtained 
at  Dresbach,  in  Winona  county,  is  so  nearly  identical  in  color  and  grain 
and  all  outward  characters,  to  the  sandstone  imported  from  Ohio,  that  it 
can  be  employed  with  it  in  the  same  structure.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the 
present  fashion  of  using  the  Ohio  stone,  at  great  cost  for  transportation, 
will  be  only  temporary,  and  that  influential  builders  will  see  to  it  that  our 
equally  good  stones  are  not  allowed  to  remain  unused.  It  cannot  be  any- 
thing more  than  a  sentiment  that  prefers  foreign  products  over  domestic. 
that  will  cause  the  continued  importation  of  stone  from  abroad. 


SYSTEMATIC  TABLE 


OF  THE 


DUALITIES  OF  THE  BUILDING  STONES 


OF  MINNESOTA. 


196 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


SYSTEMATIC  TABLE  OF  THE  QUALITIES 


1.    CRYSTALLINE. 


£'s 

«i 

—•T3 

§« 

Ofe 

Museum  register 
number. 

Chemical  series 
number. 

Locality. 

>> 
B 
• 

C" 

1 
p 

Formation  and 
kind  of  rock. 

SPECIFIC 
GRAVITY 

STRENGTH  IN  POUNDS. 

Weight  in  pounds 
per  cubic  foot. 

1 

•o 
o 
Q 

Gillmore. 

ft 

u    . 

s  o> 
"?J2 

t* 

3 

£ 

g 

i 

113 

E.  St.  Cloud, 
Sherburne 
county. 

Breen  & 
Young's. 

Fine-grained 
gray  syenite. 

2.70 

2.692 

On  bed  112.000. 
On  edge  105.000 

On  bed  28,000. 
One  edge  26,250 

168.2 

1 

114 

Dulutli,  St. 
Louis  Co. 

Rice  Point. 

Gabbro. 
Cupriferous. 

2  79 

2  802 

On  bed  109,000. 
On  edge  105,000. 

On  bed  27,250. 
On  edge  26,250. 

175.1 

820 

190 
and 
524 

108 

Taylor's 
Falls,  Clilsa- 
go  county. 

liailroad  cut. 

Traprock. 
G'upri/eroiw. 

3.00 

,,JOn  bed  105,000. 
luo|Ou  edge  105,000. 

On  bed  26,260. 
On  edge  26,250. 

187.5 

109 

SaukBaptds, 
Beaton  Co. 

Collins,  Mitch- 
ell &  Searle's. 

Fine-grained 
gray  sjenite. 

2.71 

2.683 

On   bed  86.000. 
On  edge  100,000. 

On  bed  21,500. 
On  edge  25,000. 

107.7 

526 

116 

Beaver  Bay. 
Lake  Co. 

Wieland  Bros. 

Ked  line-grain- 
ed syenite. 
Cupriferous. 

2.  65 

2.603 

On  bed  I(i6,000. 
On  edge  103,000. 

On  bed  26,500. 
On  edge  25,750. 

162.7 

803 

111 

E.  St.  Cloud, 
Sherburne 
county. 

Breen  & 
Young's. 

Ked  syenite, 
quartzose. 

2.63 

2.609 

On  bed  112,000. 
On  edge  1U5.000. 

On  bed  28,000. 
On  edge  W,V50. 

103.1 

835 

112 

E.  St.  Cloud, 
Sherburne 
county. 

Ureen  & 
Young's. 

Gray  quartz- 
ose  syenite. 

2.63 

2.609 

On  bed  105.000. 
On  edge  103,000. 

On  bed  26,250. 
On  edge  25,750. 

163.1 

120 
and 
637 



119 

Beaver  Bay, 
Lake  Co. 

Wieland  Bros. 

Labrador!  te 
feldspar. 
Cupriferous. 

2.69 

2.701 

On  bed  83.000. 
On  edge  83,000. 

On  bed  20,750. 
On  edge  20,750. 

169.0 

805 

110 

Watab. 
Benton  Co. 

Saulpaugh 
Bros. 

Light  colored 
coarse  syenite. 

2.73 

2.659 

On  bed  100,000. 
On  edge  95,000. 

On  bed  25,000. 
On  edge  23,750. 

168.4 

806 

Watab, 
Benton  Ce. 

Saulpaugb's. 

Bed  syenite, 
quartzose. 

2.63 

2.606 

On  bed  103,000. 

On  bed  26,750. 

162.8 

57 

115 

NearDuluth, 
St.  Louis  Co. 

Tischer's 
creek. 

Traprock. 
Cupriferous. 

2.95 

3.005 

On  bed  105,000. 
On  edge  105,000. 

On  bed  26,250. 
On  edge  26.250. 

187.8 

2.    QUABTZYTE. 


4216 

95 

Pipestoue, 
Pipestone 
county. 

The  Pipestone 
Quarry. 

QuarUyte. 
Potsdam. 

2.74 

2.729 

On  bed  111,000. 
On  edge  108,000. 

On   bed  27,750. 
On  edge  27,000. 

170  6 

3.    DOLOMITES. 


3365 

113 

Krouteuae, 
Goodhue 
county. 

Tostevin's. 

Vesicular 
dolomite. 
St.  .Lawn  nee. 

2.  03 

2  421 

On  bed  45,000. 
On  edge  50,000. 

On  bed  11,250. 
On  edge  12.500. 

151.3 

98 

Stillwater, 
Washington 
county. 

Hersey, 
Staples  & 
Hall. 

Compact 
dolomite. 
St.  Lawrence. 

2  77 
2.67 

2.762 

On  bed  100,000. 
On  edsse  100,000. 

On  bed  25.0UO, 
On  edge  25,000. 

172  6 

100 

Winiillil. 
Winoua  Co. 

Charles  H. 
Porter's. 

Compact 
dolomite. 
St.  Lawrence. 

2.450 

On  bed  65.000. 
On  edge  65.000. 

On  bed  16,250. 
On  edge  16,250. 

153  1 

4029 

121 

Lanesboro, 
Fillmore 
county. 

Mill  Com- 
pany's. 

Dolomitlc  lime- 
stoue.(vesicularj 
St.  Lawrence. 

2.67 

4.    DOLOMITIC  LIMESTONES. 


99 

Bed  Wing, 
Good  line 
county. 

Sweeney's. 

Compact  dolo- 
mitic  limestone. 
St.  Lawrence. 

2.76 

2  595 

On  bed  92,000. 
On  edge  93,000. 

On  bed  23.000. 
On  edge  23,260. 

162  2 

97 

Slllwater, 
Washington 

Hersey, 
Staples  & 

Vesicular  dolo- 
inittc  limestone. 

2  69 

2.567 

On  bed  43,000. 
On  edge  51,000. 

On  bed  10,750. 
On  edge  12,750. 

160  4 

county. 

Hall. 

Sf..  Lawrence. 

% 

Kasota, 
Le  Sueur 

Brackenridge. 
Stewart  and 

Arenaceous  dol- 
omitic  lime- 

2 64 

2.519 

On  bed  74,000. 
On  edge  67,000. 

On  bed  18,500. 
On  edge  16,750. 

157.4 

county. 

Buttars'. 

stone.  ShaKopee. 

101 

Mantorville, 
Dodge  Co. 

Hook's. 

Vesicular  dolo- 
mitic  limestone. 
Galena. 

2  65 

2.310 

On  bed  38,000. 
On  edge  40,000. 

On  bed  9,500. 
On  edge  10,000. 

144.3 

120 

Lanesboro, 
Fillmore 

Mill  Coin- 

Dolomitic  linre- 
stone,  (compact.) 

2  73 

county. 

St.  Lawrence. 

BUILDING  STONES. 


197 


OP  THE  BUILDING  STONES  OF  MINNESOTA. 


1.    CRYSTALLINE. 


Ratio  of  absorp- 
tion. Ulllmore. 

Absorption  of  mois- 
ture in  7  weeks. 
Uodge. 

Absorption  of  wa- 
ter in  4  days. 
Dodge. 

Visible  effect  of 
frost  in  8  weeks. 

Per  cent,  of  loss  by 
frost  in  8  weeks. 

Visible  effect  of 
dry  heat  up  to 
redness. 

Visible  effect  of 
water  on  the 
heated  stones. 

Effect  of  carbonic 
acid.  6  weeks. 

Visible  effect  of 
strong  corroding 
vapors.  7 
weeks. 

tra- 
ces. 

Increase 
of  weight. 

0.17  p.C. 

Increase 
of  weight. 

2  59  p.  e. 

Very 
slight 

0  02 

No  change. 

Moderately 
cracked. 

l.MSS    ,,f 

weight. 

0  02  p.C 

Slightly  stained. 

l 

335" 

0  06 

0  07 

Very 

slight 

0  02 

No  effect,  even  in 
red  heat. 

No  change,  even 
in  color. 
iVo  cracks. 

0  06 

Somewhat  stained. 

* 

0.03 

0  03 

Very 
slight 

0  01 

No  change,  even  in 
red  heat. 

Very  little  effect  ; 
color  somewhat 
browned. 

0.03 

Somewhat  stained. 

1 
183 

0  11 

0.19 

Very 
slight 

0  03 

Cracked  moderately. 

More  cracked  and 
disintegrated. 

0.03 

Somewhat  stained. 

1 
141 

0.40 

0  47 

Very 

slight 

0.01 

No  change  in  moder- 
ate heat  ;  in  red  heat 
slightly  cracked. 

More  cracks. 

0.11 

Somewhat  stained. 

"212" 

0.19 

2  39 

Very 
slight 

0  01 

No  change,  no  cracks. 

Considerably 
cracked. 

0  01 

Somewhat  stained. 

1 
208 

0.05 

0  08 

Very 

slight 

0  18 

Slightly  cracked  in 
red  heat. 

More  cracked. 

0.19 

Somewhat  stained. 

1 
310 

0.12 

0.14 

Slight 

0.04 

No  effect. 

Slightly  cracked 
and  scaled. 

0  06 

Little  changed. 

1 

T62 

0  19 

2  35 

Very 
slight 

0.02 

In  moderate  heat  no 
effect  :  in  red  heat 
badly  crac'd&crumb'd 

Completely 
broken  up. 

0  05 

Somewhat  'stained. 

1 

~iH3~ 

0.11 

0.23 

Very 

slight 

0  08 

Considerably 
cracked. 

Badly  crumbled. 

0.10 

Slightlv  corroded. 
Slightly  stained. 

1 

336 

0.15 

0.28 

Very 
slight 

0.07 

Badlv  cracked  and 
divided  into  thin 
pieces. 

Not  further 
changed. 

0.12 

Somewhat  stained. 

2.    QUARTZYTE. 


1 

386 

0.14 

0.15 

Very 
slight 

0.01 

Turned  dark  and 
cracked  moderately. 

Not  much  further 
chauge. 

0  01 

Considerably  stained. 

3.    DOLOMITES. 


1 

•21 

0  23 

3.49 

Slight 

0.11 

No  effect. 

Moderately 
cracked. 

0  38 

Not  much  changed. 

1 

25T 

1.26 

2.19 

Slight 

0.05 

No  change  in  moder- 
ate heat  ;  in  red  heat 
cracked  somewhat. 

Further  cracked 
and  superficially 
disintegrated. 

1  32 

Considerably  crum- 
bled.   Somrwhat 
stained. 

1 
"21" 

0  27 

2.88 

Very 

slight 

0  05 

No  change  in  moder- 
ate heat  ;  in  red  heat 
cracked  somewhat. 

Superficially 
scaled  off. 

0  23 

Moderately  corroded, 
otherwise  not  much 
changed. 

1.38 

2  65 

Slight 

0  15 

No  effect. 

Somewhat 
cracked. 

0  35 

Somewhat  crumbled, 
otherwise  not  much 
changed. 

4.    DOLOMITIC  LIMESTONES. 


1 

40~ 

1.14 

2  95 

Slight 

0  06 

No  change  in  moder- 
ate heat  ;  in  red  heat 
cracked  slightly. 

Little  more  crack- 
ed, but  scaled 
superficially. 

0.22 

Somewhat  crumbled. 
Slightly  stained. 

1 
40 

0.53 

2  19 

Slight 

0.08 

No  chang"  at  first  ; 
very  slight  effect. 

Superficially 
disintegrated. 

0  42 

Moderately  corroded. 
Somewhat  stained. 

1 
28 

2  13 

2  51 

Very 
slight 

0  30 

No  change  at  first  ; 
later  slightly  cracked. 
Color  became  whiter. 

Cracked  and  dis- 
integrated badly 

0  67 

Slightly  stained. 

1 

IF 

1  39 

5  37 

Slight 

0.12 

No  change,  even  in 
red  heat,  except  burn- 
ed lighter  colored. 

Superficially 
crumbled. 

0.67 

Little  changed. 

1.16 

3  f>2 

Slight 

0.17 

Slightly  cracked. 

More  cracked. 

1.01 

Moderately  corroded, 
otherwise  but  little 
changed. 

*Scarcely>ppreciable. 


198 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


SYSTEMATIC  TABLE  OF  THE  QUALITIES 


1.    CRYSTALLINE. 


Loss  of  weight  by 
corroding  vapors. 
7  weeks. 

Insoluble  in  hy- 
drochloric acid. 

Soluble  in  hydro- 
chloric acid. 

Water. 

J 

• 

33 

Alumina. 

Iron  oxide. 

Calcium  carbonate. 

Magnesium  car- 
bonate. 

Calcium  oxide. 

Magnesium  oxide. 

Potassium  oxide. 

i 

X 

1 

Total  of  chemical 
Ingredients. 

0  53  p  o 

OS  12 

16  96 

4  69 

4  77 

1  90 

2  18 

3  07 

98  78 

1  93 

BO  43 

23  83 

#* 
17  63 

4  79 

2  46 

0  34 

2  OG 

101  54 

0  44 

35  83 

tt 
48  1  i 

9  35 

3  12 

0  22 

1  66 

98  63 

64  13 

21  01 

6  00 

1  26 

1  22 

3  31 

71  81 

12  82 

6  02 

2  26 

0  56 

1  ')2 

9  51 

74  43 

12  68 

3  82 

1  28 

0  25 

2  33 

1  55 

96  31 

0  39 

74  72 

12  30 

3  19 

1  61 

0  25 

2  25 

1  91 

96  03 

48  3J 

35  95 

12  05 

0  25 

0  19 

2  98 

98  74 

0  56* 

62  66 

19.29 

4  67 

5.93 

3.06 

1.62 

2.45 

99  68 

* 

0  43 

78  12 

It  14 

2  68 

0  62 

4  48 

8  33 

100  97 

2  64 

48  51 

13  79 

19  34 

8  34 

4  81 

0  19 

J  67 

97  15 

2.    QUAKTZYTE. 


12       0.09 


2.31 


84  52 


12  33 


2  12 


0  31 


Trace. 


0.11 


0  31 


3.    DOLOMITES. 


98  19 

0  31 

36 

54  73 

42  53 

0  03 

0  18 

101  12 

7  89 

4  52 

95  10 

tt 
1  11 

53.50 

40.21 

Trace. 

0.23 

99-62 

6  3'* 

93  86 

g 

0  96 

51  23 

41  33 

0.12 

0.22 

100  18 

3  45 

92  74 

0  33 

0  37 

49  i.e. 

42  06 

0  02 

0  30 

96  19 

4.    DO  LOM ITIC  MM  ESTO  N  ES . 


10  94 

86  01 

0  34 

0  55 

£0  68 

33  61 

0  15 

0  68 

96  95 

89  31 

§ 
0  64 

0  78 

60  22 

37  39 

0.28 

97  85 

t 

88  30 

tt 
1  09 

49  16 

37  53 

0  02 

0.50 

101.36 

5  54 

6  33 

91  09 

,11 

50  20 

38  9C 

10  li 

91.42 

8  28 

7  35 

91  95 

§ 

1.05 

62.14 

28  49 

0  02 

0  24 

99.30 

*Analyzed  by  \V.  A.  Noyes. 
traces  of  titanium— (Noyes). 
trace  of  lithia. 


tAnalyzed  by  S.  P.  Peekham.    JWith  a  small  amount  of  iron.    SWith  some  silica.    **Witli 
ttWitu  a  small  amount  of  alumina.     JtWith  traces  of  silica  and  nlumina.    j?With  a  minute 


J5UILDIXG  STONES. 


199 


OF  THE  BUILDING  STONES  OF  MINNESOTA. 


1.    CRYSTALLINE. 


CREDITS  ON  A  SCALE  OF  TEN  FOR  THE  VARIOUS  QUALITIES. 

REMARKS. 

CRUSHING 
STRENGTH 

£1 
ac 

°f 
il 

Absorption  of 

moisture  ill 

7  weeks. 

Absorption  of 
water  in  4 
days. 

Frost  8  weeks. 
Visible  effect. 

"si 

£—' 
*| 

F 

Visible  effect 
of  dry  heatup 
to  redness. 

Visible  effect 
of  water  ou 
dry  stone. 

Effect  of  car- 
bonic acid. 
6  weeks. 

Visible  effect 
of  corroding 
vapors. 

Loss  of  weight 
by  strong  cor- 
roding vapors 

=  ii 

>*& 

=  1 

vl 
£„ 

BO 

w  o 

% 

*"  = 
g§ 

Kank  on  a 
scale  of  100. 

On  bed. 

On  edge. 

10 

10 

10 

10 

8 

10 

10 

10 

5 

10 

9 

10 

5 

117 

90 

The  kind  now  most  used. 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

7 

9 

1 

117 

90 

Known  as  "  Duluth  granite." 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

9 

10 

7 

10 

' 

117 

90 

Analyzed  as  a  silicate. 

9 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

7 

t 

10 

7 

10 

5 

112 

87 

The  sample  crushed  on  bed 
was  apparently  imperfect  as  it 
split  in  3  pieces  at  86.000  pounds. 

10 

10 

10 

• 

10 

10 

10 

7 

5 

10 

7 

10 

3 

111 

85 

Forms  the  promontory  on  the 
west  side  of  Beaver  bay. 

10 

10 

10 

10 

8 

10 

10 

10 

3 

10 

7 

10 

2 

no 

86 

Has  much  quartz. 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

9 

7 

6 

9 

7 

10 

2 

109 

81 

Has  th  i  look  o(  the  Rice  Point 
aabbro,  but  differs   from  it  in 
having  much  quartz. 

8 

8 

10 

10 

10 

7 

10 

10 

0 

10 

10 

9 

1 

109 

81 

10 

9 

10 

10 

g 

10 

10 

1 

I 

10 

7 

10 

3 

99 

76 

10 

10 

10 

g 

Used  in  the  Bismarck  bridge 
of  the  Northern  Pacific  R.  R. 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

? 

From  a  dyke. 

2.    QUABTZVTE. 


This  rock  from  Sioux  Falls  is 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

5 

10 

10 

4 

10 

4 

113 

87 

used  at  Omaha  under  the  name 

"  Sioux  Falls  granite." 

3.    DOLOMITES. 


5 

5 

7 

10 

8 

7 

10 

10 

5 

9 

10 

7 

7 

100 

77 

In  Wabasha  county  becomes 
oolitic. 

10 

10 

10 

7 

8 

7 

10 

9 

4 

6 

2 

7 

7 

97 

75 

The  preferred  stone  at  Still- 
water. 

6 

6 

7 

9 

g 

10 

10 

9 

4 

9 

5 

G 

7 

% 

78 

est. 
4 

est. 
5 

est. 
8 

7 

g 

7 

9 

10 

4 

9 

5 

5 

7 

88 

68 

The  usual  stone  at  Lanesboro 
and  below  there,  in  the  Root 
river  valley. 

4.    DOLOMITIC  LIMESTONES. 


9 

9 

8 

7 

8 

7 

10 

9 

4 

9 

4 

6 

7 

97 

75 

4 

5 

8 

9 

g 

7 

10 

10 

4 

9 

5 

6 

7 

92 

71 

Used  for  heavy  work  in 
bridge  piers. 

7 

7 

8 

5 

g 

10 

9 

7 

1 

g 

g 

7 

6 

91 

70 

Light-colored. 

4 

4 

6 

7 

6 

7 

10 

9 

5 

8 

10 

g 

7 

91 

70 

est. 

6 

est. 
6 

est. 
7 

7 

7 

7 

9 

7 

5 

7 

G 

7 

7 

S3 

68 

This  is  less  common  than 
number  16. 

200 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


SYSTEMATIC  TABLE  OF  THE  QUALITIES 


4.    DOLOMITIC  LIMESTONES. 


SPECIFIC 

8TBENGTH  IN  POUNDS. 

• 

•  ^ 

2 

• 

•a 

=  0 

"1 

22 

>. 

S-S 

o 

=  2 

gg 

=1 

•3-2 

X 

§ 

fl  s- 
o  •_ 
'£  o 

cj 

.= 
O 

3  ,4 

al 

+J  3 

o 

=  aj 

£  o 

S2 

go 

c.s 

03 

ce 

S  a 

H 

S 

£  H 

•*£ 

cu< 

5 

O 

a 

* 

3.* 

S 

S 

3 

O 

8 

£ 

^a 

762 

48 
and 
88 

Minneapolis 
(W.5 

Weeks  & 
Holscher's. 

Dolomitic  lime- 
st'e.  Upper  beds 
of  the  Trenton. 

2.77 

2  496 

On  bed  
On  edge  87,000. 

On  bed 

156.0 

On  edge  21.750. 

2548 

91 

Kasota, 
Le  Sueur 
county. 

Brackenridge, 
Stewart  and 
Buttars'. 

Arenaceous  dol- 
omitic  lime- 
stone. Shalcopee. 

2.76 

2.536 

On  bed  52.000. 
On  edge  32.000. 

On  bed  13.000 
On  edge  8,000. 

158  5 

Minneapolis 

(E) 

Foley  & 
Herbert's. 

Dolomitic  lime- 
stone.  Bottom 
of  Trenton. 

2.76 

2.604 

On  bed  72,000. 
On  edge  46,0uo. 

On  bed  18,000. 
On  edge  11,500. 

162.7 

3371 

93 

Centr'l  Point 
Goodhue  Co. 

Baker 
Harrison's. 

Dolomitic  and 
aluminous  lime- 
stone. St.  Croix. 

2.70 

2.384 

On  bed  31,000. 
On  edge  39,000. 

On  bed  7.750. 
On  edge  9,750. 

14D  0 

5.    LIMESTONES. 


2379 

47 

and 
90 

Fountain, 
Fillmore  Co. 

Taylor's. 

Limestone. 

Trenton. 

2.68 

2.622 

On  bed  105,000. 
On  edge  100,000. 

On  bed  26.250. 
On  edge  25,000. 

163.8 

3632 
and 
3583 

46 
and 
87 

Minneapolis 
(Nicollet  I.) 

Eastman's. 

Aluminous 
limestone. 
Trenton. 

2.71 

2.655 

On  bed  70,000. 
On  edge  68,000. 

OB  bed  17,500. 
On  edge  17,000. 

165.9 

102 

St.  Paul. 

A   Kan's 

Argillaceous 

'  71 

2  634 

On  bed  78,000. 

On  bed  19,500. 

(W.) 

Trenton. 

On  edge  70,000. 

On  edge  17,500. 

Clinton  Falls 

Impure  dolo- 



4397 

Steele  Co. 

6.    SANDSTONES. 


M 

3811 

107 

Hincklev, 
Pine  Co'. 

St.  Paul  and 
Duluth  K'y. 

Pinkish-yellow 
sandrock. 
Potstiam. 

2.47 

2.229 

On  bed  76,000. 
On  edge  70,000. 

On  bed  19,000. 
On  edge  17,500. 

139.3 

81 

4400 

103 

Near  Fort 
Snelling, 
Dakota  Co. 

Chicago,   Mil. 
and  St.  P. 
Eailway. 

Yellow   sand- 
rock. 
Potfdam  1 

2.51 

2  221 

On  bed  57,000. 
On  edge  80,000. 

On  bed  14,250. 
On  edge  20,000. 

138.8 

n 

4398 
and 
4112 

106 

Dresbacli, 
Winona  Co. 

TosteTin  &  Co. 

Gray  sandrock. 
St.  Croix. 

2.88 

1.880 

On  bed  26,000. 
On  edge  15,000. 

On  bed  e.rioo. 
On  edge  3,750. 

117  5 

•'•i 

105 

Jordan, 

Philip  Kipp's 

Gray  sandrock 

On  bed  15,000 

On  bed  3,750 

Scott  Co. 

Jordan. 

OD  edge  12,000. 

On  edge  3,000. 

31 

443 

3754 

94 

Fond  du  Lac 
St.  Louis  Co. 

Boyle's. 

Brown  sand- 
rock. 
Potsdam. 

2.52 

2.245 

On  bed  35.000. 
On  edge  23,000. 

On  bed  8,750. 
On  edge  5,750. 

141  3 

•'-, 

104 

Jordan, 

Philip  Kipp's 

Kusty-striped 

On  bed  10,000. 

On  bed  4,7.'0 

Scott  Co. 

Jordan. 

On  edge  16,000. 

On  edge  4,000. 

:>r, 

4399 

92 

Dakota, 
Winona  Co. 

Hartley's. 

Sandstone. 
St.  Croix. 

2.38 

1.872 

On  bed  19,000. 
On  edge  12,000. 

'On  bed  4,750. 
On  edge  3,000. 

117.0 

17 

Taylor's 
Falls 

? 

White  sandrock 

On  bed  22,000. 

On  bed  5,500 

St.  Vroix. 

7.    STONES  FKOM  OTHER  STATES. 


123 

Lemont, 

7 

Dolomitic  lime- 

On  bed  108,000. 

On  bed  27,000. 

Illinois. 

Niagara. 

On  edge  105,000 

On  edge  26,250. 

165.3 

122 

Siskiwit  bay. 
(Wis  ) 

Mclntlre  & 

Light  brown 

On  bed  14,500. 

On  bed  3,625. 

W.end  L.Sup. 

Wells'. 

Potsdam. 

On  edge  23,000. 

On  edge  5,750. 

126  1 

4679, 

125 

Stone  City, 
Iowa. 

A.  J.  Green's. 

Dolomitic 
limestone. 
Niagara. 

2.  56 

2.175 

On  bed  45,000. 
On  edge  39,000. 

On  bed  11,250. 
On  edge  9,750. 

135.9 

124 

7 

Gray  sandrock. 

On  bed  40,000. 

On  bed  10,000. 

Berea. 

On  edge  27,000. 

On  edge  6,750. 

131  3 

BUILDING  STONES. 


201 


OF  THE  BUILDING  STONES  OF  MINNESOTA. 


4.    DOLOMITIC  LIMESTONES. 


1 

i 

A 

u 

^ 

o   « 

o 

-  O 

og 

s.3 

s 

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«  x 

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tj           £- 

0  •-  3 

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I  i  id 

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I.  <D 

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^   x  2. 

•°     0     S  *~ 

3.2 

££ 

.22 

^  o 

3  -3 

!2   >  -3 

»a  a 

S  £  M 

4 

** 

p 

a.1" 

F 

F 

H 

>  « 

24 

Increase  of 
weight. 

1   28  p.  C. 

Increase  of 
weight. 

2  36  p.  C. 

Con- 
sider- 
able. 

2  21 

Turned  dark  at  first  ; 
then  yellowish. 
Not  cracked. 

Slightly  cracked 
and  scaled  off. 

Loss  of 

weiKht. 

0.13  p.C 

Moderately  corroded. 
Moderately  stained. 

IF 

1  44 

2  96 

Slight 

0.05 

Little  changed  till 
red  hot  ;  then  crack- 
ed considerably. 

Cracked  further 
and  scaled. 

0.39 

.Moderately  corroded. 

i 

44 

2  as 

3.11 

Mod- 
erate 

0  19 

Blackened  ;  then 
cracked  and   burned 

while. 

Cracked  further. 

0  43 

Considerably  corrod- 
ed.  Consider- 
ably stained. 

1 
23 

3  74 

5  14 

Con- 
sider- 
able. 

1  29 

Blackened  moderate- 
ly ;  then  brown  ; 
cracked  slightly. 

Little  further 
change. 

0.92 

Badly  crumbled. 
Badly  stained. 

5.    LIMESTONES. 


1 

68 

0.41 

0  46 

Mod- 
erate 

0.07 

Blackened,  cracked 
and  burned  white. 

Superficially  dis- 
integrated. 

3  58 

Somewhat  corroded. 

1 
N 

1.04 

1  28 

Mod- 
erate 

0  50 

Turned  dark  at  first  ; 
then  white.     Not 
cracked. 

Splintered  some- 
what. 

3  08 

Considerably  corrod- 
ed.   Considerably 
stained. 

1 
59 

0.73 

0  93 

Slight 

0.37 

Slightly  cracked. 

Slightly  cracked 
further. 

1.17 

Badly  corroded 
and  stained. 

1.91 

3.20 

Con- 
sider- 
able. 

1.07 

Slightly  cracked. 

More  cracked. 

3.27 

Considerably   corrod- 
ed and  stained. 

6.    SANDSTONES. 


1 

~w 

0.05 

4.88 

Very 
slight 

0.03 

In  moderate  heat 
slight  blackening  ;  in 
red  heat  no  cracks. 

Cracked  and 
somewhat  crum- 
bled. 

0  02 

Little  changed. 

I 

w 

0  04 

3  09 

Very 
slight 

0  01 

Dark'd  in  moderate 
heat;  burned  lighter  ; 
no  change;  no  cracks 

Greatly  disinte- 
grated ;  col»r 
changed  to  red. 

O.G4 

Somewhat  stained. 

1 

~8~ 

0.74 

11  48 

Very 
slight 

0.05 

No  change  for  a  time  ; 
later  cracked  some- 
what. 

Not  much 
further  change. 

0  32 

Very  little  changed. 

1 

» 

0  61 

12  G9 

Slight 

0.06 

No  change  eyen  in 
red  heat. 

Cracked  and 
somewhat  disin- 
tegrated . 

0  25 

Somewhat  crumbled. 
Considerably  stained. 

1 

16 

3  94 

6  17 

Mod- 
erate 

0  36 

No  effect  in  moderate 
heat;  later  cracked 
badly. 

Little  further 
change. 

0  07 

Mucli  stained. 

1 
~8~ 

1.78 

9  18 

Mod- 
erate 

0.57 

Very  little  affected. 

Superficially  dis- 
integrated; color 
little  different. 

2  30 

Badly  corroded. 
Somewhat  crumbled. 

9 

1.52 

11.08 

Slight 

0*09 

Little  changed  till  red 
hot  ;  then  cracked 
badly. 

Considerably 
crumbled  and 
disintegrated 

0.62 

Considerably    crum- 
bled.  Much  stained. 

1 

8 

7.    STONES  FROM  OTHEK  STATES. 


1 

48 

1.87 

1  95 

Slight 

0.08 

Slightly  scaled  in  red 
heat. 

Considerably 
cracked. 

0.13 

Slightly  crumbled. 
Somewhat  stained. 

1 
10 

0.95 

8  76 

Very 

slight 

0.07 

Turned  dark  ;  no 
cracks. 

Considerably  dis- 
integrated. 

0  05 

Somewhat  stained. 

1 
13 

0.81 

8  66 

Slight 

0.12 

Slightly  cracked  in 
red  heat. 

Considerably 
cracked  ;  color 
not  changed. 

0.46 

Moderately  corrod- 
ed.      Very  little 
stained. 

1 
13 

1.97 

S.76 

Mod- 
erate 

0.18 

In  moderate  beat  black'd,  A 
gaveoff  gas  which  blitzed;  in 
red  heat  cracked  somewhat. 

More  cracked 

0  01 

Not  much  corroded. 
Badly  stained. 

202 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


SYSTEMATIC  TABLE  OF  THE  QUALITIES 


4.    DOLOMITIC  LIMESTONES. 


Number.  1  1 

Lnss  of  weight  by 
corroding  vapors. 
7  weeks. 

Insoluble  in  hy- 
uiochlorlc  acid. 

Soluble  in  liydro- 
culoric  acid. 

Water. 

1 

55 

Alumina. 

oj 
•a 
'x 

0 

a 
1 

Calcium  carbonate. 

Magnesium  car- 
bonate. 

Calcium  oxide. 

Magnesium  oxide. 

Potassium  oxide. 

Sodium  oxide. 

Total  of  chemical 
Ingredients. 

22 

8.  86  p.  c. 

* 
16  22 

S3.  78 

0.375 

3.16 

t 

0.90 

51  533 

36.002 

Alkalies, 
a  trace. 

94.97 

•23 

5  83 

* 
13.85 

vt 

1.49 

47.901 

35.227 

Undetermined. 
Water  &  alkalies. 
1.529. 

100.00 

Ul 

13.91 

29.93 

71.80 

** 
4  03 

41  880 

24.550 

0.22 

1.12 

101.73 

X 

23  89 

39  33 

58.91 



31.00 

4.92 

0.33 

33  000 

18.540 

0.92 

2.28 

98.24 

5.    LIMESTONES. 


7.31 

* 
9.89 

90.11 

0.210 

tt 
1  30 

86.107 

0.470 

Alkalies. 
0.44 

99.447 

10.38 

s 

14.45 

85.55 

1.600 

tt 
1.70 

75.482 

6.810 

Alkalies, 
a  trace. 

100.013 

12.70 

t 
13.39 

86  61 

8.16 

2.67 

1  63 

79.18 

6.420 

Orgtalfl 

matter. 

0  80 

Alkalies. 
a  trace. 

98.86 

9.61 

25.51 

74  92 

*# 
1.91  . 

57.03 

15.90 

100.43 

1 

6.    SANDSTONES. 


1  18 

98  69 

iJ 

0  42 

Mg.  ox. 

Trace. 

0.17 

100  35 

0.01 

1  31 

0  55 

0  41 

0  21 

0  02 

0  15 

100  3° 

7  60 

81  47 

8  90 

1.90 

0.50 

4.20 

0.39 

97.36 

1.39 

96.66 

3  33 

81.19 

10.44 

0  56 

0.40 

3.60 

0.66 

96.85 

O.fi2 

87.94 

12  06 

78-24 

10.88 

3.83 

0  95 

1.60 

1.67 

0.06 

97.23 

38  41 

5  77 

1  79 

35  87 

18  54 

0.12 

0.29 

100  79 

16-72 

95  47 

4  53 

81.55 

10.00 

1  41 

1..15 

0  30 

1.76 

l.OS 

97.20 

7.    STONES  FROM  OTHER  STATES. 


8.69 

21  36 

79.78 

1.43 

0.64 

42.97 

31.30 

0.21 

0  23 

101.14 

0.17 

97.48 

'    2.52 

90.86 

476 

1.68 

0.15 

0  59 

1.06 

0.45 

99.45 

5.97 

0.98 

9041 

0.01 

1.28 

57.86 

37.29 

97.42 

1.15 

92.93 

7.07 

81.40 

7.49 

3.87 

0.74 

2.11 

0.24 

0.56 

99.41 

Liialyzed  by  S.  F.  Peckham.    fAnalyzed  by  \V.  A.  Noyes.    J  Alumina  and  iron  determined  by  W.  A.  Noyes.    §With  a 
mil  amount  of  iron.    **With  traces  of  silica  and  alumina,     ft  With  traces  of  alumina  and  ferric  phosphate. 

BUILDING  STONES. 


203 


OF  THE  BUILDING  STONES  OF  MINNESOTA. 


4.    DOLOMITIC  LIMESTONES. 


CREDITS  ON  A  SCALE  OF  TEN  FOR  THI  VARIOUS  QUALITIES. 

CRUSHING 

<M 

M 

K-T 

H 

0  „ 

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, 

S  v. 

STKENOTH 

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ll 

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S|, 
^^^ 

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S  t£S 

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aj  cj    . 

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REMARKS. 

CD 

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3.2  £ 

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CO  ® 
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10 

9 

8 

7 

8 

2 

1 

7 

6 

7 

5 

7 

8 

85 

65 

Generally  rejected  by  build- 
ers at  Minneapolis. 

The  pinkish   or    "fawn-col- 

5 

3 

8 

7 

8 

7 

10 

3 

4 

9 

5 

8 

fi 

H3 

64 

ored"    rock   of   Featherston- 

iiaugb. 

Very  bottom  of  Trentou  lime- 

7 

5 

8 

5 

8 

4 

9 

3 

5 

8 

3 

4 

H 

77 

59 

stone,  10  inches  thick  ;  always 

ised  by  builders,  with  No.  27. 

3 

4 

7 

1 

6 

2 

H 

« 

10 

7 

1 

1 

10 

60 

46 

The  stone  used  at  Lake  City. 

5.    LIMESTONES. 


10 

10 

S 

9 

10 

4 

10 

8 

6 

1 

* 

7 

8 

91 

70 

One  mile  east  of  Fountain, 
by  the  railroad. 

7 

7 

9 

8 

9 

4 

8 

7 

5 

2 

3 

6 

8 

83 

64 

The  usual  building  stone  of 
Minneapolis, 

9 

9 

I 

The  usual  building  stone  of 

est. 
4 

est. 
4 

est. 
6 

6 

8 

2 

6 

7 

5 

4 

3 

6 

8 

69 

53 

The  usual  stone  at  Owatonua. 

6.    SANDSTONES. 


8 

7 

6 

10 

7 

10 

10 

8 

4 

10 

10 

10 

10 

110 

85 

Grindstone  river. 

6 

S 

6 

10 

8 

10 

10 

9 

1 

10 

7 

10 

10 

105 

81 

Analyzed  as  a  silicate. 

2 

1 

1 

8 

2 

10 

10 

7 

10 

9 

10 

9 

10 

89 

68 

1 

1 

1 

9 

1 

7 

10 

10 

4 

9 

2 

9 

10 

74 

57 

3 

2 

5 

1 

6 

4 

8 

1 

10 

10 

3 

10 

10 

73 

56 

Samples  obtained  at  West- 
minster church,  Minneapolis. 
Analyzed  as  a  silicate. 

2 

1 

1 

6 

3 

4 

8 

10 

5 

4 

1 

1 

10 

56 

43 

2 

1 

1 

7 

2 

7 

10 

1 

2 

8 

3 

3 

10 

55 

4C 

Analyzed  as  a  silicate. 

2 

est. 

10 

Rather  soft  white  sandstone. 

7.    STONES  FROM  OTHER  STATES. 


10 

10 

est. 
9 

6 

9 

7 

10 

7 

3 

10 

6 

6 

8 

101 

77 

Samples  obtained  from  stone 
yards  in  Minneapolis. 

1 

2 

3 

8 

4 

10 

10 

8 

3 

10 

7 

10 

10 

86 

G6 

Samples  obtained  from  the 
owners  of  the  quarry. 

5 

4 

4 

8 

4 

7 

10 

7 

4 

8 

6 

8 

8 

83 

61 

Samples  obtained  from  own- 
ers of  the  quarry. 

4 

3 

4 

6 

6 

4 

9 

5 

5 

10 

5 

10 

10 

81 

62 

Samples  obtained  from  stone 
yards  in  Mmntapolis. 

The  reader  is  referred  to  the  various  county  reports  for  particulars 
respecting  the  individual  quarries  of  those  counties. 


COUNTY  GEOLOGY, 


The  counties  are  described  in   order,  beginning  at  the  southeastern 
corner  of  the  state  and  crossing  the  state  westwardly  in  tiers  of  two. 


CHAPTER   IV. 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  HOUSTON  COUNTY. 


BY  N.  II.  WINCHELL. 


Situation  and  area.  This  county  (see  plate  8)  is  the  most  southeasterly 
in  the  state,  and  contains  sixteen  government  towns,  forming  very  nearly 
an  exact  square.  Its  area  is  about  568.75  square  miles  or  363,998.07  acres.* 
It  contains  no  lakes,  but  there  are  low  lands  along  Root  river,  and  along 
the  Mississippi,  between  the  high  bluffs,  which  are  flooded  most  of  the  year. 
These  lands,  when  meandered  by  the  original  survey,  and  the  water  area 
of  those  rivers  within  the  county,  should  be  added  to  the  aggregate  acreage 
as  above  stated.  The  county  seat  is  Caledonia.  Houston,  Hokah,  and 
Brownsville  are  the  other  principal  towns,  the  last  being  the  oldest  in  the 
county,  having  been  settled  in  June,  1848. 

SURFACE    FEATURES. 

Natural  drainage.  The  general  drainage  is  toward  the  Mississippi  river 
which  lies  along  the  east  side  of  the  county.  Through  the  northern  tier 
of  towns  Root  river  passes  to  the  Mississippi.  Thompson's  creek  joins 
it  from  the  southwest  at  Hokah.  It  receives  Money  creek,  Silver  creek  and 
Storer  creek  from  the  north,  while  Pine  creek  passes  though  the  township 
of  La  Crescent  and  joins  the  Mississippi  from  the  northwest  a  few  miles 
below  the  village  of  La  Crescent.  Winnebago  and  Crooked  creeks  drain  the 
southeastern  portion  of  the  county.  There  being  no  foreign  drift  in  this 
county,  these  streams  run  in  their  ancient  channels  and  several  hundred 
feet  below  the  general  upland  level.  The  loam  which  covers  the  county  is 

*The  areas  of  counties  as  given  in  this  report  are  those  computed  for  tliis  purpose  by  Hon.  H.  H.  Young,  secretary 
of  the  State  Board  of  Immigration. 


208  TIIE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Topography. 

generally  almost  impervious  to  water,  so  that  these  deep  drainage  courses 
do  not  operate  to  abstract  the  moisture  from  the  surface  soils  so  disastrous- 
ly as  they  would  in  more  sandy  soils.  It  is  only  along  the  immediate  river 
bluffs  that  any  injury  to  the  soils  from  this  cause  is  noticeable.  These 
streams  furnish  water  power  at  frequent  points,  even  more  than  have  been  • 
improved.  At  some  of  these  points  the  following  flouring  mills  have  been 
erected : 

Mills  in  Houston  county. 

At  Riceford,  on  Crystal  creek,  one  custom  mill,  by  Oatman  &  Co.,  having  a  power  of  18  feet 
head.  This  creek  issues  from  the  rock  bluffs  within  a  few  miles  of  Hiceford,  nearly  all  in  one 
volume. 

At  Riceford  Mr.  V.  T.  Beebe  also  has  a  custom  mill  with  12  feet  head  of  water. 

There  is  a  custom  mill  on  Bear  creek,  near  the  state  line,  (sec.  34,  Spring  Grove)  owned  by 
Mr.  Swartzhoff. 

At  Freeburg,  on  Crooked  creek,  is  a  custom  mill  owned  by  Hill  and  Graff,  with  16  feet  head 
of  water,  and  a  saw  mill  owned  by  Wm.  Oxford.  Here  are  also  two  other  mill  privileges. 

On  Winnebago  creek,  (sec.  22,  Winnebago)  is  a  stone  mill  owned  by  B.  F.  Barbour,  and  on 
section  15  a  custom  mill  owned  by  McMillin.  Johnson  &  Clark. 

At  Sheldon,  on  Beaver  creek,  is  a  mill  of  12  feet  power,  owned  by  John  Blain,  and  another 
of  the  same  power,  by  Snyder  Brothers. 

J.  &  C.  B.  Howe  have  a  saw  mill  on  section  24,  Yucatan. 

Nathan  Vance  has  a  flouring  mill  on  section  12,  Money  Creek,  with  12  feet  fall.  Fox  and 
Perkins  have  another  on  sec.  30,  with  10  feet  power,  from  which  shipments  are  made  by  railroad. 

There  is  a  mill  at  Houston  with  7  feet  fall,  in  the  Root  river,  belonging  to  Mr.  Grorsland. 

There  is  a  shipping  and  custom  mill,  southeast  J  section  23,  Houston,  with  20  feet  power, 
owned  by  Wm.  McSpadden. 

At  Brownsville  are  two  mills,  one  by  Shaller  Bros.,  of  two  run  of  stone  and  12  feet  power,  for 
shipping  flour,  and  the  other  by  J.  Hankey.  of  five  feet  power  and  one  run  for  custom. 

At  Hokah  all  the  mills  ship  flour.  One  is  owned  by  C.  Fischer,  situated  on  Thompson  creek, 
and  has  24  feet  of  water  fall ;  another  by  White  &  Brothers,  and  a  third  by  E.  Thompson.  The 
last  two  have  a  fall  of  9  feet  in  Root  river.  At  Hokah  the  railroad  machine  shops,  and  the  plow 
factory  also  run  by  water  power. 

There  is  also  a  mill  on  Pine  creek,  near  the  county  line  (sec.  3,  La  Crescent),  with  four  run 
of  stone  (one  for  feed),  and  13  feet  fall  and  16  horse-power,  owned  by  Groff  &  Co.,  for  custom 
and  shipping ;  has  one  Leffel  and  one  Michigan  turbine  wheel ;  and  another  on  the  same  creek 
southwest  quarter  section  9,  by  J.  D.  Cameron,  having  9  feet  fall  and  four  run  of  stone,  for 
shipping. 

The  Toledo  woolen  mill,  by  Fletcher  and  Webster,  southwest  quarter  of  section  5,  La  Cres- 
cent, on  Pine  creek,  has  7  feet  power.  This  is  built  of  stone  quarried  near. 

The  topography  of  Houston  county  is  very  similar  to  that  of  the  eastern, 
and  particularly  that  of  the  northeastern  part  of  Fillmore  county,  and  of 
much  of  Winona  county.  Taken  altogether  it  is  produced  by  the  same 
causes.  The  strata  cover  the  same  geological  horizons,  at  least  the  same  in 
the  non-drift-covered  portions.  It  varies  from  undulating  to  rough  and 
hilly.  The  surface  of  the  rock  was  channeled  by  numerous  canons,  each  with 
its  tributary  gorges,  prior  to  the  spreading  of  the  loam.  These  gorges  are 


PLATK  8 


GEOLOGICAL  AND  NATURAL  HISTORY 
SURVEY   OF  MINNESOTA  . 

IIOrSTOX    COUNTY 

BY    N.  H.  Wl  NCHELL- 


W 


HDU/TON:     M    o' 


m 


s 


T  102  N    j 


M    A, 


% 

IBBi 


J|T 


-0 


.  B   A  G   O-T     J    E    F    F    E    R 


S        T 

Explanation. 


T         E  OF  ]         O        W       A 


CoittoiirLmes    (irr  ttrav,-n  a/y>rr'.rrsiift/rfy //>/ -?•//<-//  ,50  ft 

ahovf  tftf  iirV7  _.  r.itvy iti/tif  n7tnr  they  (vint-fff?  in'//t  rrrtiral 
nr  t-ff-r  rtrry,  Mn/fx.  ir/nrh  utf  mta  ' 


Jnlnw  Btm  &  Co.hlh* 


HOUSTON  COUNTY.  209 

Topography.] 

not  so  narrow  as  in  much  of  the  western  and  central  parts  of  Fillmore 
county,  but  are  of  the  same  character  as  those  in  the  Shakopee  and  St.  Croix 
areas — broader  and  smoother,  allowing  the  loam,  when  deposited,  to  enter 
their  deepest  recesses  and  to  spread  itself  evenly  over  the  whole.  While 
the  loam  itself  becomes  thicker  and  more  clayey  toward  the  Mississippi 
river,  it  has  so  effectually  and  so  deeply  covered  the  whole  country  that 
generally  a  rolling  or  undulating  surface  has  resulted  which  is  almost 
free  from  the  familiar  sink-holes  so  common  in  the  Trenton  area,  but 
is  characterized  by  deep,  wide  valleys  and  long  ridges.  The  bluffs  that 
enclose  the  valleys  are  sometimes  tillable,  or  at  least  turfed  over  from  top 
to  bottom.  They  are  of  all  bights  from  the  mere  shallow  depression  suf- 
ficient for  ready  drainage,  to  valley  lines  over  five  hundred  feet  deep.  The 
whole  of  Root  river  valley,  which  is  in  the  St.  Croix  sandstone,  is  over  five 
hundred  feet  in  depth,  with  limestone  capping  the  bluffs.  Some  of  its 
tributary  valleys  are  equally  deep  and  wide,  but  the  smaller  tributary  val- 
leys become  shallower  and  more  rocky  as  the  gorges  ascend  in  the  St.  Law- 
rence limestone — the  whole  system  making  a  series  of  deep  valleys  along 
the  river  and  of  alternating  vales  and  ridges  at  greater  distance  from  the 
main  valley.  The  county  is  nowhere  destitute  of  excellent  natural  drain- 
age. There  are  very  few  of  the  characteristic  sink-holes  of  the  Trenton, 
that  formation  having  but  a  small  superficies  in  the  county,  and  that  not 
within  the  reach  of  important  drainage  courses  which  were  capable  of 
producing  the  pre-glacial  gorges.  Within  the  Shakopee  area  have  been 
seen  three  or  four  similar  sink-holes,  but  they  differ  from  the  Trenton  sink- 
holes in  being  more  plainly  a  part  of  continuous  ravines  and  in  being 
broader  in  comparison  to  their  depth. 

If  the  valleys  excavated  by  drainage  were  filled  up  the  county  would 
be  very  nearly  flat,  the  highest  part  being  in  the  southwestern  corner,  in 
the  area  of  the  Trenton  limestone.  The  great  diversity  of  surface  that 
appears,  arises  entirely  from  the  effect  of  erosion  by  streams  and  atmos- 
pheric forces,  on  the  rocks,  which  consist  of  alternating  sandstones  and 
limestones.  This  effect  would  be  still  greater,  or  rather  would  be  still 
more  apparent,  were  it  not  that  the  loess-loam,  which  is  very  thick  in  this 
part  of  the  state,  tones  down  with  its  overspreading  canopy,  the  roughness 
which  the  rocky  surface  really  possesses,  leaving  it  actually  one  of  an  undu- 

14 


21Q  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Topography. 

lating  or  rolling  character  except  along  the  immediate  river  bluffs,  where 
the  rocks  frequently  appear  in  craggy  bluffs  and  cause  precipitous  or  steep 
hillsides. 

The  valleys  excavated  by  the  streams  are  remarkable  and  instruct- 
ive.    Not  only  have  the  large  streams  cut  gorges  of  enormous  depth 
in  the  rocky  floors  on  which  they  run,  but  every  little  creek  and  tribu- 
tary runs  in  a  gorge  which   shows   the  same   rock-sculpture.    Even  the 
ireshet  creeks,  and  the  rivulets  born  of  every  summer  shower,  dry  entirely 
the  greater  part  of  the  year,  find  their  way  to  the  main  valleys  through 
rock-bound,  canon-like  valleys.     This  makes  the  county  present  the  usual 
characters  of  southern  latitudes  where  the  northern  drift  sheet  has  not  been 
spread.     There  is  nothing  more  evident  than  that  these  valleys  antedate  the 
great  ice  age.    In  other  portions  of  the  Northwest  where  the  drift  does  pre- 
vail, larger  streams  than  those  found  in  Houston  county  have  generally 
worn  their  channels  only  through  the  drift  sheet.     The  Mississippi  river 
itself,  above  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony,  has  no  rocky  bluffs.     It  very  rarely 
strikes  the  rock.     It  is  occupied  still  in  dissolving  and  removing  the  mate- 
rials of  the  drift  which  covers  that  portion  of  the  state.    It  would  require  a 
great  many  inter-glacial  periods,  or  pre-glacial  periods,  to  excavate  it  as 
deeply  as  the  same  valley  is  wrought  in  the  southeastern  portion  of  the 
state.    In  the  limestone  areas  the  valleys  are  narrow  and  more  generally 
rock-bound  ;  they  widen  out  so  as  to  inclose  good  farm  lands  on  the  bottoms 
in  the  sandstone  areas.     This  distinction,  however,  is  less  evident  than  in 
Fillmore  and  Winona  counties,  where  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  plays  a  more 
important  part  in  bringing  about  the  present  topography.    It  is,  however, 
well  illustrated  in  the  upper  portion  of  many  of  the  tributaries  of  Root  river. 
In  descending  one  of  these  valleys  from  the  upland  the  first  descent  is  rocky 
and  very  impracticable.    This  is  caused  at  first  by  the  cut  through  the 
Shakopee  limestone.     The  Jordan  sandstone  that  underlies  the  Shakopee 
sometimes  relieves  this  ruggedness  a  little,  but  its  thickness  is  so  small 
compared  to  that  of  the  whole  series  of  strata  involved  that  it  is  barely 
observable  in  this  way.     Through  the  underlying  St.  Lawrence  limestone 
the  descent  is  also  rough  and  the  valley  narrow,  with  little  or  no  arable 
land  in  the  valley.    On  reaching  the  horizon  of  the  top  of  the  St.  Croix 
sandstone  the  change  introduced  into  the  aspect  of  the  valley  is  very  notice- 


HOUSTON  COUNTY.  211 

Elevations.] 

able.  It  widens,  the  rock  is  seen  exposed  in  a  nearly  continuous  escarpment 
along  the  tops  of  the  now  more  distant  bluffs,  the  descent  is  easy,  the  stream 
flows  with  a  winding  course,  and  is  perhaps  fringed  with  a  small  shrubby 
growth,  the  lower  slopes  of  the  bluffs  on  either  side  are  turf-covered,  and 
finally  a  rich  alluvial  soil,  spreading  out  over  the  bottoms,  shows  here  and 
there  as  a  spot  that  has  been  cleared  and  cultivated.  This  character  then 
extends  to,  and  follows,  the  whole  course  of  Root  river  to  its  mouth,  the 
valley  constantly  increasing  in  width,  and  showing  a  terraced  condition, 
where  ancient  floods  or  periods  of  high  water  have  stood,  and  whence,  after 
vast  accumulations  of  alluvium,  have  retired,  reducing  the  river  at  last  to 
its  present  insignificant  dimensions.  This  is  the  general  character  of  the 
valleys  tributary  to  Root  river,  but  this  succession  of  changes  can  be  seen 
within  Houston  county  only  in  those  tributary  valleys  on  the  south  side  of 
Root  river.  Those  on  the  north  side  enter  on  the  St.  Croix  sandstone  before 
leaving  Winona  county.  The  best  agricultural  portion  of  the  county  is  in 
the  center  and  southwest  quarter.  The  valleys  throughout  the  county  are 
generally  wooded,  and  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  county  a  great  deal  of  the 
upland  is  also  wooded.  Taken  altogether  the  county  may  be  denominated 
rolling,  broken  and  hilly,  though  there  are  also  some  fine  prairies  that  are 
simply  undulating.  All  the  farms  are  well  drained  naturally. 

Elevations*  on  the  Southern  Minnesota  division  of  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paid  railway. 
From  George  B.  vVoodworth,  assistant  engineer,  La  Crosse. 

Distances  In  miles       Hights  in  feet 
from  La  Crosse.       above  the  sea. 

Low  water  in  the  Mississippi  river  at  La  Crosse 618.5 

Junction  with  River  division  west  of  bridge 0  645. 

La  Crescent 0.7  639. 

C.,  D.  &  M.  Junction 3.0  633. 

Eootriver  bridge , 4.2  640. 

Hokah 6.2  641. 

Root  river  bridge 11.0  655. 

Mound  Prairie 12.2  652. 

Root  river  bridge 14.0  661. 

Houston 18.7  671. 

Root  river  bridge 22.3  695. 

Money  Creek 23.2  691. 

Elevations  on  the  Caledonia  and  Mississippi  railroad. 

This  road  runs  from  the  Mississippi  river  westward  fourteen  and  one-fourth  miles  up  the 
valley  of  Crooked  creek.  These  levels  were  furnished  by  Mr.  Till,  engineer  of  the  road.  The 
datum  is  the  level  of  the  track  of  the  C.  D.  &  M.  railroad  just  north  of  Crooked  creek,  section  35, 
town  1O&  north,  range  1  west. 

*A11  elevations  above  the  ocean  in  this  report  are  referred  to  mean  tide  sea-level,  and  are  corrected  in  accordance 
with  the  recent  determination  of  the  elevations  of  the  great  lakes  and  Chicago  by  the  U.  9.  lake  survey,  under  Lieut. -Col. 
C.  B.  Comstock. 


212 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


[Elevations. 


Datum,  0. 

Freeburg,  -       21.92 

Water  at  Oxford's  dam,  Freeburg,  42.95 

Crossing  of  Crooked  creek  at  sec.  36,  1O3  N.,  R.  1  W.  (Powlesland's),  bottom        -  -     56.32 

Crossing  of  Crooked  creek  at  sec.  36,1O2   N..  R.  1  W.  (Powlesland's),  grade     -  65.32 

Crossing  of  Crooked  creek,  S.  E.  }  sec.  26,  1O3  N.,  "A  W.  belgw  the  junction  of  the  south 

fork,  bottom  -        76.74 

Crossing  of  Crooked  creek,  S.E.  J  sec.  26,  1O3  N.,  2  W.  below  the  junction  of  the  south 

fork,  grade,  86.74 

Surface  of  water  at  crossing  of  Crooked  creek,  N.  E.  i  sec.  22,  Mayville,  -      152.13 

Crooked  creek,  N.  E.  J  sec.  22,  Mayville,  bottom  of  creek  151.85 

Bottom  of  creek  at  second  crossing  below  John  Mplitor's,  sec.  16,  Mayville,       -  -      236.70 

Crooked  creek  at  second  crossing  below  John  Molitor's,  sec.  16,  Mayville,  grade  244.87 

Bottom  of  creek  at  first  crossing  below  John  Molitor's,  sec.  16,  Mayville,  250.77 

Crooked  creek  at  first  crossing  below  John  Molitor's,  sec.  16,  Mayville,  grade,  -      256.72 

Dorsh's  quarry,  sec.  17,  Mayville,  grade  •      333.10 

Natural  surface,  at  the  Methodist  church,  Caledonia,        -  -      551.18 

Summit,  natural  surface,  N.  E.  J  sec.  13,    Caledonia  571.57 

Elevations  on  the  Houston,  Uesper  and  Southwestern  railroad. 
(Proposed.) 

This  line  runs  from  Houston,  on  the  Root  river,  where  it  intersects  with  the  Southern  Min- 
nesota railroad,  sou th west wardly,  ascending  the  valley  of  Beaver  creek,  through  Sheldon,  Caledonia 
and  Spring  Grove  townships.  The  following  data  were  furnished  by  Dr.  F.  Worth,  president  of 
the  company.  The  datum  point  was  at  Houston,  on  the  grade  of  the  S.  M.  R.  R.  where  it  crosses 
the  line  between  sections  33  and  34,  six  hundred  and  seventy  feet  above  the  ocean. 


Sections. 

Above 
Houston. 

Above  the 
ocean. 

Crossing  township  line  between       

4  and   9 

Feet. 
6 

Feet. 
676 

8  and    9 

7 

677 

Crossing  section  line  between  

7  and    8 

7 

677 

Crossing  section  line  between  

7  and  18 

9 

779 

18  and  19 

23 

693 

Crossing  section  line  between  

19  and  30 

29 

699 

Crossing  section  line  between               

30  and  31 

49 

719 

Sheldon  village  plat,  on  section  31  

79 

749 

Crossing  section  line  between                                                    .  -  .  . 

31  and  32 

76 

746 

32  and    5 

82 

752 

Crossing  section  line  between  

5  and    6 

87 

757 

Crossins^  section  line  between  

6  and    7 

109 

779 

Crossing  section  line  between  

7  and  12 

118 

788 

Crossing  section  line  between  

12  and  13 

119 

789 

Crossing  section  line  between  

13  and  24 

167 

837 

Crossing  section  line  between  .... 

24  and  25 

248 

918 

Crossing  section  line  between  

25  and  26 

269 

939 

Crossing  section  line  between  

26  and  35 

331 

1,001 

Crossing  section  line  between  

35  and  34 

384 

1,054 

Crossing  section  line  between  

34  and    3 

395 

1,065 

3  and    4 

422 

1,092 

Crossing  section  line  between  

4  and    9 

428 

1,098 

Crossing  section  line  between  

9  and    8 

457 

1,127 

Crossing  section  line  between  .  .              

8  and  17 

494 

1,164 

Crossing  section  line  between  

17  and  20 

500 

1,170 

On  section  17  highest  point                                           

524 

1,194 

Crossing  lines  between  sections  

20  and  19 

456 

1,126 

Crossing  lines  between  sections  

19  and  30 

462 

1,132 

Crossing  lines  between  sections                              .       

30  and  25 

476 

1,146 

Line  between  Houston  and  Fillmore  county    

462 

1,132 

Crossing  section  line  between  

25  and  26 

437 

1,107 

Crossing  section  line  between    

26  and  35 

442 

1,112 

State  line  west  of  center  of  sec.  35,  Newburg  township  

465 

1,135 

HOUSTON  COUNTY.  213 

Soil  and  timber.] 

The  folloiving  measurements  by  aneroid  barometer  will  show  the  depth 
of  some  of  the  valleys  below  the  immediate  upland  at  the  points  named. 

Section  17,  Caledonia,  three  miles  south  of  Sheldon.  Beaver  creek,  at  the  great  spring,  is 
230  feet  below  the  tops  of  the  bluffs ;  which  embrace  the  Shakopee  limestone,  Jordan  sandstone 
and  a  part  of  St.  Lawrence  limestone. 

At  Sheldon  the  bluffs  are  420  feet  high. 

At  Houston  the  bluffs  north  of  the  city  are  520  feet  above  the  level  of  water  in  Root  river  in 
summer. 

At  Hokah  Mt.  Tom  rises  530  feet  above  the  flood-plain  of  Boot  river. 

On  section  11,  Union,  the  ridge  between  Thompson  creek  and  the  railroad,  at  the  sculptured 
rock,  rises  355  feet  above  the  highway  directly  south  of  the  ridge. 

At  Brownsville  the  hight  of  the  bluff  above  the  flood-plain  of  the  Mississippi  is  495  feet 
Mr.  Fred.  Gluck,  of  Brownsville,  measured  the  same  by  triangulation  in  the  winter  season,  and 
obtained  486  feet  as  the  hight  above  the  ice.  Railroad  surveyors  are  said  to  have  obt  dned  483 
feet  as  the  hight  of  the  same  bluff.  The  most  of  this  hight  is  made  up  of  sandstone,  there  being 
but  105  feet  of  limestone  in  the  upper  part  of  the  bluff,  belonging  to  the  St.  Lawrence  formation. 

Mean  elevation  of  the  count;/.  From  the  contour-lines  shown  on  the  county 
map  the  average  elevation  of  each  township  above  the  sea  may  be  estimated, 
with  the  following  result: 

La  Crescent,  900  feet  above  the  sea;  Hokah,  875;  Brownsville,  1000; 
Crooked  Creek,  900;  Jefferson,  850;  Mound  Prairie,  950;  Union,  1025;  May- 
ville,  1075;  Winnebago,  1050;  Houston,  925;  Sheldon,  975;  Caledonia,  1125; 
Wilmington,  1175;  Money  Creek,  950;  Yucatan,  1000;  Black  Hammer,  1025, 
and  Spring  Grove,  1175.  The  mean  elevation  of  the  county,  derived  from 
these  figures,  is  approximately  990  feet  above  the  sea. 

The  soil  and  timber  of  Houston  county.  The  soil  of  the  county  is  formed 
by  the  loess-loam.  It  is  very  fertile,  and  apparently  very  enduring.  It  is 
mainly  a  clayey  deposit,  without  stones  or  gravel,  but  yet  in  some  places 
becomes  arenaceous,  the  sand  grains  being  very  fine.  The  loess  is  hardly 
pervious  to  water.  In  the  scarcity  and  costliness  of  common  wells,  many 
farmers  resort  to  the  expedient  of  retaining  the  surface  water,  after  rains, 
in  open  reservoirs  produced  by  throwing  a  low  dam  across  some  of  the 
shallow  drainage  valleys  that  intersect  their  farms,  thus  forming  with  the 
common  loam  a  small  pool  or  lake  for  the  use  of  their  stock.  Except  on 
the  brows  of  the  bluffs  which  enclose  the  valleys,  this  loam  is  thick  enough 
to  make  a  reliable  subsoil  as  well  as  surface  soil.  In  some  of  the  valleys  it 
is  very  thick,  but  here  it  is  apt  to  be  influenced  by  the  causes  that  produced 
the  river-terraces  and  to  mingle  with  the  ordinary  alluvium.  On  the  up- 
lands generally  where  it  may  not  have  been  reduced  by  wash,  its  average 
thickness  might  reach  thirty  feet,  but  in  some  of  the  valleys  material  of 


214  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Trees  and  shrubs. 

the  same  aspect  is  sometimes  encountered  to  the  depth  of  over  one  hun- 
dred feet. 

In  the  valley  of  the  Root  river,  and  also  along  the  Mississippi,  the  soil 
of  the  alluvial  terraces,  greatly  resembling  that  of  the  loam  in  the  uplands, 
is  apt  to  be  more  sandy,  and  sometimes  becomes  very  light  and  very  poor. 
These  materials  are  generally  seen  to  lie  in  obliquely  stratified  layers,  and 
to  embrace,  in  the  Mississippi  valley,  small  gravel  stones  of  northern  origin. 
The  immediate  flood-plain  of  these  rivers  presents  still  another  variety  of 
soil.  While  it  is  generally  sandy,  and  often  very  light,  it  is  also  a  very  rich 
soil,  and  is  apt  to  be  enduring  by  reason  of  the  Nile-like  overflows  to  which 
it  is  subjected,  and  the  decomposition  of  large  quantities  of  vegetation. 
This  variety  of  soil  sustains  some  of  the  heaviest  forests  to  be  found  in  the 

county. 

Trees  and  shrubs.  The  county  is  supplied  with  plenty  of  timber  for 
fuel,  and  with  some  that  is  useful  for  lumber.  The  following  list  com- 
prises a  nearly,  if  not  quite,  complete  catalogue  of  the  trees  and  shrubby 
plants  of  the  county. 

Quercus  coccinea,  Wang.,  var.  tinctoria,  Bart.     (Black  oak). 

Quercns  macrocarpa,  Michx.    ( Bur  oak.) 

[These  two  oaks  are  common  in  the  uplands.  As  brush  and  small  trees  they  often  form 
thickets.  There  seem  to  be  two  varieties  of  the  former  in  some  places,  but  in  others  the  char- 
acters are  blended  in  one.  There  is  a  plain  popular  distinction  between  the  red  and  the  black  oak, 
and  solitary  trees  of  the  latter  are  often  seen  of  large  size  standing  in  the  midst  of  brush,  belong- 
ing apparently  to  a  former  forest  growth  now  destroyed,  and  at  the  same,  time  this  species  is  very 
abundant  as  small  trees  or  underbrush,  often  presenting  some  of  the  popular  characteristics  of 
the  red  oak.  The  red  oak  is  a  graceful,  open  tree  with  smoother  bark  and  larger  leaves  and  acorns 
than  the  black  oak. 

Quercus  alba,  L.  (White  oak). 

Quercus  rubra,  L.  (Red  oak). 

Populus  tremuloides,  Michx.    (Aspen). 

Populus  grandidentata,  Michx.  (Great- toothed  poplar.) 

Populus  monilifera,  Ait.    (Cottonwood.) 

[Of  these  poplars  the  first  two  are  by  far  the  most  common,  but  in  proportion  to  their  numbers 
make  fewer  large  trees  than  the  last.  They  rarely  exceed  six  or  eight  inches  in  diameter,  while 
the  cottonwood  sometimes  becomes  two  or  three  feet  in  diameter,  as  seen  in  the  Root  river  valley 
at  Houston.  The  cottonwood  has  a  rough  bark.  The  bark  of  the  aspen  may  be  distinguished 
from  that  of  the  great-toothed  poplar  at  a  distance  by  the  fact  that  the  former  becomes  white,  or 
mottled  with  white,  as  the  tree  gets  the  size  of  three  or  four  inches  in  diameter,  while  that  of  the 
latter  maintains  its  greenish  or  dingy-yellow  color.] 

Populus  balsamifera,  L.  (Balm  of  Gilead).  [Common  in  cultivation.  There  are  some  fine 
large  trees  of  this  kind  at  Mr.  Powlesland's,  sec.  36,  Crooked  Creek.] 

Populus  dilatata,  Ait.    (Lombardy  poplar).     [Only  seen  in  cultivation.] 

Acer  rubrum,  L.    (Red  maple). 

Acer  saccharinum,  Wang.    (Sugar  maple). 

Acer  saccharinum,  Wang.,  var.  nigrum,  Gray.  (Black  sugar  maple).  [Sometimes  known 
as  rock  maple.] 


HOUSTON  COUNTY.  215 

Trees  and  shrubs.] 

Ulmus  Americana,  L.  (PL  Clayt.)  Willd.     (American  elm). 

Ulmus  fulva,  Mich.    (Slippery  elm). 

Ulmus  racemosa,  Thomas.    (Corky  elm.) 

[The  first  named  elm  is  very  common,  and  acquires  a  very  large  size  in  the  bottom  lands  of 
the  Hoot  river,  but  the  slippery  elm  is  comparatively  rare.  The  corky  elm  seems  to  be  that  which 
is  commonly  known  as  rock  elm.  It  is  likely  to  be  confounded  with  the  American  elm.  It 
grows  more  slowly,  and  has  a  thick  corky  bark,  particularly  on  its  young  twigs.  Its  bud-scales  are 
downy-ciliate,  while  those  of  the  American  elm  are  glabrous.] 

Tilia  Americana,  L.  (Basswood). 

Carya  amara,  ffutt.    (Bittemut  hickory). 

Carya  alba,  Nutt.  (Shag-bark  hickory). 

[Of  these  hickories  the  former  furnishes  the  great  bulk  of  the  hoop-poles  for  flour-barrels, 
cut  in  the  southern  and  central  portions  of  the  state,  the  latter  being  a  much  more  rare  tree.  It 
is  only  in  eastern  Houston  and  Winona  counties  that  the  shag-bark  hickory  is  known  to  occur 
generally.  It  is  exceedingly  rare  in  Fillmore  county,  and  does  not  occur  in  the  Big  Woods.] 

Juglans  nigra,  L.  (Black  walnut). 

Juglans  cinerea,  L.  ( White  walnut,  or  butternut). 

[The  former  is  comparatively  rare,  but  the  latter  is  one  of  the  most  common  trees  along 
valleys.] 

Fraxinus  Americana,  L.  (White  ash). 

Fraxinus  sambucifolia,  Lam.  (Black  ash). 

[The  former  is  often  seen  as  a  large  tree,  but  the  latter  is  rare,  having  been  noted  only  in  the 
timbered  bottoms  of  the  Root  river  at  Houston.] 

Pruuus  Americana,  Marsh.    (Wild  plum). 

Primus  Pennsylvania,  L.    (Wild  red  cherry). 

Prunus  Virginiana,  L.  (Choke  cherry). 

Prunus  serotina,  Ehr.  (Black  cherry.) 

Pirus  coronaria,  L.  (American  crab-apple). 

Negundo  aceroides,  Mcench.  (Box-elder). 

Cratsegus  coccinea,  L.  (Thorn  apple). 

Cratsegus  tomentosa,  L.  (Black  thorn). 

Celtis  occidentalis,  L.  (Hackberry). 

Betula  lutea,  Michx.    (Gray  birch). 

Betula  nigra,  L.  (Red  birch  or  River  birch.  [River  bottoms,  La  Crescent.] 

Betula  papyracea,  Ait.    (Paper  or  canoe  birch). 

[Of  these  birches  the  last  is  quite  common  but  the  first  is  rare.  The  outer  bark  of  the  paper 
birch  is  snowy  white,  and  the  tree  rarely  becomes  larger  than  three  or  four  inches  in  diameter, 
and  indeed  is  usually  less  than  two.  It  frequents  rocky  banks  and  sterile  soils,  being  rarely  seen 
except  along  a  hillside,  where  its  white,  small  trunks  make  it  very  noticeable.  The  former  has 
been  seen  only  in  rich,  moist  lowlands,  with  large  timber  surrounding,  and  is  apt  to  grow,  unless  in- 
jured, to  a  large  tree  of  a  foot  or  two  in  diameter.  Its  twigs  and  bark  are  so  aromatic  as  to  cause 
it  to  be  mistaken  for  the  black,  or  cherry  birch,  of  the  middle  and  eastern  states,  which  has  not 
yet  been  reported  as  occurring  within  the  state  of  Minnesota.  The  red  birch  has  been  cut  con- 
siderably for  fuel  at  La  Crescent.  It  forms  a  large  and  shady  tree  suitable  for  ornamental  pur- 
poses, when  growing  alone,  but  in  the  bottom-land  it  is  not  a  handsome  tree.] 

Prunus  Strobus,  L.   (White  pine). 

[On  Crooked  creek,  at  La  Crescent;  on  Beaver  creek ;  on  Winnebago  and  Money  creeks]. 

Ostrya  Virginica,  Willd.  (Irouwood). 

Salix— sp?  [Various  species ;  one  species  becomes  a  large  tree,  as  seen  in  the  bottoms  at 
Houston.] 

Gymnocladus  Canadensis,  Lam.  (Kentucky  coffee-tree). 

[The  coffee-tree  occasionally  is  seen,  even  eighteen  inches  in  diameter,  and  is  used  for  lum- 
ber. It  was  particularly  noted  about  Houston.] 

Larix  Americana,  Michx.  (Tamarack).    [Only  known  on  Pine  creek.] 

Cornus  circinata,  L'Her.    (Round-leaved  cornel). 

Cornus  sericea,  L.  (Silky  cornel). 


216  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Trees  and  shrubs. 

Cornus  paniculate,  L'Her.  (Panicled  cornel).    [Along  the  ravines.] 

Cornus  alternifolia,  L.  (Alternate-leaved  cornel). 

Gaultheria  procumbens,  L.  (Wintergreenj.    [Seen  only  at  Mound  Prairie.] 

Alnus  incana,  Willd.  (Speckled  alder). 

Diervilla  triflda,  Mcench.  (Bush  honeysuckle).  [Along  the  bluffs  of  the  Mississippi.] 

Ehus  typhina,  L.  (Stag-horn  sumac).    [Rare;  seen  at  Brownsville.] 

Rhus  copallina,  L.    (Dwarf  sumac). 

Sambucus  Canadensis,  L.  (Common  elder). 

Castanea  vesca,  L.  (Chestnut).    [Cultivated;  seen  on  sec.  29,  Union.] 

Eobinia  Pseudacacia,  L.  (Locust).    [Only  cultivated.] 

Staphylea  trifolia,  L.  (Bladder-nut.) 

Gleditschia  monosperma,  Walt.  (Water-locust.)    [Only  in  cultivation;  seen  at  Hokah.J 

Rosa  blanda,  Ait.  (Early  wild  rose). 

Rosa  Carolina,  L.  (Swamp  rose).    [This  is  a  bushy  rose,  eight  feet  high  and  less.] 

Rhus  glabra,  L.  (Smooth  sumac). 

Rhus  Toxicodendron,  L.  (Poison  ivy). 

Rhus  venenata,  DC.  (Poison  sumac). 

Abies  balsamea,  Marshall.  (Balsam  fir).    [Only  in  cultivation].] 

Rubus  strigosus,  Michx.  (Red  raspberry). 

Rubus  villosus,  Ait.  (High  blackberry.) 

Rubus  occidentalis,  L.  (Black-cap  raspberry.) 

Rubus —  — ?    (Low  blackberry.)    [M.ore  or  less  trailing.] 

Juniperus  Sabina,  L.  var.  procumbens,  Pursh.  (Trailing  cedar.)    [Hokah  and  Sheldon.] 

Juniperus  Virginiana,  L.    (Red  cedar.) 

Apocynum  androsffimifolium,  L.    (Dogbane.) 

Carpinus  Americana,  Michx.  (Water  beech). 

Spiraea  opulifolia,  L.  (Nine-baik). 

Xanthoxylum  Americanum,  Mill.    (Prickly  ash.) 

Amorpha  canescens,  Nutt.    (Lead  plant.) 

Lonicera  parviflora,  Lam.  (Small  honeysuckle). 

Amelanchier  Canadensis,  Torr.  and  Gray.  ( Juneberry.) 

Vitis  cordifolia,  Michx.  (Grape.) 

Ampelopsis  quinquefolia,  Michx.  (Virginia  creeper.) 

Celastrus  scandens,  L.    (Climbing  bittersweet.) 

Clematis  Virginiana,  L.  (Common  virgiu's-bower.)  [Common  in  the  valley  of  Root  river, 
below  Hokah.] 

Viburnum  Lentago,  L.  (Sheepberry). 

Viburnum  Opulus,  L.  (Highbush  cranberry). 

Ceanothus  Americanus,  L.  (Jersey  tea.) 

Menispermum  Canadense,  L.  (Moonseed.) 

Ribes  Cynosbati,  L.  (Gooseberry). 

Ribes  floridum,  L.  (Wild  black  currant). 

Ribes  rotundifolium,  Michx.  (Gooseberry). 

Corylus  Americana,  Walt.  (Hazel-nut.) 

Symphoricarpus  occidentalis,  B.  Br.  (Wolfberry). 

Dirca  palustris,  L.  (Leathervrood.) 

[This  was  found  along  the  bottoms  of  Beaver  creek  in  Caledonia  township .  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  great  spring.  The  wood,  instead  of  being  "very  brittle",  as  described  by  Gray,  was  pliable 
and  spongy,  resembling  a  green  cornstalk.  This  was  in  the  month  of  July.] 

Smilax  rotundifolia,  L.  (Common  greenbrier.) 

[This  was  seen  growing  very  luxuriantly  in  the  sandy  alluvium  of  the  Root  river  bottoms, 
below  Hokah,  associated  with  the  virgin's-bower  and  the  climbing  bittersweet.  In  the  same 
vicinity  were  also  the  wild  grape,  the  Virginia  creeper,  and  a  number  of  herbaceous  vines.  The 
leaves  on  the  different  parts  of  the  greenbrier  differ  very  noticeably.  Those  on  the  large  annual 
shoots  which  run  ten  or  fifteen  feet,  are  ovate  and  heart-shaped,  large,  three  inches  long;  those  of 
the  fruiting  stems  or  branchlets,  are  rarely  heart-shaped,  but  are  ovate,  and  less  than  half  the  size 


HOUSTON  COUNTY.  217 

Geological  structure.] 

of  the  former.  Both  sorts  are  rough  on  the  edges  and  on  the  prominent  ribs  beneath,  and  are 
barely  pointed.  The  carrion-flower,  Smilax  herbacea,  L.  was  identified  in  the  ravines  on  the  north 
side  of  the  valley  at  Houston.] 

It  is  noticeable  that  many  of  the  valleys,  particularly  those  running  east  and  west,  as  Crooked 
creek  valley,  have  the  bluffs  along  the  north  side  of  the  creek  destitute,  or  nearly  so,  of  timber, 
but  are  heavily  timbered  along  the  opposite  bluffs,  on  the  south  side.  This  may  be  due  to  warm 
days  in  winter  or  early  spring  when  the  sap  may  have  started  in  the  trees  on  the  north  bluffs,  fol- 
lowed by  severely  cold  weather,  before  the  actual  setting  in  of  steady  warm  weather.  Of  course 
the  sun's  heat  would  be  quickest  felt  on  the  bluffs  facing  south.  This  process  repeated  for  a  good 
many  years,  would  injure  and  at  last  destroy  the  timber  on  the  north  bluffs,  if  it  were  ever  possible 
for  trees  to  have  come  to  maturity  there,  while  timber  on  the  south  bluffs  would  escape  these  sud- 
den changes,  owing  to  the  shaded  condition  of  the  bluffs  during  the  warmest  portion  of  the  day, 
and  would  only  experience  a  steady  increase  of  warmth  due  fo  the  progress  of  the  season.* 

At  La  Crescent  Mr.  J.  S.  Harris  has  an  apple-tree  that  has  been  grow- 
ing twenty-six  years.  It  was  planted  in  1857,  and  is  probably  the  oldest 
of  its  kind  in  the  state.  Its  diameter  is  seventeen  inches  at  eighteen  inches 
from  the  ground.  It  spreads  thirty-six  feet  and  has  a  hight  of  eighteen  feet. 
Its  fruit  is  known  as  the  St.  Lawrence  apple. 

* 

THE   GEOLOGICAL   STRUCTURE   OF   HOUSTON   COUNTY. 

« 

The  rocks  of  Houston  county  are  embraced  wholly  within  the  Lower 
Silurian  and  Cambrian  ages.  They  are  as  follows  : 

The  Hudson  River  shales  and  Trenton  limestone,  confined  to  the  south- 
western quarter,  being  of  the  Lower  Silurian. 

The  Cambrian,  made  up  of  a  succession  of  alternating  friable  sandstones 
and  magnesian  limestones,  as  follows,  in  descending  order : 

(1)  St.  Peter  sandstone,  in  an  irregular  area  surrounding  the  area  of  the 
Trenton  above. 

(2)  The  Shakopee  limestone,  in  the  upper  river  valleys. 

(3)  The  Jordan  sandstone,  in  the  upper  portion  of  the  river  valleys. 

(4)  The  St.  Lawrence  limestone,  in  the  bluifs  of  the  rivers. 

(5)  The  St.  Croix  sandstone,  in  the  river  bluffs. 

The  accompanying  map  of  the  county,  plate  8,  shows  the  superficial 
areas  to  which  the  most  important  of  these  formations  pertain.  The  Jor- 
dan, Shakopee  and  St.  Lawrence  are  represented  by  a  single  color,  as  they  are 
closely  associated  in  the  production  of  important  topographical  characters. 
Owing  to  the  frequent  deep  valleys  the  geographical  boundaries  of  the 
formations  make  very  crooked  and  tortuous  lines.  Although  these  valleys 

*Carrer  noted  this  peculiarity  in  the  distribution  of  timber  (second  edit-on  of  Carver's  Travels^  p.  34).  He  says:  "  In 
many  places  pyramids  of  rocks  appeared,  resembling  old  ruinous  towers;  at  others  amazing  precipices,  and  what  is  more 
remarkable,  whilst  this  scene  presented  itself  on  one  side,  the  opposite  side  oi  the  same  mountain  was  crowded  with  the 
finest  herbage,  which  gradually  ascended  to  its  summit." 


218  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA.. 

[Trenton  limestone. 

are  filled  more  or  less  with  the  loess-loam  the  topography  still  is  so  marked, 
pertaining  to  and  even  caused  by  the  rocky  outlines,  that  the  limits  of  each 
formation  are  very  evident  to  the  observer.  There  is  more  or  less  doubt 
about  the  position  of  the  boundary  between  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  and  the 
Shakopee  limestone.  The  incoherency  of  the  St.  Peter  causes  it  to  crumble 
easily,  and  to  leave  no  evidence  of  its  final  dissolution  where  the  exact 
contact  between  the  formations  cannot  be  examined;  and  the  loam  gen- 
erally securely  hides  this  horizon. 

The  Trenton  limestone.  This  formation,  as  known  in  Houston  county, 
consists  of  limestone  layers  that  amount  to  a  thickness  of  not  more  than 
fifteen  feet.  These  layers  are  overlain  by  beds  of  shale  and  fossiliferous 
shaly  limestone  which  reach  an  unascertained  thickness,  but  probably  not 
exceeding  twenty-five  feet.  These  shaly  beds  have  been  denominated 
"  Green  shales",  in  the  reports  of  progress  of  the  survey,  but  they  seem  to 
belong  to  the  Hudson  River  age,  of  New  York.  They  are  overlain  in  Fill- 
more  county,  and  in  northeastern  Iowa,  by  firm  calcareous  strata  which 
attain  a  thickness  of  fifty  or  sixty  feet,  which  seem  to  fade  into  the  Galena 
formation  of  Iowa,  as  may  be  seen  by  consulting  the  chapters  relating  to 
the  geology  of  Fillmore  and  Goodhue  counties. 

This  formation  is  found  in  Spring  Grove  and  Wilmington  townships. 
It  runs  also  in  a  narrow,  but  interrupted,  belt  nearly  to  Caledonia,  where  it 
may  be  seen  distinctly  in  its  peculiar  features,  and  its  flat-topped  mounds, 
or  tables,  a  mile  west  of  that  village.  There  is  reason  to  suppose  that  it 
formerly  extended  much  further  east  than  it  does  now,  covering  the  most 
if  not  the  whole  of  the  county,  and  being  continuous  with  the  horizon  of 
the  same  formation  east  of  the  Mississippi  river  in  Wisconsin. 

The  usual  characters  of  the  Trenton,  both  lithological  and  palaeonto- 
logical,  were  the  only  ones  noticed  in  Houston  county.  It  has  been  opened 
for  quarries  only  in  the  vicinity  of  Spring  Grove.  It  generally  presents  a 
stained  and  long-weathered  aspect,  as  if  split  and  dissolved  by  the  action 
of  water.  The  layers  are  at  first  about  an  inch  in  thickness,  but  become 
thicker,  by  union  with  each  other,  on  being  wrought  to  some  depth,  and 
possess  a  blue  color. 

The  St.  Peter  sandstone.  This  lies  next  below  the  Trenton.  Its  area 
embraces  not  only  the  slope  from  the  high  table-land  of  the  Trenton  area, 


HOUSTON   COUNTY.  219 

St.  Peter  sandstone.] 

but  also  a  belt  extending  in  width  from  the  foot  of  that  slope  over  the 
more  level  country  surrounding,  so  that  its  irregular  area  is  often  a  mile  or 
two  in  width.  As  already  remarked,  while  its  upper  limit  has  a  very  easily 
recognized  location,  by  reason  of  the  terrace-like  topography  of  the  Tren- 
ton, its  lower  horizon  is  often  very  uncertain  on  account  of  the  very  easy 
and  gradual  destruction  of  its  layers,  and  the  prevalence  of  the  loess-loam. 

The  characters  of  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  are  pretty  well  known  to 
geologists.  It  spreads  into  Iowa,  Wisconsin  and  Illinois.  Toward  the  east,  in 
northern  Wisconsin,  Prof.  T.  C.  Chamberlin  has  traced  it  to  the  Michigan 
state  boundary,  though  there  it  is  reduced  to  a  thickness  of  no  more  than 
twenty  feet.*  It  contains  but  the  merest  traces  of  fossil  remains.  It 
consists  of  nearly  pure  silica,  in  rounded  grains,  with  so  little  cement  that 
the  rock  can  generally  be  crumbled  in  the  hand.  It  is  nearly  white;  and 
the  soils  which  are  situated  near  its  line  of  outcrop  are  apt  to  be  loose 
and  arenaceous  from  its  disintegration. 

It  was  noticed,  however,  that  for  some  reason  it  is  more  frequently 
hardened  by  iron,  or  lime  and  iron,  in  Houston  county,  into  a  firm  rock, 
which  causes  it  to  sustain  a  weathered  exposure  without  crumbling  rapidly 
away,  than  in  counties  further  north  or  west  where  the  northern  drift  pre- 
vails. This,  however,  is  purely  an  accidental  and  surface  quality,  the  in- 
terior of  the  formation  being  about  the  same  as  at  other  places.  The 
cement  which  it  possesses  in  Houston  county,  in  its  exposed  portions,  in  ex- 
cess of  the  same  at  other  points,  is  no  doubt  due  to  the  water  by  which  it 
has  been  submerged  and  stained  during  the  deposition  of  the  loess-loom. 

The  thickness  of  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  was  very  satisfactorily  ascer- 
tained on  S.  W.  ^  sec.  17,  Wilmington.  The  well  of  Mr.  0.  A.  Bye  is  situ- 
ated near  the  Trenton  bluff,  and  by  uniting  the  known  depth  drilled  in  the 
sandstone  with  aneroid  measurement  of  the  bluff,  the  St.  Peter  was  found 
to  be  between  seventy-five  and  eighty  feet  thick,  the  Shakopee  below  having 
a  thickness  of  sixty-four  feet. 

The  Shakopee  limestone.  The  continuity  of  this  formation  from  the 
Minnesota  valley  to  the  Mississippi,  and  its  idenity  with  the  limestone  at 
Shakopee,  where  it  was  first  recognized  as  a  distinct  member  of  the  Cam- 
brian in  Minnesota,  was  fully  established  in  the  survey  of  Houston  county. 

•Geology  of  Wisconsin,  Vol.  II,  p.  289. 


220  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Shakopee  limestone. 

It  is  everywhere  distinct  as  an  important  limestone  formation,  and  is  every- 
where separated  from  the  other  great  calcareous  member  of  the  same 
formation  by  a  sandstone  as  distinct  and  continuous,  and  as  clearly  recog- 
nizable, as  the  St.  Peter  sandstone.  There  seems  much  reason  to  believe 
also  that  it  exists  across  the  Mississippi,  in  the  state  of  Wisconsin,  but  at 
this  time  there  is  no  distinct  published  notice  of  its  occurrence  there.  The 
Lower  Magnesian  in  Wisconsin  has  been  divided  by  Prof.  R.  D.  Irving,  of 
the  geological  survey  of  Wisconsin,  into  three  parts,  as  exemplified  near 
Madison  (American  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts,  June,  1875,)  but  there 
is  reason  to  believe  that  his  proposed  subdivisions  do  not  include  the 
Shakopee  limestone  at  all,  and  that  the  distinctions  which  he  mentions 
are  wholly  confined  to  the  St.  Lawrence  limestone  of  Minnesota.  This 
subject  was  discussed  by  the  writer  in  the  Bulletin  of  the  Minnesota  Academy 
of  Natural  Sciences,  for  1875,  when  this  hypothesis  was  first  published.  It 
is  rendered  still  more  plausible  from  the  fact  that  even  in  Houston  county 
the  St.  Lawrence  exhibits  variations  of  composition  and  lithology  which 
are  comparable  to  those  Prof.  Irving  describes. 

The  characters  of  the  Shakopee  in  Houston  county  are  not  noticeably 
different  from  those  in  counties  further  west.  The  aggregate  thickness, 
however,  is  less  than  seventy-five  feet. 

This  formation  does  not  appear  in  the  bluffs  of  the  Mississippi  river,  in 
Houston  county,  nor  in  those  of  Root  river  generally;  but  its  line  of  strike 
is  some  miles  back  in  the  country  away  from  the  immediate  bluffs.  This  is 
due  to  the  more  crumbling  nature  of  the  Jordan  sandstone,  which  underlies 
it,  and  which  operates,  in  that  respect,  to  tear  down  the  Shakopee  in  the 
same  manner,  and  for  the  same  causes,  as  the  St.  Peter  on  the  Trenton.  To 
this  fact,  and  to  its  general  resemblance  to  the  St.  Lawrence  limestone,  may 
be  attributed  the  non-discovery  of  this  limestone  by  the  United  States  geolo- 
gists who  have  reported  on  the  geology  of  the  state,  or  by  others,  whose  ex- 
aminations were  largely  confined  to  the  main  water-courses,  before  the 
general  settlement  of  the  state  and  the  construction  of  good  roads.  Its 
area  is  embraced  on  the  colored  map  of  the  county,  in  the  same  color  with 
that  of  the  St.  Lawrence  limestone  and  Jordan  sandstone. 

This  limestone  may  be  seen  frequently  in  the  central  portion  of  the 
county,  in  the  upper  reaches  of  the  ravines  which  radiate  in  all  directions 


HOUSTON  COUNTY.  221 

Jordan  sandstone.] 

from  the  vicinity  of  Caledonia.  It  is  seldom  quarried,  or  used  for  any  pur- 
pose, for  the  St.  Lawrence  limestone  is  generally  accessible  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood,  and  that  is  much  more  desirable  for  building-stone,  or  for 
lime-making.  In  descending  the  ravine  toward  the  quarries  east  of  Cale- 
donia the  Shakopee  is  the  first  limestone  seen  exposed.  The  quarries  are 
much  lower,  and  in  the  St.  Lawrence.  It  may  be  seen  also  in  the  upper 
tributary  valleys  that  feed  Badger,  Beaver,  Crystal  and  Thompson  creeks. 
It  causes  the  first  rugged  or  rocky  portion  of  these  valleys.  It  is  exposed  in 
the  tops  of  the  bluffs  at  the  great  spring,  sec.  17,  Caledonia,  three  miles 
south  of  Sheldon.  Its  thickness  at  Mr.  0.  A.  Bye's,  sec.  17,  Wilmington, 
when  drilled  through,  was  found  to  be  sixty-four  feet,  which  is  probably 
about  its  average  thickness  throughout  the  county. 

The  Jordan  sandstone.  The  lithological  features  of  this  sandstone,  are 
nearly  the  same  as  those  of  the  St.  Peter,  but  it  has  only  about  one-half  the 
thickness  of  the  St.  Peter.  Its  area  of  outcrop  is  quite  small,  and  its  ex- 
posures are  few.  As  it  lies  between  two  hard  limestones,  which  are  apt  to 
form  perpendicular,  walled  bluffs,  its  line  of  outcrop  is  known  by  a  belt  of 
non-exposure  of  rock  separating  the  Shakopee  from  the  St.  Lawrence,  which 
is  less  steep  in  the  ascent,  and  perhaps  turfed  over.  It  often  becomes  rusty 
and  firm  from  a  cement  of  iron,  when  it  endures  long  exposure,  and  is  seen 
as  detached  blocks  in  the  valleys.  Some  blocks  of  this  kind  are  visible  by 
the  roadside  in  the  ravine  that  descends  to  the  quarries  of  Aiken  and  Moli- 
tor,  a  mile  east  of  Caledonia. 

The  outcropping  area  of  the  Jordan  is  also  frequently  evinced  by  the 
occurrence  of  blocks  of  firm  sandstone  in  considerable  abundance  near  the 
tops  of  the  bluffs.  In  ascending  one  of  the  numerous  ravines  of  the  county 
after  passing  the  precipitous  outcrop  of  the  St.  Lawrence  limestone,  upon 
ascending  a  gentler  slope  still  higher,  perhaps  along  a  roadway,  will  occa- 
sionally be  seen  such  blocks  of  sandrock,  varying  from  a  few  inches  to  a  foot 
or  two  feet  in  diameter,  while  the  beds  from  which  they  are  derived  can 
rarely  be  seen  in  situ;  occasionally,  however,  they  can.  In  some  instances 
the  overlying  Shakopee  limestone,  resembling  greatly  a  weathered  exposure 
of  the  St.  Lawrence,  will  also  be  found  adjacent  by  pursuing  the  search  in 
further  ascent  of  the  same  ravine.  Mr.  Moses  Strong  has  reported  similar 
scattered  blocks  of  sandstone  at  a  level  higher  than  the  St.  Lawrence  lime- 


222  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[St.  Lawrence  limestone. 

stone,  in  Wisconsin,*  notably  on  N.  W.^  sec.  22,  T.  7,  E,  4  W.,  but  he  has 
referred  them  to  the  St.  Peter  sandstone. 

The  St.  Lawrence,  limestone.  This  is  the  most  important  formation  in 
the  county.  It  not  only  occupies  a  greater  superficial  area  of  outcrop  than 
any  other,  but  it  takes  the  most  prominent  part  in  causing  the  varied  topo- 
graphy of  the  county.  It  surmounts  the  St.  Croix  sandstone,  an  easily 
eroded  rock,  into  which  the  valleys  are  deeply  and  rapidly  cut,  and  main- 
tains a  bold  and  sharp  outline  along  their  tops.  It  is  the  immediate  cause 
of  a  great  many  hills  and  ridges.  It  confronts  the  observer  in  every  nook 
and  on  every  promontory,  along  the  whole  course  of  the  Root  river,  and 
down  the  Mississippi  bluffs  as  far  as  the  state  line,  and  it  is  especially  con- 
spicuous in  the  little  valleys  that  ascend  from  those  streams  and  that  often 
are  more  rocky  than  the  larger  valleys. 

The  thickness  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  in  Houston  county,  is  about  200  feet, 
though  Prof.  J.  D.  Whitney  has  reported  it  as  250  feet  thick  on  the  Upper 
Iowa  river.f  It  is  a  dolomitic,  or  magnesian  limestone.  Its  layers,  while 
generally  regular  and  useful  as  a  building-stone,  are  also  sometimes  very 
much  brecciated,  rendering  it  at  once  more  firm  but  also  more  refractory. 
Thi  j  feature  pertains  to  its  uppermost  thirty  or  forty  feet.  It  furnishes 
more  stone  for  building  than  all  the  other  formations  of  the  county 
combined.  It  is  of  a  light,  lively  color  and  endures  the  weather  perfectly, 
showing  not  the  least  change  in  the  oldest  buildings  in  which  it  has  been 
used. 

The  bedding  in  the  upper  portion  of  this  formation  is  apt  to  be  dis- 
turbed by  cherty,  or  concretionary,  masses,  which  on  the  weathering  away 
of  the  bluffs  become  detached  and  fall  into  the  bottom  of  the  valley,  where 
they  lie  long  after  the  non-siliceous  portions  of  the  rock  have  dissolved  and 
disappeared.  Such  cherty  lumps  are  often  a  foot,  or  even  two  or  three 
feet,  in  diameter.  They  are  roughened  by  cavities  opening  on  the  surface, 
by  solution  and  removal  of  the  calcareous  parts,  and  by  the  natural  open- 
ings and  pores  they  acquired  in  the  act  of  formation.'  They  are  the  only 
portions  of  the  formation  in  which  fossils  have  been  found  in  Houston 
county.  These  masses  sometimes  show  surfaces  of  drusy  quartz  crystals, 


'Geology  of  Wisconsin,  Vol.  II.    1873-77,  p.  C7J. 
tGeology  of  Iowa,  Vol.  I,  p  333, 1858. 


HOUSTON  COUNTY.  223 

St.  Croix  sandstone.] 

also  amethyst  crystals,  and  great  quantities  of  pyrite  oxydized  and  hy- 
drated  so  as  to  produce  limonite,  the  form  of  the  crystal  alone  remaining  to 
indicate  the  original  mineral.  A  careful  study  of  these  fossils  has  not  yet 
been  made.  From  Houston  county  have  been  obtained  from  such  cherty 
lumps,  an  Orthoceras  resembling  0.  primigenlum,  H.,  but  having  an  oval 
section  and  oblique  septa;  an  Orthoceras  with  septa  nearly  directly  trans- 
. verse  to  the  direction  of  the  shell,  much  more  resembling  0.  prim  iff  enium,  H., 
and  several  species  of  spiral  univalves  including  some  of  OpMleta  and  some 
of  Pleurotomaria. 

The  St.  Croix  sandstone.  This  name  was  applied  in  the  first  annual  report 
provisionally  to  the  light-colored  and  often  friable  sandstones  which  occur 
along  the  Mississippi  river  in  Minnesota,  and  which  have  by  some  been 
regarded  as  the  stratigraphical  equivalent  of  the  Potsdam  sandstone  of  New 
York.  This  was  done  because,  in  the  existence  of  another  formation,  of 
different  lithology,  affirmed  also  to  be  the  equivalent  of  the  New  York 
Potsdam,  it  was  necessary  to  have  some  designation  for  each  of  them.  It 
seemed,  from  considerations  there  given,  that  the  lower  of  these  two  sand- 
stones was  the  probable  equivalent  of  that  formation  in  New  York. 

Since  that  report  was  published  considerable  more  time  and  observation 
have  been  given  to  the  same  question.  Numerous  facts  from  the  northern 
part  of  the  state,  where  the  lower  of  these  two  sandstones  appears  abun- 
dantly, have  been  gathered,  and  some  of  them,  with  theoretical  and  min- 
eralogical  considerations,  have  been  published  in  succeeding  reports  of  the 
progress  of  the  survey.*  They  all  go  to  affirm  the  essential  correctness  of 
the  distinction  brought  forward  in  the  first  annual  report.  Hence  the 
designation  St.  Croix  sandstone  is  retained.  The  reasons  in  full  for  this  can 
not  be  given  here.  Meantime  if,  before  the  final  discussion  of  this  subject, 
the  reader  desires  further  facts  bearing  on  it,  he  is  referred  to  the  annual 
reports,  particularly  to  the  ninth  and  tenth. 

Although  these  sandstone  beds  occupy  the  river  bluffs  along  the  Missis- 
sippi and  the  Root  rivers  throughout  the  county,  they  afford  but  very  few 
opportunities  for  satisfactory  examination.  They  are  in  the  lowest  part  of 
the  bluffs  and  are  generally  hid  by  a  sloping  talus  that  is  usually  turfed 

•Ninth  and  tenth  annual  reports. 


224  TI1E  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[St.  Croix  sandstone. 

over.  The  only  point  at  which  a  useful  section  of  their  composition  could 
be  had  was  at  Hokah.  The  general  section  at  this  place,  as  nearly  as  it 
could  be  made  out,  is  as  follows,  in  descending  order. 

General  section  at  Hokah. 

Feet. 

St.  Lawrence  limestone,  about  200 

Slope— unseen  (probably  transition,  argillaceous  beds)  30 

Sandstone,  line  of  constant  exposure  -  .            30 

Slope,  rock  unseen,  (probably  crumbling  sand)  30 
Whitman's  quarry  made  up  as  follows  : 

1.  Broken,  shaly,  and  sandy,  crumbling  and  fragmentary  10 

2.  Shale  bed,  greenish  with  remains  of  trilobitps  -  1 

3.  Tough,  persistent  layers,  like  an  ur.clurated,  arenaceous  shale,  with  green  sand,  in 

thin  layers  12 

4.  Crumbling  sand,  in  oblique  stratification.  3 
Rock  very  similar  to  Nos.  3  and  4  extends  downward,  covering  the  horizon  of  an  old  quarry 

east  of  llokah,  now  abandoned  as  worthless,  embracing  a  thickness  that  is  generally  a 
turfed  slope  of  about  150 

Busty,  coarsely  arenaceous  sandrock  with  Lingula  10 

Crumbling,  white  sandrock,  massive  25 

Variegated,  arenaceous  quartzyte,  purple,  and  white,  hard  and  persistent,  level  with  the  top 

of  the  dam, 
Massive  white  sandrock  20 

Total  rock,  about  523 

The  hight  of  Mt.  Tom,  at  Hokah,  by  aneroid,  above  the  flood-plain,  was 
found  to  be  530  feet. 

At  an  old  quarry  east  of  Hokah,  and  across  Thompson's  creek,  now 
abandoned  because  the  rock  is  worthless  for  all  purposes,  the  general  aspect 
of  the  layers  is  much  like  that  at  Whitman's  quarry,  but  the  sand  is  less 
firmly  cemented,  making  a  stone  not  so  good.  It  is  a  shaly  and  arenaceous 
sandstone,  of  coarse  and  fine  grain,  marked  with  fucoids  and  abundant 
greensand,  and  is  below  the  stratigraphical  level  of  Whitman's.  In  the 
same  bluff,  about  twenty-five  feet  higher,  is  a  blind  shoulder  or  terrace 
which  is  more  likely  to  contain  the  layers  of  Whitman's  quarry.  This 
stone,  as  taken  from  Whitman's  quarry,  although  very  shaly,  becomes  firm 
and  enduring  on  exposure. 

At  Houston,  the  bluffs  north  of  the  village  are  520  feet  in  hight,  and  of 
this  the  lower  420  feet  at  least  belongs  to  the  St.  Croix  sandstone.  They 
probably  contain  the  St.  Croix  twenty  feet  further  up,  shown  by  the  toppling 
over  of  huge  blocks  of  St.  Lawrence  limestone,  from  the  crumbling  out  of 
friable  sandrock  along  the  salient  angles  of  the  bluffs.  The  interval  of  these 


HOUSTON  COUNTY.  225 

St.  Croix  sandstone.] 

sandstone  layers  is  mainly  turfed  over  so  as  to  render  an  inspection  of  their 
contents  impossible  except  at  points  near  the  top  and  near  the  bottom. 
There  is  a  line  of  nearly  constant  exposure  about  forty  feet  below  the  top 
of  the  St.  Croix,  occupying  an  interval  of  thirty  or  forty  feet,  which  is  particu- 
ticularly  noticeable  along  the  north  side  of  the  river,  and  is  again  mentioned 
in  the  report  on  Fillmore  county.  There  is  another  exposure  of  these  beds 
near  the  level  of  the  river  at  the  dam  at  Houston.  The  former  consists  of 
a  hard,  firm  sandrock,  and  the  latter  is  soft  and  crumbling,  with  cross  strat- 
ification. Above  the  line  of  constant  exposure,  about  twenty-five  feet,  is  a 
blind  terrace  which  occasionally  reveals  the  rock  which  causes  it.  It  is  a 
sandstone,  and  is  included  in  the  foregoing  thickness  of  420  feet. 

At  one  mile  north  of  Sheldon  there  is  an  apparent  dip  in  the  outcrop- 
ping upper  edge  of  the  St.  Croix,  as  it  strikes  across  the  bluffs.  Its  direc- 
tion is  perhaps  a  little  west  of  south,  and  amounts  to  two  or  three  degrees. 
It  is  entirely  local,  and  the  corresponding  upward  dip  in  the  opposite  di- 
rection is  invisible.  The  bluffs  south  and  north  have  their  usual  hight.* 
No  such  dip  was  noticed  in  any  other  part  of  Houston  county,  but  it  is 
very  likely  this  is  on  the  strike  of  the  noticeable  disturbance  in  these  for- 
mations which  has  been  mentioned  by  the  geologists  of  Iowa  as  occurring 
in  the  bluffs  of  the  Mississippi  river  at  McGregor  and  Lansing,  in  the  state 
of  Iowa. 

In  section  2,  Caledonia  township,  the  following  section  was  taken  : 

Section  covering  the  junction  between  tlie  St.  Croix  and  the  St.  Laiwenee. 

Feet. 
Slope,  covered  with  large  blocks  of  limestone,  -----  200—300 

Even  layers  of  limestone,  quarried,  12 
Hid,  mainly  limestone,  like  the  next,  •  -  40 
Limestone,  with  broken  and  curling  bedding,  cherty,  arenaceous  or  massive,  with  some  green- 
sand,  -  -  25 
Lime  and  sand,  lumpy  with  irregular  concretions,  mainly  massive,  -  15-20 
Soft  sand,  witli  cemented  or  quartzitic  lenticular  lumps,  10 
Soft,  massive  sand,  (causes  the  blind  terrace  at  Houston),  25 

The  line  of  constant  exposure  mentioned  as  occurring  at  Houston,  near 
the  top  of  the  St.  Croix  sandstone,  lies  below  this  section.  This  line  is 
more  evident  in  the  north  than  on  the  south  bluffs, — due,  probably,  to  the 
erosive  action  of  the  prevailing  winds — which  are  from  the  southwest,  and 
to  the  greater  scarcity  of  timber  on  the  north  bluffs  as  already  noted  under 
the  head  of  Soil  and  Timber. 

'Compare  Geoloey  of  Iowa.  Hall  &  Whitney,  1858,  Part  I.,  p.  51;  and  the  Wmona  county  report,  where  a  similar  dip 
is  described  in  the  Shakopee  and  St.  Peter. 

15 


226 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


[St.  Croix  Sandstone. 


The  fossils  that  have  been  gathered  from  this  formation  consist  very 
largely  of  trilobite  remains.  They  were  obtained  from  the  quarry  of  Mr. 
Whitman  at  Hokah. 

On  section  11,  Union  township,  the  sandstone  which  has  been 
mentioned  as  having  a  nearly  constant  line  of  exposure,  is  sculptured, 
along  the  north  bluffs,  into  isolated  columns  and  tables,  with  some  rounded 
buttresses  which  present  a  very  conspicuous  and  highly  interesting  in- 
stance of  atmospheric  erosion.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  bluffs 
themselves  are  the  result  of  the  erosion  of  the  valley  by  water  by  a 
process  that  began  thousands  of  years  before  the  glacial  epoch,  but  the 
present  condition  jof  most  of  the  curious  forms,  like  that  of  the  "sculp- 
tured bluffs,"  is  certainly  due  to  the  effect  of  wind  in  conjunction  with 
moisture  and  frost.  There  are  also  cavities  and  sheltered  nooks,  and  deep, 
crooked  passages  and  sharp  niches,  in  which  the  wind  could  barely  enter, 
and  from  which  there  could  not  have  been  any  wind  exit  sufficient  to  have 
maintained  a  current  capable  of  producing  the  most  of  this  sculpture,  which, 


moreover,  are  lichen-covered,  and  bear  an  aspect  of  age  and  roughness  that 
forbids  their  reference  to  any  present  atmospheric  forces.  They  can  be 
explained  only  by  the  solvent  action  of  water  in  agitation,  and  are  compar- 
able to  the  purgatories  that  are  often  seen  about  the  rocky  shores  of  lakes 
or  of  the  ocean.  But  where  the  rock  shows  a  recent,  fresh  erosion,  and  is 
soft  and  crumbling,  the  present  forms  are  due  to  more  recent  causes,  and 
can  only  be  assigned  to  wind  and  frost.  Table  Rock,  represented  in  figure  5 


HOUSTON  COUNTY.  227 

Drift.] 

from  a  pencil  sketch,  is  one  of  the  results  of  wind  erosion,  seen  in  the  valley 
of  Thompson's  creek,  near  Hokah,  situated  near  the  top  of  the  St.  Croix 
sandstone. 

THE   DRIFT. 

The  true  northern  drift  is  not  spread  over  this  county.  It  contains  no 
drift  clay,  nor  boulders  of  foreign  origin.  There  is  a  thin  deposit  of  foreign 
gravel  at  Riceford,  in  the  extreme  southwestern  part  of  the  county,  and 
there  is  a  terrace  along  the  Mississippi  river  that  is  made  up  of  gravel  and 
sand  of  northern  origin,  but  the  county  wholly  escaped  the  operation  of 
those  forces  which  spread  the  well-known  drift  clay  and  boulders  over  the 
most  of  the  state.  Whether  any  former  glacial  era  caused  it  to  be  covered 
with  the  ice  of  a  northern  glacier  cannot  be  determined,  since  the  mate- 
rials left  by  that  era,  if  any  there  were,  may  have  been  decomposed,  and 
may  have  entered  into  the  stratified  clays  and  the  soils  of  the  Mississippi 
valley  further  south,  under  the  combined  influence  of  time  and  the  destruc- 
tive forces  of  later  eras. 

There  is  to  be  seen  occasionally  a  local  drift,  or  debris  derived  from 
the  rock  of  the  country  round  about,  and  this  sometimes  has  a  deceitful 
resemblance  to  true  northern  drift,  yet  it  can  always  be  distinguished  from 
it  on  examination.  On  the  northwest  quarter  of  section  25,  Caledonia,  along 
the  road,  near  the  brow  of  the  Shakopee  limestone,  there  is  a  bank  of  such 
loose  materials.  There  is  a  cut  of  about  three  feet,  which  consists  mainly 
of  rusty  loam,  rather  sandy,  embracing  large  masses  of  black  quartzyte, 
which  also  vary  to  a  lighter  color  but  show  very  little,  if  any,  lime.  Other 
lumps  consist  of  pyrite  crystals,  now  converted  to  limonite,  and  of  rusty, 
hardened  sandstone,  perhaps  from  the  Jordan.  These  last  indeed  comprise 
perhaps  a  majority  of  the  stony  masses.  There  are  also  large  quantities 
of  ordinary  chert  and  an  occasional  piece  of  water-worn  limestone.  The' 
bank  shows  no  stratification,  but  consists  of  these  materials  simply  mingled 
with  the  loam.  The  whole  appears  red  and  rusty,  but  discloses  not  a  single 
piece  that  cannot  be  referred  to  the  Cambrian  rocks.* 

Alluvial  terraces.  There  is  a  marked  alluvial  terrace  that  accompanies 
the  Mississippi  and  Root  rivers,  and  ascends  their  lower  tributaries,  but  it 

*As  to  the  cause  of  the  "driftlessarea",  compare  the  fifth  annual  report,  p.  35. 


228  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINKESOTA. 

[Alluvial  terraces. 

does  not  seem  to  be  true  that  the  streams  are  terraced  above  the  level 
of  this  terrace.  The  highest  point  at  which  the  terraced  condition  of  Root 
river  has  been  observed  is  Preston,  in  Fillmore  county,  but  it  must  certainly 
extend  several  miles  farther  up  that  valley.  By  aneroid  measurements, 
united  with  levels  of  the  Southern  Minnesota  railroad,  the  hight  of  this 
terrace  at  Preston  is  found  to  be  about  300  feet  above  the  Grand  Crossing 
of  the  S.  M.  R.  R.  near  the  mouth  of  Root  river,  while  the  same  terrace  at 
Hokah,  likewise  near  the  mouth  of  Root  river,  is  only  about  one  hundred 
feet  above  the  flood  plain.  It  is  also  probable  that  the  loam  terrace,  as  seen 
at  La  Crescent,  is  the  same  continued  to  and  coalescent  with  the  Missis- 
sippi terrace;  and  there  it  is  ninety  feet  above  the  Mississippi  flood  plain. 
This  would  necessitate  a  fall,  of  about  two  hundred  feet  in  the  Root  river 
at  its  highest  stage,  in  a  distance  of  fifty  miles  in  a  right  line.  Root  river 
valley,  between  the  rock  bluffs,  has  an  average  width,  through  Houston 
county,  of  about  two  miles. 

There  is,  besides  this  high  loam-terrace,  a  second  terrace  level,  visible 
specially  at  La  Crescent,  on  the  Mississippi,  which  there  rises  fifty  feet  above 
the  flood  plain  of  the  river  and  spreads  out  in  a  pleasant  plateau  on  which 
the  village  has  been  located.  This  terrace  is  made  of  gravel  and  pebbles 
of  northern  origin,  and  was  identified  only  along  the  Mississippi.  The  lar- 
gest stones  it  contains  are  about  three  inches  in  longest  diameter.  Tt  is 
passed  through  in  wells,  and  seems  to  be  entirely  pervious  to  water,  as  all 
the  wells  on  it  get  water  at  about  the  level  of  the  flood  plain  of  the  river. 
This  material  is  used  for  grading  and  road-bed,  on  the  C.  D.  &  M.  R.  R.  and 
elsewhere.  It  consists  entirely  of  rounded  water-worn  materials,  the  main 
part  being  the  usual  parti-colored  quartzyte  pebbles,  granitic,  hornblendic, 
amygdaloidal  and  lamellar,  as  well  as  uniform  and  massive.  A  great  many 
of  them  have  a  red  color,  or  some  shade  varying  from  red.  The  coarsest 
pieces  are  rare,  found  only  in  the  upper  portions  of  the  debris  of  alluvial  fans. 

The  following  more  special  observations  were  made  on  these  terraces 
in  Houston  county. 

At  Sheldon,  six  miles  from  Root  river,  in  the  valley  of  Beaver  creek,  the  terrace  on  which 
the  Newberry  House  stands  is  thirty  feet  above  the  water  of  the  creek  below  the  dam.  The  ma- 
terials of  the  terrace  at  this  place  are  sandy  loam  horizontally  stratified,  with  more  clay  near  the 
top,  and  less  evident  stratification. 

At  Houston  the  only  observable  terrace,  measured  about  a  mile  west  of  the  city,  is  sixty-five 


HOUSTON  COUNTY. 


229 


Alluvial  terraces.  | 


feet  above  the  flood  plain.    The  track  of  the  railroad  is  about  one  foot  above  the  flood  plain  of 
the  river,  which  is  eighteen  feet  higher  than  the  water  below  the  mill-dam. 

At  Money  Creek  the  terrace  rises  thirty  feet  above  the  flood  plain,  which  is  twenty  feet  above 
low  water  below  the  mill-dam.  The  contents  of  the  terrace  are  stratified.  On  sec.  30  in  this  town 
the  contents  of  the  Root  river  terrace  and  their  arrangement,  are  shown  by  the  following  sketch, 
which  was  taken  on  the  spot. 


FIG.  6.  SECTION  OF  THE  ALLUVIAL  TERRACE,  SEC.  30,  MONEY  CREEK. 

Explanation. 

a.  Mixed  and  broken  stratification,  roots,  soil,  &c.,  2—4  ft.        A.  Strata  of  fine  sand  or  clay. 
6.  Loam  and  sandy  loam.  3— *•>  feet.  t.   Sloping  clay  layers,  damp,  rusty. 

c.  Oblia ue  strata  of  light  sand.  j.    Dry,  blowing  sand. 

d.  Loam  and  light  sand  k.  Wet  clay  with  rusty  lumps. 

e.  One  layer  of  sand— blown  out.    Sin.  I.  Contorted,  curling,  or  massive  strata. 
/.  Oblique  layers  of  sand.  x.  Hid  from  veiw  by  debris. 

g.  Horizontal  strata  of  fine  sand. 

The  full  hight  of  the  bank  is  about  twenty  feet  where  the  section  is  taken.  At  a  point  far- 
ther to  the  right  than  is  shown  in  the  sketch  a  couple  of  bones  were  found,  but  in  the  confused 
and  broken  uppermost  layer.  They  were  where  that  layer  comes  down  to  the  river,  and  about 
three  feet  below  the  surface,  or  five  feet  above  the  water  of  the  dam,  the  surface  of  the  bank 
sloping  about  forty-five  degrees. 

At  Hokah  the  village  is  on  a  terrace  sixty-five  feet  above  the  flood  plain  of  Root  river,  and 
there  is  a  distribution  of  loam  about  the  bluffs  at  a  higher  level  (as  well  as  at  many  other  points 
along  Root  river  valley),  reaching  to  a  hundred  feet,  or  a  little  more,  above  the  flood  plain.  This 
loam  appears  in  indistinct  benches  or  terrace  levels,  or  patches  of  terrace,  rising  often  with  a  slope, 
far  up  the  rock-bluffs.  It  very  rarely  appears  level,  as  a  well-marked  terrace.  It  suggests  rather 
a  worn-out  old  terrace  level,  the  upper  surface  of  which  has  suffered  erosion,  by  being  gullied  out 
and  smoothed  off  toward  the  river.  It  is  generally  cultivated  for  farms,  and  has  good  wheat-fields ; 
consisting  of  the  same  materials  as  the  lower  terrace.  Its  actual  hight  is  difficult  to  ascertain. 

S.  W.  \  sec.  22,  La  Crescent.  By  the  road-side  appears  a  terrace  rising  about  fifty  feet, 
which  at  the  top  consists  of  the  fine  loam  of  which  the  foregoing  terrace  is  composed,  showing  at 
least  eight  feet  of  such  material,  while  its  lower  twenty  feet  are  of  drift-gravel  which  is  coarse  and 
obliquely  stratified,  the  coarsest  pebbles  being  but  one  or  two  inches  in  diameter.  This  occurs  on 
the  rounded  point  of  the  rock-bluff  which  faces  both  valleys. 

The  village  of  La  Crescent  stands  on  a  beautiful  terrace  of  drift  gravel,  generously  laid  out, 
with  wide  streets  and  alleys,  fifty  feet  above  the  flood-plain  of  the  Mississippi.  This  terrace  slopes 
gradually  back  toward  the  high  rock-bluffs.  It  is  surmounted,  along  the  bluffs,  by  another  terrace 
rising  forty  feet  higher,  which  consists  of  loam. 

This  drift  gravel  must  be  attributed  to  the  agency  of  the  river.  It  has  every  feature  of  a 
water-worn  alluvial  deposit.  It  is  not  found  in  Houston  county  in  any  of  the  valleys  of  other 
streams,  back  from  the  Mississippi.  It  antedates  the  loess  loam,  as  that  is  terraced  above  it,  and 
probably  bears  the  same  relation  to  an  earlier  glacial  epoch,  as  the  terraced  loam  does  to  the  last. 

At  Brownsville  the  loam  terrace  is  eighty  feet  above  the  flood-plain  of  the  Mississippi. 


230 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


[Wells. 


At  Yucatan  the  terrace  flat  is  forty  feet  above  the  present  flood-plain  of  the  south  fork  of 
Root  river.  The  flood-plain  is  six  feet  above  low  water. 

At  Freeburg  the  terrace  is  twenty  feet  above  the  flood-plain  of  Crooked  creek,  which  is  five 
feet  above  the  water  of  the  creek. 

Wells  in  Houston  county. 

A  few  wells  situated  in  the  valley  of  Root  river  have  disclosed  vegetable  remains  at  about 
the  level  of  the  flood-plain,  and  probably  the  terraces  generally  cover  a  layer  of  vegetable  remains 
that  was  caused  by  the  decay  and  burial  of  preglacial  plants.  This  has  only  been  detected,  so  far 
as  known,  at  Hokah  and  at  La  Crescent.  At  the  former  place  the  well  of  Isaac  West  was  filled 
again  because  the  ''  muck  bed  "  rendered  the  water  unfit  for  use.  The  same  is  true  of  William 
Wykoff  's  and  \V.  F.  Weber's,  and  a  number  of  others.  Probably  the  characters  of  Mr.  Pidges,  as 
given  below,  are  those  common  to  most  of  them. 

B.  F.  Pidye's  well,  at  Hokah. 

It  is  situated  on  the  lower  terrace. 

Loam  and  sand 50  or  55  feel. 

Vegetation,  leaves,  sticks,  muck,  &c „.  4  feet. 

Sand,  with  some  coarse  pebbles  "literally  filled  withsnail  shells" 4  feet. 

White  sand,  yielding  water 5  feet. 

The  water  of  this  well  tastes  rather  peculiar,  and  at  first  it  was  not  fit  for  use.  Sometimes 
still  it  comes  up  black,  but  by  use  it  becomes  clearer  and  is  used  for  all  domestic  purposes, 
without  injurious  effects.  Sugar  of  lead  causes  it  to  become  milky  white.  Acetate  of  potassa 
produces  no  change ;  sulphate  of  zinc  no  change.  When  it  rises  in  the  bucket  it  is  not  clear,  but 

somewhat  cloudy,  as  if  with  clay. 

Wells  in  Houston  county. 


OWNER'S  NAME  AND  LOCATION. 

1- 

«   0> 

O    c, 

-?~ 

*e 
?** 

-  o 

—  1    f-c 

P 

"S^ 

•a  -2 
•SI 
** 

REMARKS. 

Timon  Gilbertson,  Spring  Grove... 
Mons  Fladager,  Spring  Grove  

7 
8 
10 

40 
122 
30 

47 
130 
40 

Good 

1. 
11 

Drilled. 
On  lower  ground. 

Nels  Hendrickson,  Spring  Grove... 
O.  Thompson,  sec.  7,  Wilmington.. 
I  Dailey  N  E  i  sec  34  Caledonia 

8 
8 

*>8 

77 
65 

If, 

85 
73 
100 

H 

(c 

No  water 

flfi 

?AF> 

270 

Good 

W  N  West  Caledonia  

flO 

50 

70 

flO 

28 

43 

4 

W 

23 

43 

t 

O.A.Bye,S.W.isec.l7,  Wilmingt'n 

18 
18 

77 

33 

95 
51 

1 

Two  feet  sandrock  ;  sixty-four  feet  lime- 
[rock  *  eleven  feet  sandrock. 

36 

36 

t£ 

)  The  rock  has  never  been  struck  at  Shel- 

J  B  Williams,  Sheldon  

SB 

36 

II 

\     don. 

Cottrell  Hotel  Houston 

16 

16 

H 

Eight  feet  to  water    all  alluvium 

W.  R.  Anderson,  La  Crescent  
D  Gurley,  La  Crescent  

57 
49 



57 
49 

u 

At  fifty-four  feet  struck  leaves,  &c. 
Gravel  and  sand. 

Sawyer  House  La  Crescent  

4fi 

46 

El 

Gravel  and  sand. 

James  Day,  La  Crescent  

50 

50 

it 

Gravel  and  sand. 

James  Brown,  La  Crescent  
J.  Knapp,  La  Crescent  
William  Miller,  La  Crescent  
Charles  Oldenbaugh.  La  Crescent.. 
Thomas  Minshall,  La  Crescent  
Joseph  Garner,  La  Crescent  
Nicholas  Prive,sec.  31,  Caledonia.. 
B.  Smitz,  sec.  32,  Caledonia  

45 
68 
30 
20 
37 
30 
12 
1? 

Ti 

t 

10 

45 
63 
30 
20 
48 
30 
14 
22 

Bad 

Good 

u 

M 
K 
bl 

u 

Sticks  and  leaves  ;  refilled. 
Gravel  and  sand. 
On  lower  ground. 
On  low  ground,  near  the  rock  bluff. 
On  low  bench. 
On  low  bench. 
Four  feet  of  water. 
Ten  feet  in  sandrock. 

1^ 

12 

1 

G.  Anderson,  sec.  4,  Wilmington.. 

4C 

I 

Drilled. 

John  Prive.  sec.  33,  Caledonia  
M  Blasen  sec.  33  Caledonia  

12 
1? 

9C 
3f 

lOi 

4t 

' 
i 

Ole  Hanson,  sec.  4,  Wilmington... 
Peter  Carrier,  sec.  32,  Yucatan  — 

IS 

6£ 

55 

7C 

5£ 

II 

Drilled. 
In  the  valley  ;  no  rock  struck. 

HOUSTON  COUNTY.  231 

Material  resources.] 

Throughout  the  county  are  numerous  springs,  some  of  which  are  very  large,  and  gush  out 
along  the  valleys.  The\  seem  to  be  the  outlets  of  subterranean  streams.  Those  above  Riceford 
furnish  the  water  for  the  flouring  mills  at  that  place.  There  is  also  a  large  one  on  section  17, 
Caledonia,  three  miles  south  of  Sheldon.  They  seem  to  frequent  an  horizon  about  eighty  feet 
below  the  top  of  the  St.  Lawrence  limestone,  and  indicate  a  shaly,  or  otherwise  impervious,  layer 
there  in  that  formation. 

MATERIAL   RESOURCES. 

The  rocks  of  the  county  do  not  contain  any  valuable  minei'als.  They 
are  everywhere  abundantly  exposed,  and  are  quarried  at  many  places  for 
ordinary  building-stone  and  for  quicklime. 

Building  stone.  At  Spring  Grove  the  Lutheran  society  is  building  a 
large  church,  of  brick,  the  basement  being  from  the  Trenton,  in  layers 
of  four  to  six  inches,  taken  from  quarries  near  the  village.  The  heavy 
trimmings  are  from  the  St.  Lawrence  limestone.  The  quarries  are  owned 
by  George  Timansen  and  Ole  Tosteiison. 

The  Toledo  woolen  mill,  of  Fletcher  &  Williams,  section  5,  La  Crescent, 
is  built  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  quarried  near. 

At  Caledonia  the  St.  Lawrence  is  extensively  used  for  building,  quar- 
ried about  a  mile  east  of  the  village.  The  German  Catholic  church  is  the 
principal  structure  made  of  it,  being  also  the  largest  in  the  place.  The 
county  jail  is  a  fine  building  of  the  same,  the  courses  being  about  ten 
inches  thick,  rubble  dressed,  with  trimmings  of  the  same.  The  business 
blocks  of  Nicholas  Koob,  J.  J.  Belden,  John  Krantz,  Joseph  Vossen,  Jacob 
Bouquet  and  Nix  Erstine  are  also  constructed  of  the  same  stone.  The 
quarries  are  owned  by  John  Molitor,  J.ohn  Dorsh,  Anton  Molitor,  Widow 
Cunningham  and  John  Aiken. 

On  section  24,  Spring  Grove,  Mr.  K.  Gilbertson  has  a  two-story  stone 
residence  on  his  farm,  quarried  from  the  Trenton. 

At  Money  Creek,  Harvey  Chapel  has  a  quarry  that  furnishes  good  stone 
for  building,  though  much  of  that  which  is  used  is  taken  from  the  surface 
near  the  tops  of  the  bluffs,  having  been  loosened  and  broken  up  by  the 
weather. 

On  the  N.  E.  J  section  11,  Caledonia,  is  Mrs.  M.  Brown's  stone  house, 
built  of  magnesian  limestone. 

Mr.  J.  Kline  has  a  fine  farm-house  of  stone  taken  from  the  St.  Lawrence, 
on  section  19,  Union.  Near  Mr.  Kline's  quarry  is  another  owned  by  Henry 


232  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Quarriej. 

Snure.    There  is  another  on  section  29,  Union,  owned  by  Michael  Wilhelm. 
L.  Svenson's  is  on  section  2,  Houston. 

The  principal  quarries  at  Hokah,  now  worked,  are  those  of  Nath. 
Whitman,  in  the  St.  Croix  sandstone,  and  Widow  Prindle.  The  stone  of 
Mr.  Whitman's  quarry  is  a  harsh,  argillaceous  sandrock,  in  layers  a  few 
inches  thick,  which  becomes  firmer  on  exposure.  The  best  building  stone 
lies  higher  up  in  the  bluffs,  and  was  opened  in  Mt.  Tom  by  the  Southern 
Minnesota  railroad  company  for  the  construction  of  their  shops.  It  is  from 
the  St.  Lawrence. 

At  La  Crescent  the  public  school  house  was  built  of  stone  from  Potter 
&  Taylor's  quarry,  likewise  in  the  St.  Lawrence,  north  of  La  Crescent,  in 
the  edge  of  Winona  county. 

Lang's  brewery,  section  28,  Hokah,  is  a  large  stone  building  near  the 
river,  built  of  limestone  from  near  the  top  of  the  bluff. 

There  is  also  a  fine  stone  farm-house  owned  by  Wm.  Splitter,  on  section 
21,  La  Crescent,  in  Root  river  valley.  The  Nunnery,  section  28,  La  Crescent, 
was  constructed  of  stone  got  from  the  bluffs  near,  including  also  that  used 
for  quicklime.  These  are  all  from  the  St.  Lawrence. 

On  Winnebago  creek  (sec.  22  Winnebago),  Mr.  B.  T.  Barbour  has  a  stone 
flouring  mill. 

0.  T.  West  has  a  limestone  quarry  at  Brownsville,  which  supplied  heavy 
stone  for  the  railroad,  and  for  other  uses.  Mr.  Job  Brown's,  at  the  same 
place,  furnished  the  limestone  foundation  for  the  public  school-house. 

The  foregoing  are  a  few  of  the  stone  buildings  in  the  county,  but  there 
are  several  others  which,  though  noticed  in  the  progress  of  the  survey,  were 
not  carefully  located,  and  cannot  be  referred  to.  The  St.  Lawrence  supplies 
by  far  the  greater  portion  of  the  building-stone  used  in  the  county.  There 
is  not  a  single  known  workable  quarry  in  the  Shakopee,  though  exposed  as 
favorably  as  the  St.  Lawrence.  It  is  uniformly  ignored.  It  is  harder  to 
work,  has  cherty  lumps  and  siliceous  concretions  which  not  only  disturb 
the  bedding  but  render  it  difficult  to  cut  into  desired  shapes,  and  is  gener- 
ally in  thinner  layers.  The  color  is  much  the  same  as  that  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence, being  buff,  or  slightly  salmon-colored,  but  the  St.  Lawrence  is,  where 
most  used  for  building,  also  somewhat  open  or  vesicular  in  texture.  Thus 
mortar  sets  firmly  upon  it,  and  forms  a  sutured  attachment.  When  the 


HOUSTON  COUNTY.  233 

Sand  and  calci  te.] 

St.  Lawrence  stone  is  first  taken  out  it  cuts  more  easily  than  after  exposure 
for  a  few  weeks,  a  fact  which  seems  to  be  true  of  nearly  all  good  building 
stone. 

Sand.  The  St.  Peter  formation  is  excavated  for  mortar  sand  by  Jesse 
Scofield,  sec.  14,  Caledonia,  and  by  John  Burns  on  sec.  26.  This  white  sand 
is  delivered  at  Caledonia  village  for  $1.25  per  load,  or  occasionally  for  $1.50. 

The  St.  Croix  furnishes  a  similar  sand  near  Mr.  Kline's,  sec.  16,  Union. 
These  formations  will  supply  a  similar  sand  in  any  part  of  the  county  where 
they  are  accessible.  The  layers  in  the  St.  Croix,  however,  are  about  two  hun- 
dred feet  below  the  top  of  the  formation. 

At  Mr.  Scofield's  sand  quarry,  about  a  mile  west  of  Caledonia,  is  a  large 
mass  of  lamellar  calcite,  lying  on  the  slope  of  the  St.  Peter,  and  nearly 
covered  by  the  loam.  In  that  respect  it  is  like  a  similar  mass  seen  near 
St.  Charles,  in  Winona  county,  in  1872,  and  mentioned  in  the  report  for  that 
year,  but  it  seems  more  firm  than  that  (see  Winona  county  report).  This 
appears  like  a  firm,  very  compact  rock,  consisting  of  almost  pure  carbonate 
of  lime,  but  somewhat  colored.  It  is  mainly  massive,  and  striated  or  lami- 
nated, but  shows  some  crystalline  grains.  It  weathers  into  undulating  or 
wavy  smooth  surfaces.  There  is  another  much  larger  mass,  weighing  many 
tons,  on 'the  land  of  Mr.  Willard,  a  short  distance  west.  These  masses  can 
be  burnt  into  a  purely  white  quicklime  of  great  strength. 

The  age  and  origin  of  this  calcite  are  an  interesting  problem.  When 
that  piece  was  found  in  Winona  county,  in  1872,  it  was  referred  hypotheti- 
cally  to  the  Trenton  green  shales,  or  to  the  worn-out  Cretaceous  that  may 
have  covered  that  country,  making  it  of  rock  origin,  either  Lower  Silurian 
or  Mesozoic,  but  there  is  much  reason  to  believe  these  calcite  masses 
are  not  referable  to  the  rock  in  situ,  but  are  of  atmospheric  origin,  being 
in  short  the  remains  of  immense  travertine  deposits  from  limy  water 
running  down  the  St.  Peter  slope  from  springs  that  once  existed  but  are 
now  dry.  They  lie  on  the  slope  of  the  outcropping  edge  of  the  St.  Peter, 
just  below  the  green  shales  which  shed  all  the  water  that  works  down- 
ward through  any  overlying  limestone  ;  but  they  are  also,  so  far  as  discov 
ered,  in  regions  where  no  overlying  rock  now  exists,  the  only  remaining 
portion  of  the  Trenton  being  that  which  lies  below  the  green  shales.  This 
is  strikingly  the  case  near  Caledonia,  where  the  Trenton  is  reduced  to 


234  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Brick  and  lime. 

mounds  and  tables,  capping  the  St.  Peter  sandstone,  very  far  isolated  from 
the  main  area  of  the  Trenton.  To  suppose  this  oalcite  is  due  to  springs 
caused  by  the  green  shales,  a  common  phenomenon  now  in  Fillmore 
county,  is  to  require  the  former  existence  of  a  considerable  thickness  of 
strata,  all  over  the  region  of  Caledonia,  and  extending  far  enough  north 
and  east  to  furnish  drainage  surface  sufficient  to  maintain  such  springs. 
This  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  history  of  geological  changes,  nor  with 
the  lapse  of  time  since  the  Trenton  rocks  were  elevated  to  the  condition  of 
dry  land.  The  present  existence  of  isolated  patches  of  the  Trenton,  both 
in  Minnesota  and  Wisconsin,  can  only  be  explained  on  the  theory  that  the 
whole  formation  was  once  more  largely  spread  in  horizontal  strata  over  those 
states,  than  at  present.  Then  an  extension  of  the  Trenton  so  as  to  embrace 
in  one  sheet  of  layers  these  isolated  patches,  is  no  more  than  enough  to 
bring  also  the  Hudson  River  and  the  Galena  into  the  region  of  these  calcite 
masses.  The  present  outlines,  shape  and  position  of  the  areas  of  the  Tren- 
ton, demonstrate  that  they  are  only  the  relics  of  once  greater  areas  which 
have  been  eroded  and  removed  slowly,  and  left  as  they  are  because  they 
have  been  better  protected  against  destructive  agents.  While  Root  river 
has  been  excavating  the  gorge  in  which  it  runs,  500  feet  deep  and  two 
miles  wide,  the  Trenton  limestone,  which  at  first  may  have  extended  as  far 
north  as  to  Hokah,  has  been  slowly  receding  under  the  operation  ot 
denudation  and  surface  drainage.  These  calcite  masses  then  are  relics  ot 
pre-glacial  time,  and  perhaps  of  early  pre-glacial  time,  since  the  last  glacial 
epoch  did  not  operate  in  Houston  county  so  as  to  disturb  the  older 
surface.* 

Brick.  The  loam  everywhere  is  suitable  for  making  brick,  which  are 
uniformly  red.  The  following  establishments  were  seen  : 

Stephen  Robinson,  Money  Creek  ;  two  miles  south  of  the  village. 

Fisher  &  Keller,  Caledonia ;  began  in  1875 ;  burnt  three  kilns,  and  sold  at  $8.00  per 
thousand. 

Brick  were  formerly  made  at  La  Crescent. 

The  Lutheran  society,  at  Spring  Grove,  manufactured  on  the  spot  a  fine 
red  brick  from  the  loam  taken  out  to  make  room  for  the  foundations  and 
basement  of  their  church  edifice. 

Lime.    The  Trenton  and  the  St.  Lawrence  furnish  all  the  quicklime 

*See  the  first  annual  report,  p.  47. 


HOUSTON  COUNTY.  235 

Earthworks-] 

made  in  Houston  county.  There  are  no  extensive  manufacturers,  but  the 
common  pot-kiln  is  found  at  a  number  of  points,  as  enumerated  below,  by 
which  enough  is  made  to  satisfy  the  local  demands. 

Ole  Timro,  sec.  24,  Money  Creek,       -  St.  Lawrence. 

Gilbert  Nelson,  Spring  Grove,  Trenton. 

Michael  Blasen,  U  miles  west  of  Caledonia,  Trenton. 

Peter  Kreer,  N.  E.}  sec.  29,  Mayville,      -  St.  Lawrence. 

John  Gross,  one  mile  northwest  from  Brownsville,  -  St.  Lawrence. 

John  Molitor,  one  mile  east  of  Caledonia,  St.  Lawrence. 

George  Timansen,  Spring  Grove,  Trenton. 

Ole  Tostenson,  Spring  Grove,  Trenton. 

Wm.  E.  Potter,  La  Crescent,    -  St.  Lawrence. 

Samuel  Pound,  sec.  12,  Hokah,    -  St.  Lawrence. 

EARTHWORKS. 

At  La  Crescent  are  a  great  many  so-called  Indian  mounds.  Some  have 
been  graded  away,  but  many  still  exist.  They  are  on  the  brow  of  the 
drift  terrace,  or  lower  bench,  and  none  are  known  on  the  upper,  loam, 
terrace.  They  are,  as  usual,  in  rude  rows,  and  about  three  feet  high,  some 
of  them  being  four  feet.  When  opened  they  have  been  found  to  contain 
human  remains  of  men  of  large  stature,  and  it  is  said  that  in  grading  for 
the  railroad  a  copper  skillet  and  other  trinkets  were  found  at  the  depth 
of  eighteen  feet  below  the  surface. 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  WINONA  COUNTY. 


BY  N.  H.  WINCHELL. 

Situation  and  area.  This  county  (plate  9)  borders  on  the  Mississippi  river, 
and  lies  north  of  Houston  and  Fillmore  counties.  It  is  about  triangular  in 
shape,  the  Mississippi  river  being  a  hypothenuse,  running  from  northwest 
to  southeast.  Its  land  and  water  area  is  638.92  square  miles,  or,  in  acres. 
408,909.90.  The  county  contains  no  lakes,  except  Winona  lake,  which  is 
simply  a  portion  of  the  wide  alluvial  area  of  the  Mississippi,  and  subject  to 
flooding  at  a  high  stage  of  that  river,  though  probably  sustained  principally 
by  springs  along  the  base  of  the  bluffs.  Winona  is  the  county  seat.  St. 
Charles,  Stockton  and  Minnesota  City  are  the  other  principal  towns. 

SURFACE    FEATURES. 

Natural  drainage.  The  surface  waters  all  pass  into  the  Mississippi,  but 
some  of  them  leave  the  county  toward  the  north  and  south  before  reaching 
it.  The  Whitewater  is  the  only  stream  that  actually  crosses  the  county. 
It  runs  from  St.  Charles  northwardly,  entering  the  Mississippi  at,  or  near 
Minneiska  in  Wabasha  county.  At  Elba  it  is  joined  by  the  Middle  and 
North  branches  of  the  Whitewater,  and  at  Beaver  by  the  Beaver  creek. 
The  Rollingstone  with  its  various  spreading  tributaries,  is  an  important 
stream.  Its  valleys  are  wide  and  contain  numerous  large  and  valuable 
farms  within  the  rock-bluffs  that  outline  the  valley  proper.  This  stream 
joins  the  Mississippi  valley  at  Minnesota  City,  and  finally  reaches  its  waters 
through  sloughs  that  cross  the  wide  bottom-lands.  Other  streams  that  join 
the  great  river  in  Winona  county  are  small  but  remarkably  permanent  in 
the  amount  of  water  they  discharge.  Pine,  Money,  Rush  and  other  creeks 
leave  the  county  in  a  southerly  direction,  most  of  them  entering  Root 


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WINONA  COUNTY.  237 

Drainage  and  water-power.  \ 

river  in  Fillmore  and  Houston  counties.  There  is  a  slight  broad  upward 
swell  in  the  surface  of  the  county,  apparently  due  to  the  anticlinal  condi- 
tion of  the  rocks,  which  enters  the  state  near  Richmond,  and  passing  in  a 
west  south-westerly  course,  leaves  Winona  county  about  where  Rush  creek 
leaves  it.  It  is  perhaps  the  principal  cause  of  the  greater  elevation  of 
Arendahl  township,  in  Fillmore  county. 

The  streams  of  Winona  county,  without  exception,  lie  in  deep  rocks 
cut  valleys,  and  are  fed,  and  maintained  at  a  uniform  stage,  by  copious 
springs  that  issue  along  the  foot  of  bluffs.  Their  water  is  clear  and  cool, 
and  adapted  to  the  brook-trout  which  formerly  frequented  them,  and  is 
still  found  in  limited  numbers.  Near  the  western  border  of  the  county,  in 
the  vicinity  of  St.  Charles,  a  light  spreading  of  drift  begins  to  appear  under 
the  loam,  and  the  valleys  are  less  deep  and  precipitous,  yet  still  show  the 
rocky  substructure  in  frequent  outcrops  along  the  bluffs. 

Water-powers  and  flouring  mills.  The  streams  furnish  numerous  water- 
powers.  They  are  employed  for  making  flour  at  many  places.  Most  of 
these  mills  are  small,  but  they  have  generally  the  most  approved  methods 
of  manufacture.  Some  of  them  are  sufficiently  large  to  maintain  an  im- 
portant export  of  flour  in  sacks  or  in  barrels.  Occasionally  a  large  spring 
is  the  principal  source  of  water-supply  for  the  smaller  of  these  mills.  Of 
course  such  springs  are  really  due  to  the  issue  of  small  subterranean 
streams. 

Water-power  mills  in  Winona  county. 

On  Beaver  creek,  S.  W.}  sec.  15,  Whitewater,  mill  of  F.  E.  Becker;  twelve  feet  head  ;  three 
run  of  stones  (one  for  feed);  thirty  horse-power  ;  capacity  fifty  barrels  per  day. 

On  the  Whitewater  river  at  Elba,  the  filba  mills ;  owned  by  Meilicke  and  Hoffman  ;  two 
wheels,  sixty  horse-power ;  nine  and  a  half  feet  head  (can  be  made  eleven);  three  run  of  stone 
(one  for  feed);  one  hundred  barrels  per  day ;  have  more  water  than  can  be  used. 

On  the  north  branch  of  the  Whitewater  river,  S.  W.}  sec.  5,  Elba,  the  Fairwater  mills;  owned 
by  Edward  Ellis ;  ten  feet  (?)  head  ;  two  run  of  stone  (one  for  feed);  forty  barrels  per  day. 

On  the  south  branch  of  the  Whitewater  river,  S.  E.  J  sec.  2,  St.  Charles;  owned  by 

Lamberton  ;  fourteen  and  a  half  feet  head,  with  little  water;  two  run  of  stone  (one  for  feed);  in 
full  water,  forty  barrels  per  day. 

On  the  south  branch  of  the  Eollingstone  creek,  at  Stockton,  owned  by  A.  G.  Mowbry  ;  has 
both  steam  and  water  ;  ten  feet  head ;  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  barrels  per  day ;  known  as 
the  Stockton  mills. 

Mosquito  mills,  N.  W.J  sec.  8,  Warren  ;  owned  by  Porter  and  W.  M.  Duncanson  ;  two  run 
of  stone  (one  for  feed);  turbine  wheel  with  thirty-five  feet  fall  (can  run  but  one  buhr  at  once); 
twenty-four  bushels  ground  per  day. 

On  the  south  branch  of  Rollingstone  creek,  the  Hillsdale  mills;  one  mile  northeast  of  Stock- 
ton ;  owned  by  Pietsch  and  Furbish  ;  fourteen  and  a  half  feet  head  ;  thirty-six-inch  Leffel  wheel ; 
four  run  of  stone  (one  for  feed);  capacity  sixty  to  seventy-five  barrels  per  day. 


238  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Water-power. 

On  the  Rollingstone  creek  at  Minnesota  City,  the  Ellsworth  mills ;  owned  by  A.  D.  Ellsworth ; 
nine  feethead;  fifty-six-inch  Leffel  wheel ;  five  sets  of  Stephen's  rollers;  formerly  six  buhrs  (run 
one  set  of  buhrs  now);  hundred  and  fifty  barrels  per  day. 

On  the  Rollingstone  creek,  at  Minnesota  City,  the  Winona  county  mills ;  owned  by  Otto 
Troost ;  sixteen  feet  head  (also  have  steam);  Houston  wheel  (turbine)  of  one  hundred  horse- power ; 
twenty-eight  sets  of  Allis  rollers  (some  of  Noyes)  of  which  twenty-three  sets  are  double ;  capacity 
three  hundred  and  fifty  barrels  per  day. 

On  the  west  branch  of  the  Rollingstone  creek,  sec.  7,  Rolliugstone,  the  Kollingstone  valley 
mills;  owned  by  Julius  Seemann  ;  nine  feet  head  (can  be  made  more);  thirty-five-inch  Case  turbine 
wheel;  twenty-five  horse-power;  custom;  three  run  of  stone  (one  for  feed). 

On  the  west  branch  of  the  Rollingstone  creek,  sec.  23,  Norton ;  custom  mill,  owned  by  Wil- 
helm  Rubrecht ;  eighteen  feet  head  ;  fifteen  horse-power  ;  three  single  rollers  and  one  buhr. 

On  Pleasant  Valley  creek,  sec.  1,  Wilson;  custom  mill,  owned  by  M.  J.  Laird;  seventeen 
feet  head;  Flenekin's  twenty-inch  turbine  wheel;  five  hundred  and  sixty  cubic  feet  of  water 
per  minute ;  fourteen  horse-power ;  three  run  of  stone,  all  for  wheat. 

On  Big  Trout  creek,  at  Pickwick,  the  Pickwick  mills,  owned  by  W.  Davis  and  Co.;  twenty- 
inch  Flenekin  turbine  wheel ;  twenty-eight  feet  head ;  thirty-seven  horse-power ;  four  run  of  stone  ; 
two  sets  single  rollers :  seventy  barrels  per  day,  shipped  at  Lamoille. 

On  Big  Trout  creek,  N.  W.}  sec.  18,  Richmond,  feed  mill,  owned  by  John  Hatch;  fourteen 
feet  fall.  This  is  a  good  power,  but  not  all  improved. 

On  Pine  creek  at  New  Hartford,  custom  mill,  owned  by  Jos.  Blumentritt  and  Bro.;  seven- 
teen feet  head  ;  twelve  horse-power ;  three  run  of  stone  (one  for  feed);  turbine  and  overshot  wheels; 
also  steam  for  winter. 

On  Money  creek,  sec.  20,  Wiscoy  ;  mill  owned  by  Overbeck  and  Pirseh ;  fifteen  feet  head; 
two  large  buhrs  (one  for  feed);  thirty- six-inch  American  turbine  wheel ;  forty-five  barrels  per  day, 
shipped  at  Rushford.* 

On  Money  creek,  sec.  16,  Wiscoy ;  small  custom  mill  owned  by  L.  J.  Clark ;  nine  feet  head 
two  buhrs  (one  for  feed);  thirty-inch  turbine  wheel  (La  Crosse  and  Craig). 

On  Trout  run,  one  mile  north  of  Troy,  in  Saratoga,  custom  mill,  owned  by  C.  Forket ;  seven 
and  a  half  feet  water  head ;  seventeen  feet  dam ;  one  breast- wheel,  one  buhr,  about  fifteen  horse- 
power ;  capacity  in  barrels  unknown. 

On  Rush  creek,  sec.  7,  Hart.  This  mill  has  been  abandoned  for  six  years.  It  is  owned  now 
by  a  gentleman  in  Winona  named  Garlick  ;  the  dam  was  carried  away  by  high  water,  and  gradu- 
ally the  mill  itself  has  been  torn  down ;  nothing  could  be  learned  of  the  water-power,  nor  of  the 
capacity  of  the  mill. 

On  Rush  creek,  section  29,  Hart ;  custom  mill  owned  by  F.  Lehnertz ;  eleven  feet  head  ; 
twenty-four  horse-power;  two  run  of  stone  (one  for  feed);  Mulligan  wheel,  of  Lansing,  Iowa; 
twenty-five  barrels  per  day ;  market  in  Winona. 

On  Pine  creek,  section  26,  Fremont ;  custom  mill,  owned  by  C.  M.  Miles ;  eight  and  a  half 
feet  fall ;  twelve  horse-power ;  "counter-pressure"  turbine  wheel,  patented  by  Mr.  Miles,  and  made 
in  Lake  City;  two  smooth  buhrs  (one  for  feed);  ten  barrels  per  day. 

On  Trout  run  at  Troy  ;  the  Troy  mills  ;  owned  by  II.  Ahrens ;  custom  and  merchant  mill ; 
eighteen  feet  fall ;  one  Whitmore  wheel  and  one  Houston ;  twenty  horse-power  on  one  wheel  and 
twelve  oa  the  other;  three  buhrs  (one  for  feed);  one  wheel  runs  the  feed  and  the  other  the  wheat 
buhrs  ;  sometimes  both  wheels  are  run  constantly,  depending  partly  on  the  water,  and  partly  on 
the  supply  of  feed  ;  but  much  of  the  time  only  the  wheat  wheel  runs  ;  capacity  fifty  barrels  per 

day. 

On  Trout  creek,  sec.  32,  Saratoga,  Hampton  mills,  owned  by  J.  O.  Rafter  and  O.  S.  Morrill ; 
fourteen  feet  head;  eighty  horse-power;  two  turbine  wheels  (Leffel's  and  John's);  four  buhrs 
(one  for  feed);  fifty  barrels  per  day. 

Topography.  The  surface  of  this  county  is  undulating,  rolling  or  hilly. 
It  is  more  uneven  in  the  eastern  and  northern  portions  than  in  the  west- 

*At  the  time  this  mill  wag  visited  the  dam  had  been  destroyed ,by  freshet,  and  the  mill  had  been  stopped  for  about 
a  year. 


WINONA  COUNTY.  239 

Topography.] 

ern  and  southern,  but  this  difference  is  owing  simply  to  the  fact  that  the 
larger  drainage  valleys  are  in  the  eastern  and  northern  portions.  The 
inequalities  of  surface  are  wholly  due  to  the  excavation  by  streams  into 
the  rocky  strata,  forming  deep  valleys  and  even  rocky  gorges.  The  rugged- 
ness  which  these  valleys  must  have  presented  originally,  has  been  relieved 
by  the  heavy  mantle  of  loam  which  now  covers  the  whole  county,  amount- 
ing to  a  thickness  of  fifty  or  sixty  feet.  This  mantle  serves  not  only  to 
smooth  off  the  roughness  by  filling  the  valleys,  but  it  constitutes  an  imper- 
vious sheet  through  which  waters  percolate  with  slowness,  and  which  con- 
stitutes the  subsoil  of  the  county. 

Although  the  strata  are  thus  canoned,  the  surface  materials  are  so 
abundant  that  the  bluffs  do  not  everywhere  show  the  rock,  but  they  are 
rounded  over  and  generally  turfed  from  top  to  bottom.  It  is  only  along 
the  deepest  gorges,  and  there  chiefly  near  the  tops  of  those  bluffs  that  face 
the  prevailing  winds,  that  the  rocky  structure  is  prominently  and  con- 
stantly exposed.  The  east  bluffs  of  the  Whitewater  river,  and  the  north 
bluffs  of  the  Rollingstone,  and  especially  the  bluffs  of  the  Mississippi  on  the 
Wisconsin  side,  illustrate  the  effect  of  the  strong  and  prevailing  winds  in 
keeping  the  rock  uncovered,  and  in  producing  precipitous  and  picturesque 
headlands  and  pinnacles.  Such  bold  and  picturesque  bluffs  are  uniformly 
composed  of  the  St.  Lawrence  limestone,  at  least  in  their  upper  portions, 
but  along  the  deeper  valleys  occasional  precipitous  portions  of  the  under- 
lying sandstone  strata  are  also  included.  Figure  7,  showing  such  pinna- 
cled cliffs  near  Homer,  overlooking  the  Mississippi  river,  are  composed  of 
the  upper,  brecciated,  strata  of  the  St.  Lawrence  limestone.  Numerous 
similar  towers  of  the  same  rock  are  to  be  seen  in  the  county,  particularly 
in  the  valley  of  the  South  Rollingstone  creek  above  Stockton. 

Within  the  broad  valleys  are  good  farming  lands.  They  slope  toward 
the  creeks  which  drain  them,  but  are  frequently  diversified  with  terraces 
of  alluvium  which  maintain  a  plateau-like  outline,  gradually  descending, 
for,  sometimes,  several  successive  miles.  Toward  the  upper  portions  of  the 
valleys  these  terraces  are  more  broken  away,  and  there  constitute  simply  a 
thickened  mantle  of  surface  loam  around  the  bases  of  the  bluffs.  The  up- 
lands are  undulating.  They  constitute  the  greater  portion  of  the  area 
of  the  county.  Their  general  level  is  pretty  constant,  when  dependent  on 


240  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Topography . 

any  one  of  the  formations,  being  disturbed  only  by  an  occasional  thicken- 
ing in  the  loam  under  circumstances  favorable  for  its  preservation,  and  by 
a  very  gentle  dip  in  all  the  strata  toward  the  southwest.  The  uplands  in 
the  eastern  and  northern  portions  of  the  county  are  from  three  hundred  to 
four  hundred  feet  above  the  adjoining  valleys,  and  near  to  the  Mississippi 
they  are  about  five  hundred  feet  above  the  grade  of  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee 
and  St.  Paul  railway.  In  the  central  portions  of  the  county  the  uplands 
are  from  fifty  to  seventy-five  feet  lower  than  in  the  eastern,  and  they  would 
be  still  lower  if  the  drainage  forces  had  been  enabled  to  act  there  as  effect- 
ually as  along  the  Mississippi,  to  carry  away  the  surface  loam.  This  is  due 


FIG.   7.   ROCKS  NEAR  HOMER. 

to  the  dip  of  the  rocks  from  the  Mississippi  westward.  Toward  the  west, 
however,  other  higher  formations  make  their  appearance,  and  the  actual 
level  of  the  uplands  along  the  southwestern  border  of  the  county  is  about 
one  hundred  feet  higher  than  along  the  Mississippi.  Plate  9  represents 
Winona  county.  The  tortuous  contour-lines  sufficiently  indicate  the  uneven- 
ness  of  the  general  surface,  and  also  the  gradual  ascent  of  the  upland  prai- 


WINONA  COUNTY. 


Topography.] 


241 


ries  toward  the  southwest.  The  area  of  the  Trenton  rocks  in  Saratoga  and 
St.  Charles,  is  marked  by  a  conspicuous  abrupt  elevation  of  about  a  hun- 
dred feet  above  the  surrounding  country.  This  abrupt  ascent  is  followed 
by  a  still  further  gradual  ascent  of  fifty  or  seventy-five  feet  within  the  same 
area,  so  that  the  highest  land  within  the  county,  reaching  about  1325  feet 
above  the  ocean,  is  in  the  townships  of  St.  Charles  and  Saratoga.  The  Missis- 
sippi river  at  the  north  line  of  the  county  is  about  642  feet  above  the*  sea, 
and  at  the  south  line  about  619  feet,  these  figures  representing  low  water.* 


FIG.  8.   LOOKING  OVER  THE  VALLEY  TOWARD  WINONA. 

Many  landscape  scenes  within  the  county  have  great  beauty  and 
grandeur.  The  broad  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  which  is  about  six  hundred 
feet  deep  from  the  tops  of  the  bluffs  to  the  water  level,  and  from  three  to 
six  miles  wide,  separating  Minnesota  from  the  state  of  Wisconsin,  is  itself  as 
great  a  phenomenon  in  nature  as  the  Appalachian  mountain  range,  and  has 
a  longer  and  more  wonderful  history,  and  one  as  fruitful  in  scientific  prob- 
lems. Between  the  headlands,  which  outline  the  valley  in  its  course,  are 


*There  is  a  discrepancy  of  eight  feet  between  these  figures  and  those  of  the  plat  of  "Winona  county,  due  to  a  cor- 
rection by  the  final  report  of  the  U.  S. lake  survey  by  Lt.-Col.  C.  B.  Comstock,  published  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1882. 

16 


242  TI*E  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Elevations. 

tributary  valleys  which  are  themselves  nearly  as  deep,  and  penetrate  often 
many  miles  westward  into  the  rocky  structure  of  the  land  ;  where  they  are 
found  to  terminate  in  precipitous  rocky  gorges,  perhaps  with  small  rivulets 
plunging  over  the  cliffs,  or  in  the  mouths  of  copious  subterranean  streams. 
These  tributaries  have  sub-tributaries,  branching  from  them  in  all  directions, 
each  one  reproducing,  but  with  thousand-fold  diversities,  the  features  of  its 
main,  embracing  the  whole  country  in  a  network  of  vales  and  bluffs.  Thus 
the  beholder  is  constantly  enlivened  by  a  shifting  panorama,  as  he  travels 
from  "the  great  river"  westward.  When  he  rises  finally  upon  the  elevated 
prairie  plateau  in  the  central  part  of  the  county,  if  with  an  inquiring  glance 
he  retroverts  toward  the  east,  the  relation  of  cause  and  effect,  which  under 
natural  laws  has  wrought  out  the  valleys,  the  headlands,  the  terraces,  the 
narrow  gorges,  is  so  evident  to  his  mind  that  his  appreciative  sense  of  the 
beautiful  in  the  landscape  is  intensified  and  also  deepened.  The  valley  of 
the  Whitewater  river,  which  is  remarkable  for  its  great  depth  combined 
with  its  narrowness,  affords  many  fine  landscape  scenes  in  the  town  of  Elba. 

Elevations.  Numerous  observations  were  made  by  aneroid  barometer 
for  the  elevation  of  bluffs  and  terraces  throughout  the  county,  and  on  these 
observations,  reduced  to  the  ocean  level  by  connection  with  railroad  sta- 
tions, the  contour-lines  of  the  county  map  were  established.  In  passing 
over  the  country,  between  railroad  stations,  and  in  all  lines  remote  from 
railroads,  the  topography  was  outlined  by  the  eye,  estimates  being  made  on 
the  variations  from  known  contours. 

The  bluffs  at  Beaver  were  ascertained  in  this  manner  to  rise  480  feet 
above  the  alluvial  flat  on  which  the  village  is  situated.  The  flat  is  so  near 
the  Whitewater  level  that  it  is  sometimes  flooded,  being  about  eight  feet 
above  the  river  at  low  water.  This  hight  is  reached  about  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  back  from  the  brow  of  the  St.  Lawrence  limestone,  but  does  not  include 
the  Shakopee  limestone.  The  950  feet  contour-line  just  about  coincides 
with  the  top  of  the  St.  Croix  sandstone  at  Beaver. 

Where  the  road  crosses  the  south  branch  of  the  Whitewater,  between 
sections  2  and  3,  St.  Charles,  the  creek  is  about  1030  feet  above  the  ocean, 
and  the  cut  in  the  St.  Lawrence  is  about  fifty  feet. 

Lewiston,  at  1211  feet,  is  about  the  average  hight  of  the  prairie  about 
there.  It  includes  the  Jordan  and  Shakopee  formations. 


WINONA  COUNTY.  243 

Elevations.] 

The  terrace  rises  fifty-eight  feet  above  the  flood-plain  of  the  Rolling- 
stone,  on  section  10,  near  Minnesota  City. 

The  bluffs  at  Stockton  rise  345  feet  above  the  depot  at  the  same  place. 

The  high  plateaux  between  Stockton  and  Winona  rise  456  feet  above 
the  upper  terrace  of  the  Mississippi  in  the  valley  of  the  Rollingstone  at 
Minnesota  City,  525  feet  above  the  lower  flat  at  Minnesota  City,  and  538 
feet  above  the  Milwaukee  depot  at  Winona.  This  depot  is  really  on  the 
same  gravelly  plain  as  the  lower  flat,  above,  at  Minnesota  City,  but  descend- 
ing a  little  toward  Winona,  and  depressed  for  Winona  lake.  This  makes 
the  highest  portions  of  the  bluffs  back  of  Winona  about  1200  feet  above 
the  sea.  This  hight  is  reached  some  distance  back  from  the  immediate 
brink  of  the  bluff,  and  in  some  cases  from  a  half  to  three-fourths  of  a  mile. 

Back  of  Homer  the  average  elevation  of  the  uplands  is  about  1232  feet 
above  tide.  This  is  reached  at  a  distance  of  a  couple  of  miles  from  the 
bluff  brink.  In  general,  along  the  Mississippi,  the  1200  feet  contour-line 
runs  some  miles  back  from  the  brink  in  the  uplands,  the  brink  itself  being 
about  1100  feet. 

The  high  prairie  about  Pickwick  is  515  feet  above  the  station  at 
Lamoille,  or  1167  feet  above  the  ocean. 

Gwinn's  bluff,  sec.  26,  Richmond,  rises  1176  feet  above  the  ocean,  the 
limerock  on  the  top  composing  110  feet,  and  the  St.  Croix  sandrock400  feet 
down  to  the  level  of  the  railroad  at  Richmond.  This  is  a  narrow  and  pre- 
cipitous bluff  standing  near  the  river,  with  a  valley  behind  it  that  sets  it 
off  from  the  rest  of  the  high  land  in  the  same  bold  manner  as  the  Great 
Palisades  on  the  north  shore  of  lake  Superior.  This  gives  it  the  appear- 
ance, as  it  has  the  reputation,  of  being  the  highest  on  the  river.  As  it  is  on 
the  great  anticlinal  of  the  formations,  this  is  very  likely  to  be  true,  but  it  is 
of  about  the  hight  of  the  surrounding  country,  except  on  the  east  side  of  the 
Mississippi,  where  there  is  a  broad  expanse  destitute  of  the  limerock,  and 
therefore  much  lower,  the  sandrock  itself  also  being  reduced  so  as  to  bring 
the  general  level  but  100  or  200  feet  above  the  river.  On  this  expanse,  in 
high  wind,  the  sand  and  dust  rise  in  clouds  three  or  four  hundred  feet  in 
the  air.  This  area  of  broken  down  limerock,  where  the  St.  Croix  sandrock 
only  forms  the  surface  formation,  is  crossed  by  the  valley  of  Black  river,  and 
extends  farthest  in  a  north-northeast  direction,  the  limerock  appearing  oc- 


244  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Elevations. 

casionally  in  the  form  of  isolated  table-topped  mounds  or  precipitous  peaks, 
rising  very  high. 

At  Dreshach  the  bluffs  reach  the  hight  of  1232  feet,  the  sandstone  rising 
430  feet  above  the  railroad,  and  the  limestone  being  135  feet  thick,  including 
the  debris  and  slope  above  the  brink  which  seems  to  contain  both  the  Jor- 
dan and  Shakopee,  though  nothing  can  be  seen  in  place,  of  either  of  them. 
Here  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  is  very  wide,  and  about  here,  or  a  little 
further  north,  must  be  the  axis  of  the  broad  anticlinal  which  comes  into  the 
state  from  Wisconsin.  It  seems  to  be  a  broad  bowl-like  upward  swell  in  the 
rocks,  which  not  only  causes  the  limerock  to  break  away  extensively,  leav- 
ing the  St.  Croix  to  constitute  the  surface,  but  where  the  limerock  is  pre- 
served, to  make  it  rise  higher  in  Wisconsin  than  in  Minnesota.  This  all  is 
proven  also  by  the  irregularity  of  the  contour  of  all  the  hills.  They  are 
more  shaped  like  the  drift-hills  and  knolls  of  Dakota  county,  without  benches 
of  ascent,  though  not  having  any  true  drift.  This  upward  swell  in  Winona 
county  is  only  felt  as  an  effect  on  the  topography,  producing  wider  and 
more  numerous  valleys  than  further  north,  the  grand  dip  being  toward  the 
S.  W.  or  W.  S.  W.  If  there  be  any  axis  to  this  upward  swell  it  may  be  said 
to  occupy  most  of  the  interval  between  Richmond  and  Dresbach. 

The  hills  south  of  St.  Charles  rise  nearly  200  feet  above  the  depot, 
or  1325  feet  above  the  sea.  The  depot  is  about  on  the  top  of  the  Shakopee. 

The  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul  railway  skirts  along  the  eastern 
border  of  the  county,  near  the  base  of  the  river  bluffs,  and  its  engineers 
have  reported  the  following  elevations  oj  points  on  the  grade. 

Elevations  on  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul  railway. 

Distances  in  miles  Hights  in  feet 

from  Saint  Paul.  above  the  sea. 

Mt.  Vernon __ 89  667 

Minnesota  City 97  669 

St.  Peter  Junction,  crossing  C.  and  N.  W.  railway 102  668 

Winona 103  654 

Homer 108  657 

Lamoille 112  652 

Eichmond 115  666 

Dakota 121  649 

Dresbach 122.5  668 

The  list  of  hights  on  the  Chicago  and  Northwestern  railway  in  this 
county,  given  upon  the  next  page,  are  from  Mr.  John  E.  Blunt,  engineer, 
Winona. 


WINONA  COUNTY.  245 

Elevations.] 

Elevations  on  the  Winona  and  St.  Peter  division,  Ghicaqo  and  Noi  thwestern  railway. 

Distances  in  miles         Mights  in  feet 
from  Winona.        above  the  sea. 

Low  water  in  the  Mississippi  river  at  Winona 0  632 

Top  of  rail  on  draw-bridge 0  662 . 5 

Winona,  passenger  depot 0  660 

Winona,  railroad  yard  and  freight  depot 0  641 

Minnesota  City 5.9  668 

Stockton 11.31  745 

Lewiston 18.30  1203 

Utica 22.74  1162 

St.  Charles 29.35  1131 

Mean  elertttion  of  the  county.  From  the  contour-lines  shown  on  the 
county  map  the  average  elevation  of  each  township  has  been  estimated,  as 
follows: 

Dresbach,  1000  feet  above  the  sea;  Richmond,  1050;  New  Hartford, 
1050;  Homer,  1050;  Pleasant  Hill,  1125;  Winona,  825:  Wilson,  1050;  Wis- 
coy,  1050;  Rollingstone,  925;  Hillsdale,  1075;  Warren,  1125;  Hart,  1100; 
Mount  Vernon,  1075;  Norton,  1100;  Utica,  1150;  Fremont,  1125;  White- 
water, 1050;  Elba,  1075;  Saint  Charles,  1175;  and  Saratoga,  1150.  The 
mean  elevation  of  Winona  county,  derived  from  these  figures,  is,  approxi- 
mately, 1070  feet  above  the  sea. 

Soil  and  timber.  The  soil  and  subsoil  of  the  county  are  everywhere  formed 
of  the  loess-loam,  the  former  being  a  superficial  modification  of  the  latter. 
On  the  uplands,  where  the  general  surface  is  undulating  or  rolling,  the  sur- 
face soil  has  become  blackened  and  also  thickened  in  the  depressions,  and 
perhaps  somewhat  pebbly  with  limestone  and  chert  or  quartzy  te  fragments 
on  the  hillsides,  and  the  latter  especially  along  the  brows  of  the  hills  which 
face  the  south  sun  and  the  prevailing  winds.  In  the  main  valleys  the  loess- 
loam  is  thicker  than  on  the  uplands,  and  it  has  been  worked  over  and  depos- 
ited a  second  time  by  the  drainage  incident  to  the  several  valleys.  The 
terraces  that  are  seen  in  the  lower  parts  of  the  valleys  gradually  lose  their 
distinctness  in  ascending  the  valleys,  and  finally  become  merely  a  thickened 
talus  along  the  foot  of  the  rocky  bluffs,  occasionally  showing  still  their  hight 
and  original  continuity  in  island-like  areas  in  the  sheltered  portions  of  the 
valleys.  They  descend  from  the  upper  levels  gradually,  about  at  the  rate 
of  descent  of  the  valleys  themselves.  The  soil  of  these  terraces  is  generally 
very  fertile,  but  sometimes  an  exposure  of  their  stratification  shows  their 
lower'portions  to  consist  of  sand. 


246  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Soil. 

The  Rollingstone  valley  in  a  fine  one,  especially  in  the  month  of  July. 
It  is  wide  and  smoothly  contoured  from  the  bluffs  downward,  the  main  flat 
being  the  same  terrace-plain  as  that  already  mentioned  at  and  below  Stock- 
ton, gradually  rising  toward  the  west  as  the  stream  is  ascended,  and  also 
passing  more  abruptly  into  the  slopes,  right  and  left,  which  descend  from 
the  enclosing  bluffs.  These  slopes  are  cultivated  well  up  the  hillsides,  as  in 
nearly  all  parts  of  the  county,  and  raise  oats,  barley  and  even  wheat  and 
corn,  the  more  precipitous  portions  above  being  pasture  fields.  There  is  an 
insensible  change  from  the  main  flat  to  these  slopes.  The  flat  itself  consists 
of  yellow  loam,  stratified  where  exposed  in  wash-outs  along  the  road,  but 
in  the  upper  slopes  becoming  gradually  replaced  by  the  coarser  debris  from 
the  hills,  and  toward  Minnesota  City  becoming  the  great  terrace  which  is 
known  to  accompany  the  Mississippi  all  the  way  from  St.  Paul.  Yet  even 
at  Minnesota  City  it  is  still  covered  with  a  yellow  loam  of  later  date. 

At  Pickwick  the  loam-clay  that  constitutes  the  terrace  and  forms  the 
subsoil,  is  seen  to  be  interstratified  along  the  bluff-side,  near  the  mill,  with 
several  layers  of  rotted  debris  from  the  bluff,  with  lenticular  patches  of  reg- 
ular stratification.  The  section  here  exposed  is  seen  in  fig.  9. 


FIG.  9.      SECTION  AT  PICKWICK. 

In  general  throughout  the  county  the  loess-loam  is  clayey,  and  holds 
the  surface  waters  in  all  confined  depressions.  No  stones  of  foreign  origin 
are  found  in  it  to  obstruct  the  plow,  or  impede  the  reaper.  Indeed  it  is 
only  in  the  neighborhood  of  St.  Charles,  in  the  western  part  of  the  county, 
that  the  true  northern  drift  is  found  in  Winona  county.  Where  it  exists  it 


WINONA  COUMTY.  247 

Trees  and  shrubs,] 

is  so  completely  covered  by  the  loam  that  only  rarely  are  any  signs  of  it  seen 
at  the  surface  in  the  form  of  boulders. 

Generally  throughout  the  county  there  is  a  liberal  supply  of  native 
timber  for  fuel,  and  in  numerous  places  some  of  the  best  trees  of  oak  have 
been  cut  for  other  uses. 

Trees  and  shrubs  of  Winona  county.  In  the  survey  of  the  county  the  following  native  trees 
and  shrubs  were  identified.  The  trees  are  arranged  in  the  estimated  order  of  frequency. 

Quercus  macrocarpa,  Michx.    Bur  oak. 

Populus  tremuloides,  Michx.    Aspen. 

Quercus  coccinea,  Wang.,  var.  tinctoria,  Bart.    Black  oak. 

These  three  species  make  up  about  nine-tenths  of  the  forest  trees  of  the  county,  exclusive  of 
the  timbered  lowlands  of  the  Mississippi.  There  are  large  trees  of  black  oak,  apparently  belong- 
ing to  a  former  forest  growth,  the  most  of  which  has  been  cut  or  destroyed  by  fire,  and  many  of  the 
growing  shrubs  and  bushes  of  oak  seem  to  belong  to  this  species. 

Quercus  alba,  L.  White  oak.  The  white  oak  is  quite  abundant  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
county.  It  frequents  the  limestone  slopes  and  the  uplands,  and  the  black  oak  the  sandstone  slopes. 

Ulmus  Americana,  (PI.  Olayt.)  Willd.  White  or  American  elm.  Common  in  the  valleys ; 
makes  a  very  large  tree. 

Acer  rubrum,  L.  Red  or  swamp  maple.  "  Soft  maple"  is  the  name  commonly  applied  in 
Minnesota  to  this  and  the  next.  This  is  very  abundant  in  the  bottoms  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
generally  throughout  the  county  in  similar  soils. 

Acer  dasycarpum,  Ehr.  White  or  silver  maple  ;  soft  maple.  Common  in  low  lands.  (This 
is  the  species  most  common  as  an  ornamental  tree.) 

Tilia  Americana,  L.    Basswood.    Linden. 

Betula  papyracea,  Ait.  White  or  Paper  birch.  This  very  rarely  makes  a  tree  larger  than 
six  inches  in  diameter  in  Winona  county,  though  it  sometimes  exceeds  that  in  favorable  situations 
in  rich  soils.  The  most  common  position  for  this  tree  is  along  the  exposed  rock-bluffs,  where  it 
maintains  a  hardy  and  persistent  slow  growth  in  spite  of  the  fires  that  frequently  run  over  the  sur- 
face, and  the  unimpeded  winds  and  frosts  of  the  year.  It  was  seen  at  Winona  two  and  a  half  feet 
in  diameter. 

Various  species  of  willow. 

Negundo  aceroides,  Mcench.  Box-elder.  Common  in  the  low  lands.  Seldom  more  than 
twelve  inches  in  diameter. 

Prunus  Americana,  Marshall.     Wild  plum. 

Populus  monilifera,  Ait.  Cottonwood.  This  makes  a  large  tree  several  feet  in  diameter  in 
the  Mississippi  bottoms. 

Fraxinus  Americana,  L.  White  ash. 

Ostrya  Virginica,  Willd.    Ironwood. 

Juglans  cinerea,  L.    Butternut. 

Carya  ainara,  Nutt.    Bitternut  hickory. 

Fraxinus  sambucifolia,  Lam.    Black  ash. 

Juglans  nigra,  L.    Black  walnut. 

Acer  saccharinum,  Wany.    Sugar  maple. 

Carpinus  Americana.  Michx.     Water  beech. 

Prunus  serotina,  Ehr.    Black  cherry. 

Carya  alba,  Nutt.  Shag-bark  hickory.  This  is  common  along  the  bluffs  from  Dresbach  at 
least  to  Winona  and  Stockton.  It  has  been  cut  for  fuel  for  steamboats  for  many  years.  Large 
trees  are  now  very  rare. 

Ulmus  fulva,  Michx.    Red  or  slippery  elm. 

Ulmus  racemosa,  Thomas.    Corky  or  rock  elm. 

Pirns  coronaria,  L.     Wild  crab-apple. 

Populus  grandidentata,   Michx.    Rare ;  but  a  few  trees  can  be  seen  in  the  north  part  of 
Pleasant  Hill. 


248  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Trees  and  shrubs. 

Finns  Strobus,  L.  May  be  seen  at  Whitewater  and  Elba,  on  the  bluffs ;  a  large  tree  grows  at 
the  mouth  of  Fine  creek ;  several  are  growing  at  the  mouth  of  the  Fine  creek  that  joins  the  Mis- 
sissippi at  La  Crescent ;  it  occurs  on  sec.  28,  Saratoga,  at  the  head  of  the  creek,  and  on  sec.  29, 
St.  Charles  ;  on  Gwinn's  bluff,  near  Eichmond,  and  in  numerous  other  places  in  the  county. 

Celtis  occidentalis,  L.    Hackberry. 

Amelanchier  Canadensis,  Torr.  and  Gray.    Juneberry. 

Betula  lutea,  Michx.  f.  Gray  birch.  This  makes  a  tree  sometimes  a  foot  in  diameter  grow- 
ing along  the  bottom-lands  of  the  Mississippi.  Its  twigs  are  aromatic,  and  it  may  be  mistaken 
for  the  black  or  cherry-birch.  It  grows  at  Dresbach. 

Betula  nigra,  L.  River  or  red  birch.  This  birch  is  found  abundantly  along  the  Mississippi 
bottoms  as  far  north  at  least  as  Minneiska.  It  has  been  cut  extensively  for  fuel.  It  makes  a 
large  tree,  and  when  young  it  is  very  shapely  and  adapted  to  ornamental  purposes,  especially  if  it 
is  so  situated  as  not  to  be  crowded  by  other  trees.  In  the  timbered  bottom-land,  however,  the  tree 
is  often  one-sided  and  deformed,  or  nearly  limbless.  It  is  abundant  in  the  form  of  small  trees 
from  two  to  four  inches  thick,  sometimes  clustered  as  if  from  old  stumps.  Occasionally  an  old  tree 
stands.  The  bark  is  then  not  papery  but  rough.  The  outer  papery  bark  easily  peels  off,  even 
when  young.  It  has  a  faint  orange  tint,  in  distinction  from  the  snowy  whiteness  of  the  paper- 
birch,  which  is  also  sometimes  seen  in  close  proximity. 

Juniperus  Virginiana,  L.    Red  cedar. 

Thuja  occidentalis,  L.  Arbor  vite,  or  white  cedar.  These  cedars  both  grow  on  Gwinn's 
bluff,  sec.  26,  Richmond,  but  the  former  only  is  distributed  generally  over  the  county.  It  is  found 
in  stony  places,  and  sometimes  makes  a  tree  twenty  or  thirty  feet  high. 

Gymnocladus  Canadensis,  Lam.  Kentucky  coffee-tree.  Seen  native  only  near  Dakota  in  the 
shaded  lower  slopes  of  the  river  bluffs,  but  it  is  in  cultivation  at  Beaver  and  Winona  as  an  orna- 
mental tree.  The  balm  of  Gilead  is  common  in  cultivation,  and  occasionally  is  seen  a  specimen 
of  honey-locust,  the  black  locust  being  rather  common.  The  Lombardy  poplar  is  winter-killed,  or 
partly  so.  The  soft  n:aple  is  the  most  common  shade  tree.  The  next  is  perhaps  the  cotton- 
wood;  then,  in  order  of  frequency,  box-elder,  Lombardy  poplar,  willow,  sugar  maple,  white  elm, 
white  pine,  black  walnut,  balsam  flr,  butternut,  bass,  red  elm,  white  poplar. 

Shrubs  of  Winona  county.  Rhus  glabra,  L.  and  typhina,  L.  The  smooth  sumac  is  common 
throughout  the  county,  but  the  stag-horn  is  rarely  found  outside  of  the  immediate  valley  of  the 
Mississippi.  It  occurs  in  Hart,  in  the  valley  of  Rush  creek.  At  Winona  samples  were  seen  of  the 
atter  eight  inches  in  diameter.  Corylus  Americana,  Walt.;  abundant.  Corylus  rostrata,  Ait., 
rare,  seen  near  Dakota,  and  in  the  valley  of  the  Rollingstone.  Cornus  paniculata,  L'fler,  com- 
mon. Sambucus  Canadensis,  L.  and  pubens,  Michx.,  the  latter  being  rare.  Cornus  sericea,  L., 
stolonifera,  Michx.  and  alternifolia,  L;  all  these  are  common.  Rubus  villosus,  Ait.,  strigosus, 
Michx.  and  occidentalis.  L.,  the  last  with  white  fruit,  on  the  bluffs  at  Winona.  Rubus  Canaden, 
sis,  L.,  Ribes  rotundifolium,  Michx.,  Cynosbati,  L.  andfloridum,  L.,  Primus  Virginiana,  L.,  com- 
mon ;  Primus  Pennsylvanica,  £.,  Clyde.  Primus  pumila,  L.,  near  the  center  of  section  33,  Hart- 
along  the  sandy  road  that  runs  to  the  east  of  an  isolated  bluff.  Although  this  does  not  agree  with 
Gray's  description  exactly,  viz.  in  having  the  leaves  toothed  nearly  all  round,  and  the  flowers 
(fruit  at  least)  single,  it  is  probably  this  species.  In  general  appearance  it  resembles  greatly  the 
sand  cherry  of  the  northern  shores  of  lake  Michigan.  Amorpha  fruticosa,  L.  Vitis  cordifolia, 
Michx.  Spiraea  opulifolia,  L.  Rosa  blanda,  Ait.  Ampelopsis  quinquefolia,  Michx.  Crataegus 
coccinea,  L.,  and  Crus-galli,  L.  Viburnum  pubescens,  Pursh  ,  sec.  24,  Fremont.  Viburnum 
Lentago,  L.  Celastrus  scandens,  L.  Alnus  incana,  Willd.  Ceanothus  Americanus,  L.  Juni- 
perus Sabina,  L.,  var.  procumbens,  Pursh.  Hamamelis  Virginica,  L.,  moist  soils  between  Rich- 
mond and  Dakota,  rare.  Acer  spicatum,  Lam.,  sec.  22,  Richmond,  rare.  Xanthoxylum 
Americanum,  Mill.  Pyrus  sambucifolia,  Cham,  and  Schlecht.,on  the  bluff-side  at  Winona.  Loni- 
cera  parviflora,  Lam.  and  grata,  Ait.  Euonymus  atropurpureus,  Jacq.,  sec.  22,  Fremont.  Arcto- 
staphylos  Uva-ursi,  Spreng.,  sandy  knolls  in  sec.  12,  Saratoga. 

The  southward  facing  slopes,  as  in  Houston  county,  are  apt  to  be  destitute  of  trees  and  shrubs, 
while  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  same  valley  the  surface  frequently  is  densely  timbered. 


WINONA  COUNTY.  249 

Geologic  »1  structure.] 


THE  GEOLOGICAL  STRUCTURE  OF  WINONA  COUNTY. 

The  bedded  rocks  of  this  county  are  the  same  as  those  of  Houston 
county,  given  in  the  last  chapter;  the  thickness  of  the  St.  Croix  sandstone 
is  a  little  greater,  however,  than  there,  owing  to  the  occurrence  of  an  anti- 
clinal axis  which  lifts  the  strata  a  little  higher  above  the  Mississippi  in  this 
county  than  in  that.  This  broad  swell  extends  between  Dresbach  and 
Homer,  or,  more  strictly,  between  Dresbach  and  Richmond.  On  the  east 
side  of  the  Mississippi,  where  the  limestones  of  the  Cambrian  are  wholly 
broken  down  and  removed,  the  country  is  much  lower  on  this  anticlinal, 
and  the  lower  portion  of  the  valley  of  Black  river  is  located  on  it. 

Plate  9  represents  Winona  county.  The  colors  and  the  characters  are 
the  same  as  for  Houston  county.  Although  the  indurated  rocks  only  are 
represented  by  colors,  it  should  be  remarked  that  some  glacial  drift  is  found 
in  St.  Charles  and  the  north  part  of  Saratoga  townships,  and  that  the  actual 
surface  everywhere  consists  of  the  loess-loam.  These  are  not  expressed 
because  the  underlying  rocks  throughout  the  county  are  so  well  known 
that  they  should  take  precedence  in  the  coloring  of  the  geological  map. 
This  minuteness  of  knowledge  of  the  rocks  of  the  state  gradually  gives 
place  to  doubt,  and  finally  to  a  mere  general  knowledge,  in  going  west 
from  Winona  county,  on  account  of  the  increase  of  the  drift ;  and  hence  in 
Fillmore,  Olmsted  and  Wabasha  counties  the  drift  characters  are  repre- 
sented on  the  county  maps,  and  in  some  counties  still  further  west  the  drift 
only  is  susceptible  of  such  delineation, 

In  the  coloration  of  the  Cambrian  strata  on  the  county  map,  the  St. 
Peter  and  St.  Croix  sandstones,  the  former  the  top  and  the  latter  the  low- 
est of  the  Cambrian  within  the  county,  are  represented  by  special  colors, 
while  the  Shakopee,  Jordan  and  St.  Lawrence  are  all  colored  together  as 
one.  This  is  because  the  St.  Peter  and  St.  Croix  are  distinctly  set  off  from 
the  rest  by  certain  natural  causes,  bringing  them  into  bold  stratigraphical 
recognizance,  while  the  three  that  are  associated  under  one  color  are  also 
associated  in  topographic  features  so  closely,  that  much  uncertainty  pre- 
vails not  only  as  to  their  individual  boundaries,  but  even  as  to  their  indi- 
vidual existence,  in  many  parts  of  the  county. 

The  Trenton  rocks.    Within  the  Trenton  period  are  placed  the  known 


250  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Trenton  rocks. 

Trenton  limestone  and  the  shales  and  shaly  limestone  which  overlie  it  in 
western  St.  Charles  and  Saratoga,  reaching  an  aggregate  thickness  of  per- 
haps seventy-five  feet.  This  thickness,  however,  is  estimated.  It  may  be 
partly  made  up  of  glacial  clay  and  loess-loam,  which  begin  to  combine  in 
that  part  of  the  county  in  rendering  the  geology  more  uncertain.  Within 
the  thirteen-hundred  foot  contour-line  there  is  something,  in  St.  Charles 
and  Saratoga  townships,  above  the  Trenton,  amounting  to  sixty  or  seventy- 
five  feet.  It  is  probably  partly  made  up  of  Hudson  River  shales,  but  it  is 
superficially  composed  of  loam,  with  an  occasional  appearance  of  a  little 
drift.  The  best  exposures  of  the  shales  and  shaly  limestones  referred  to  are 
found  in  the  high  bluffs  in  the  southern  part  of  St.  Charles.  The  greatest 
observed  thickness  is  not  more  than  twenty-five  feet.  They  may  be  seen, 
S.  W.  J  sec.  29,  by  the  side  of  the  road,  where  they  consist  of  alternate  thin 
beds  of  limestone  and  green  shales  with  numerous  fossils.  The  same,  or 
similar,  beds  are  found  at  W.  H.  Shelton's,  N.  W.J  sec.  6,  Fremont,  whose 
well  and  cistern  are  partly  excavated  in  them,  revealing  numerous  fossils. 

The  most  interesting  observation  made  in  Winona  county  on  the  rocks 
of  the  Trenton  period,  was  in  section  29,  St.  Charles,  where  there  is  an 
apparent  unconformity  between  the  Trenton  and  the  underlying  St.  Peter 
sandstone.  The  St.  Peter,  as  exposed,  dips  about  six  degrees  south-south- 
west. It  is  separated  from  the  Trenton  by  four  to  ten  feet  of  green  shale, 
which  seems  to  vary,  and  to  lie  in  a  depression  in  the  upper  surface  of  the 
sandrock.  The  overlying  Trenton  is  about  horizontal.  Yet  at  a  point  about 
two  miles  further  north,  where  the  St.  Peter  rises  at  least  fifty  feet  higher, 
the  Trenton  is  still  present  on  the  top  of  it  in  a  thin  scalp. 

The  area  occupied  by  the  Trenton  rocks  in  Winona  county  is  small, 
but  nearly  all  the  peculiar  features  of  topography  produced  by  them,  as 
mentioned  in  the  reports  on  Houston  and  Fillmore  counties,  are  well  exem- 
plified. It  invariably  produces  a  rather  abrupt  ascent  in  the  contour  and 
general  level  of  the  country,  amounting  to  about  a  hundred  feet,  and  it  is 
hence  distinguishable  by  the  observer  for  many  miles.  This  plateau-like 
elevation  is  not  dry,  as  might  be  expected,  but  the  shaly  character  of  the 
rocks,  together  with  some  inequalities  of  surface  prior  to  the  deposit  of  the 
loam,  serve  to  retain  the  surface  waters  as  in  tight  basins,  only  allowing 
them  to  escape  slowly  in  springs  about  the  border  of  the  plateau,  by  perco- 


VVINONA  COUNTY.  251 

St.  Peter  sandstone.] 

lating  outward  between  the  loam  and  the  shales.  It  is  frequently  the  case 
that  wells  on  this  plateau  reach  water  fifteen  to  thirty  feet  below  the  sur- 
face, while  on  the  lower  prairies  adjacent,  it  is  necessary  to  drill  more  than 
100  feet,  or  even  200  feet,  in  order  to  get  water  for  domestic  uses. 

The  St.  Peter  sandstone.  This  formation  in  Winona  county  has  an  aver- 
age thickness  of  somewhat  less  than  one  hundred  feet,  though  no  exact 
measurement  of  it  has  been  made.  It  affords  frequent  surface  exposures  in 
the  slopes  of  the  bluffs  that  outline  the  area  of  the  Trenton,  and  also  occa- 
sionally is  seen  by  the  roadside  at  points  some  miles  from  that  line  of  bluffs. 
In  situations  similar  to  the  latter,  but  of  course  at  lower  levels,  the  Jordan 
sandstone  is  also  frequently  seen,  and  might  very  easily  be  mistaken  for  the 
St.  Peter,  since  the  Shakopee  limestone,  which  separates  them,  is  reduced 
to  about  twenty-five  feet  in  the  western  part  of  the  county,  and  probably  to 
less  than  twenty-five  feet  in  the  eastern  part.  The  formation  lies  nearly 
level  throughout  the  county,  and  conformably  on  the  Shakopee  limestone, 
so  far  as  observed.  To  this  statement  only  one  exception  must  be  made,  as 
already  mentioned  under  the  head  of  Trenton  rocks.  About  a  mile  south 
of  St.  Charles  the  St.  Peter  has  a  noticeable  dip  of  about  six  degrees  toward 
the  south-southwest,  and  is  apparently  unconformable  with  the  Trenton.  It 
cannot  be  asserted  positively  that  this  dip  involves  all  of  the  Cambrian,  but 
there  are  some  reasons  for  believing  that  it  does,  and  that  the  great  anti- 
clinal that  enters  the  county  between  Dresbach  and  Richmond  in  a  general 
west-southwest  direction  is  deflected  toward  the  west-northwest  within  the 
county,  Root  river  and  its  tributaries  draining  the  southward  dipping  strata 
and  the  Zumbro  the  northward.  The  river  bluffs  at  Elba  are  remarkably 
high,  a  fact  which  may  be  owing  to  the  dip  seen  in  the  St.  Peter  south  of 
St.  Charles,  affecting  the  whole  Cambrian  and  throwing  the  St.  Lawrence 
and  Shakopee  higher  above  the  sea  in  the  region  immediately  to  the  north 
from  St.  Charles. 

The  sandy  knolls  in  sec.  12,  Saratoga,  have  no  limestone  on  their  tops, 
but  their  contour  and  elevation,  as  they  now  exist,  are  preserved  by  a  cem- 
ented rusty  layer  which  is  about  eighteen  inches  thick  and  lies  on  the  west- 
ern slopes  in  large  fallen-down  blocks,  being  kept  uncovered  on  that  side 
by  the  prevailing  western  winds.  It  is  probable  that  they  exist  in  a  similar 
manner  on  all  sides  of  these  mounds,  but  are  hid  by  the  loam.  These  knolls 


252  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Shakopee  limestone. 

were  once  capped  by  the  Trenton  limestone,  as  in  the  adjoining  high-lands, 
and  their  demolition  under  natural  causes  has  not  proceeded  far  enough  to 
bring  them  down  to  the  level  of  the  lower  prairies,  but  seems  to  have  quite 
destroyed  the  overlying  limestone. 

The  Shakopee  limestone.  The  best  exposure  of  the  Shakopee  limestone, 
within  the  county  occurs  at  Troy,  in  Saratoga  township.  It  there  presents 
a  thickness  of  twenty-five  feet,  along  the  creek  on  each  side  of  the  dam,  and 
has  been  quarried  for  use  in  the  construction  of  the  Troy  flouring  mill.  It 
has  the  color  and  most  of  the  usual  lithological  characters  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence'as  seen  in  Winona  county.  The  Jordan  sandstone  is  visible  at  the 
same  place  immediately  below  it,  and  the  St.  Peter  at  higher  levels  in  the 
neighboring  bluffs.  Further  down  the  creek,  in  Fillmore  county,  the  St 
Lawrence  limestone  forms  a  continuous  exposure  with  a  thickness  much 
greater.  The  Shakopee  limestone  appears  at  St.  Charles,  along  the  creek, 
and  also  in  the  streets  of  the  city,  with  a  dip  toward  the  S.  S.  W.,  coinciding 
with  that  already  mentioned  in  the  St.  Peter  near  the  same  place.*  It  is 
visible  at  the  Quincy  mills,  where  it  overlies  the  Jordan  sandstone. f  In  the 
central  and  eastern  parts  of  the  county  this  limestone  is  seldom  seen,  and 
when  observed  it  is  under  unfavorable  circumstances.  It  can  only  be  said 
of  it  that  it  exists  as  far  east  as  Stockton,  and  probably  as  far  as  Homer  and 
Dresbach  on  the  Mississippi. 

The  presence  of  the  Shakopee  limestone  in  the  highest  lands  in  the  north  part  of  Homer  is 
indicated  by  the  occasional  occurrence  of  "sink-holes"  which  it  causes  in  the  loam-covered  surface 
in  connection  with  the  Jordan  sandstone. 

Above  Brown's  quarry  at  Dresbach,  which  is  in  the  St.  Lawrence,  near  the  top  of  the  bluff, 
is  a  debris  in  the  upper  slopes  that  seems  to  contain  both  the  Jordan  and  the  Shakopee,  but  nothing 
can  be  seen  in  place  of  either  of  them.  It  is  visible  in  the  road  between  sections  4  and  5,  Utica. 

It  is  seen  to  overlie  the  Jordan  sandstone  on  the  road  between  sections  13,  Utica,  and  18, 
Warren,  south  of  the  railroad. 

It  is  occasionally  seen  in  section  30,  Fremont,  and  between  sections  32  and  33,  Utica. 

In  general,  however,  as  the  county  is  occupied  very  largely  by  the  area  of  the  broad  Cam- 
brian anticlinal,  the  Shakopee  has  suffered  by  erosive  agents,  and  this  only  may  be  the  cause  of 
its  non-appearance  in  the  Mississippi  bluffs.  In  the  same  manner  the  St.  Lawrence  is  reduced  in 
thickness  on  this  anticlinal  when  it  is  at  the  surface. 

The  Jordan  sandstone.  This  sandstone,  which  overlies  the  St.  Lawrence 
limestone  quarried  at  Stockton  and  Winona,  is  finely  exposed  near  the 
Stockton  quarries  along  the  railroad,  a  mile  and  a  half  east  of  Lewiston, 
S.  W.J  sec.  18,  Warren.  It  is  also  visible  by  the  highway  along  the  east  and 

*A  similar'dip  is  mentioned ]in  the  report  on  Houston  county,  in  the  St.  Croix  sandstone,  at  Sheldon. 
tSee  the  report  on  Olmsted  county. 


WIXONA  COUNTY.  253 

Jordan  sandstone.] 

west  road  east  of  the  center  of  section  23,  Utica.  In  these  cases  it  is  a  firm, 
evenly  stratified  rock,  which  affords  angular  blocks  for  abutments  and  walls, 
and  at  the  railroad  exhibits  a  thickness  of  twenty-five  feet.  On  section  18, 
Warren,  the  bottom  of  the  Shakopee  overlying  is  also  exposed  at  points  m 
the  highway  a  little  further  south  in  the  high  land.  The  strata  of  the 
Jordan  are  from  three  to  four  inches,  as  exposed,  but  it  shows  by  its  rustiness 
that  it  is  shattered  by  long  weathering.  It  is  broken  into  square  blocks  in 
situ,  which  fall  out  by  the  action  of  the  frost.  A  resident  farmer  has  enclosed 
some  of  his  land  by  a  handsome  stone  wall,  evenly  laid  up  with  blocks  of 
this  stone,  some  of  the  pieces  being  one  foot  in  thickness.  In  a  similar  way 
this  rock  appears  along  the  road  between  sections  2  and  3,  St.  Charles,  near 
the  top  of  the  hill  at  the  crossing  of  the  South  Whitewater  river. 

The  Jordan  is  also  seen  in  the  bluffs  at  Troy,  where  it  has  an  exposed 
thickness  of  eight  feet.  It  is  probably  present  where  the  large  sink-hole 
occurs  in  the  road  about  two  miles  west  of  Lewiston,  and  at  one  mile  south 
of  Utica. 

The  Jordan  is  white  and  siliceous,  similar  in  that  respect  to  the  St. 
Peter,  when  not  long  weathered.  It  is  for  that  reason  liable  to  be  mistaken 
for  the  St.  Peter.  But  in  many  places  it  has  been  observed  to  differ  from 
that  formation  in  being  firmly  and  conspicuously  stratified,  affording  dura- 
ble angular  blocks  that  long  resist  the  weather,  and  are  carried  by  freshet 
waters  down  the  ravines  with  masses  of  the  more  durable  parts  of  the  lime- 
stones. The  St.  Peter  is  much  less  cemented,  and  in  Minnesota  has  never 
been  known  to  furnish  such  blocks. 

The  St.  Lawrence  limestone.  This  formation  which,  including  with  some 
indistinctness  the  overlying  Jordan  and  Shakopee,  Dr.  Owen  designated 
Lower  Magnesian  limestone,  is  still  frequently  known  by  that  name.  It 
occupies  the  summits  of  the  bluffs  of  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries 
throughout  nearly  the  whole  county,  having  a  thickness  ot  about  160  feet. 
An  unfavorable  measurement  was  made  of  this  limestone  in  Houston  county, 
which  seemed  to  give  it  a  thickness  of  about  200  feet,  but  from  numerous 
measurements  made  in  Winona  county  it  is  certainly  somewhat  less  than 
that  in  this  county.  This  may  be  in  part  due  to  the  anticlinal  position  in 
which  it  is  found,  making  it  more  susceptible  to  denuding  agencies. 

There  are  two  distinct  members  that  prevail  in  the  St.  Lawrence  lime- 


254  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[St.  Lawrence  limestone. 

stone  in  Winona  county,  that  are  distinguished  by  different  lithology,  though 
these  distinctions  are  not  known  to  extend  very  widely,  viz.* 

1.  Brecciated  and  concretionary. 

2.  Eegular  dolomitic  strata. 

Below  these  are  beds  of  transition  to  the  St.  Croix  sandstone,  made  up 
of  alternating  calcareous  and  sandy  layers,  aggregating  a  thickness  of  nearly 
fifty  feet,  which  have  generally  been  referred  to  the  St.  Croix  formation. 
They  are  included  in  the  first  turfed  slope  below  the  precipitous  bluffs  of 
limestone. 

The  upper,  brecciated  portion  of  the  St.  Lawrence  varies  somewhat  in 
thickness,  sometimes  reaching  seventy  or  eighty  feet,  and  is  not  separated 
from  the  regular  strata  by  a  marked  and  sudden  transition.  Indeed,  it  ap- 
parently occurs  interruptedly  in  the  same  horizon,  and  then  is  comparable 
to  the  sudden  concretionary  areas  that  swell  out  and  obliterate  the  strata 
in  the  other  formations,  particularly  the  Waterlime  and  Niagara  in  Ohio 
and  Michigan,!  and  to  the  tors  that  are  found  in  the  limestones  of  the  Car- 
boniferous at  North  Anston,  England.:}:  There  seems  to  have  been  some 
irregularity  in  the  ocean's  bed  at  the  time  of  deposition,  and  perhaps  some 
widespread  sudden  undulations  of  level  which  so  disturbed  the  sedimentary 
deposits  at  the  time  of  their  formation  that  when  consolidated  they  not 
only  show  remarkable  differences  of  composition  but  also  of  stratification 
and  texture.  This  brecciated  condition  forms  the  bold  buttresses  which  in 
many  places  are  seen  near  the  tops  of  the  bluffs,  forming  their  prominent 
features.  It  is  illustrated  by  fig.  7,  which  is  a  view  near  Homer.  The  rock 
itself  is  siliceous  as  well  as  calcareous,  the  silica  sometimes  appearing  in 
the  form  of  arenaceous  patches,  or  drusy  geodes,  and  sometimes  in  the  form 
of  chert  of  different  colors.  In  the  fissures  much  calcite  is  occasionally  found. 
The  dolomitic  portions  are  sometimes  exceedingly  fine-grained,  and  some- 
times open  and  spongy;  in  the  latter  case,  when  exposed  to  the  weather, 
giving  origin  to  caverns  and  small  openings  on  the  surface.  Although  the 
outward  aspect  of  such  rock  is  that  of  a  breccia,  yet  the  re-cementing  was 
not  due  merely  to  subsequent  sedimentation,  but  certain  chemical  and  con- 

"These  distinctions,  however,  have  been  mentioned  in  Iowa  by  Prof.  J.  D.  Whitney,  Geology  of  Iow»,  1858.  Vol. 
I.  p.  333. 

fGeology  of  Ohio,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  230,  374;  V»l.  I.,  pp.  62&-631. 

^British  commissioners'  report  on  the  selection  of  stone  for  the  new  houses  of  parliament,  De  la  Beche  and  Smith. 


WINONA  COUNTY.  255 

St.  Lawrence  limestone.] 

cretionary  forces  sprang  up  which  produced  segregations  and  crystalliza- 
tions that  are  not  found  in  the  rest  of  the  formation. 

The  more  regular  beds  of  the  St.  Lawrence  embrace  a  thickness  gen- 
erally of  about  one  hundred  feet.  At  Stockton  the  best  quarry  layers  have 
an  aggregate  thickness  from  thirty  to  fifty  feet.  The  strata  vary  from  six 
to  thirty-six  inches  in  thickness.  They  ai-e  extensively  wrought  at  the 
quarry  of  the  Chicago  and  Northwestern  railway  between  Stockton  and 
Lewiston,  at  Winona,  and  somewhat  at  Dresbach.  The  stone  is  light-buff, 
generally  somewhat  vesicular,  sometimes  coarsely  porous,  and  sometimes 
compact  and  fine  grained.  For  the  quality  of  the  building-stone  the  reader 
is  referred  to  a  previous  chapter  where  the  dolomites  and  dolomitic  lime- 
stones of  this  formation  are  discussed. 

Below  these  massive  layers,  which  constitute  a  part  of  the  precipitous 
bluffs  of  the  county,  there  is  a  varying  thickness  of  more  fragile  inde- 
scribable rock,  which  can  best  be  defined  by  Dr.  Owen's  term  siliceo-argilla- 
ceous  dolomite,  with  occasional  layers  of  an  inch  or  two  of  crumbling  white 
sand.  There  is  also  a  slow  transition  from  the  crumbling  sandstone  of  the 
St.  Croix  to  the  dolomitic  firm  rock  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  In  the  first  place 
siliceous  nodules  elongated  in  the  direction  of  the  stratification,  from  a  few 
inches  to  several  feet  long,  and  from  one  inch  to  twenty  inches  thick,  begin 
to  appear  in  the  crumbling  sand.  In  these  nodules  sometimes  the  individ- 
ual grains  of  sand  are  discernible  still,  tightly  embraced  in  the  siliceous 
rock  which  is  nearly  white  on  fracture  and  very  hard.  A  few  feet  higher 
in  the  strata  these  nodules,  while  increased  so  as  to  coalesce  to  the  right 
and  left,  forming  nearly  complete  strata  themselves,  are  seen  to  be  softer, 
and  to  embrace  other  matter  besides  silica.  They  are  fine-grained  and 
show  no  rounded  quartz  grains;  or  such  grains  appear  only  in  patches  of 
irregular  distribution  and  form.  At  ten  or  fifteen  feet  higher  the  rock  has 
assumed  that  character  which  is  almost  indescribable,  being  greenish  and 
shaly  and  yet  not  a  shale,  calcareous  and  not  a  limestone,  magnesian  but 
not  a  dolomite,  finely  siliceous  but  not  a  sandstone.  This  character  con- 
tinues through  a  thickness  of  forty  to  fifty  feet  of  strata,  and  is  like  the 
rock  of  the  quarries  at  Hokah  and  Lake  City.  By  degrees  the  siliceous  and 
aluminous  components  disappear  from  these  strata,  and  they  present  the 
finely  compact  structure  of  some  of  the  building-stone  layers,  as  seen  in  the 


256 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


[St.  Lawrence  limestone. 


bottom  of  the  quarries  at  Winona,  constituting  a  highly  prized  building- 
stone.  These  fine-grained  layers  are  quarried  at  Dresbach  by  S.  V.  Brown. 
They  are  from  ten  to  twelve  inches  thick  each,  even  and  true,  and  make  a 
beautiful  cut-stone.  Above  these  the  strata  graduate  into  the  more  coarsely 
textured,  and  often  vesicular  heavy  stone,  that  more  perfectly  represents 
the  average  characters  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  In  some  places,  before  the 
good  quarry  stone  is  reached,  in  ascending  the  bluff's,  there  is  a  series  of 
poor  dolomitic  irregular  beds,  somewhat  lumpy. 

The  exact  contact  of  the  St.  Lawrence  with  the  Jordan  was  observed 
along  the  railroad  east  of  Lewiston.  The  transition  is  abrupt  from  the 
brecciated  and  concretionary,  firm,  upper  strata  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  to  the 
rusty  and  arenaceous  layers  of  the  Jordan. 


FIG.   10.      VIEW  IN  GILMORE  VALLEY. 

On  some  of  the  bedding  surfaces  of  the  layers  quarried  near  Stockton 
may  be  seen  not  only  numerous  fucoids,  both  coarse  and  fine,  but  other  in- 
distinct traces  of  fossils,  the  most  conspicuous  and  distinct  of  which  is  a 
loosely  coiled  shell  about  an  inch  or  an  inch  and  a  half  across  from  side  to 


WIKONA  COUNTY.  257 

St.  Croix  sandstone.] 

side.  These  could  not  be  detached,  but  resemble  very  much  the  Ophileta 
already  mentioned  in  the  report  on  Houston  county.  In  the  same  situation 
was  found  also  the  pygidium  of  a  small  trilobite. 

The  St.  Croix  sandstone.  The  examinations  made  in  Winona  county 
add  somewhat  to  the  knowledge  of  the  stratigraphic  composition  of  this 
sandstone  that  was  obtained  in  Houston  county.  Its  main  divisions  only 
can  be  made  out,  owing  to  the  concealment  of  its  beds  by  the  uniformly 
heavy,  turfed  talus  that  skirts  along  the  foot  of  all  the  bluffs.  As  nearly 
as  can  be  stated  the  following  downward  section  exhibits  the  stratification 
of  the  St.  Croix  in  this  county.  Some  of  these  parts,  and  probably  most  of 
them,  extend,  without  much  variation,  throughout  the  southeastern^  part 
of  the  state  where  this  sandstone  appears. 


FIG.    11.      THE   ST.  CROIX   SANDSTONE. 

General  section  of  the  St.  Croix  sandstone. 

1.  Argillaceous,  siliceous  dolomitic  beds,  forming  the  transition  layers  between  the  St.  Croix 
and  the  St.  Lawrence.    Generally  fine-grained,  but  embracing  some  thin  strata  that  consist  of 
coarse,  loose  quartz  sand.    These  embrace  a  thickness  of  about  forty  to  fifty  feet. 

2.  Concretionary  sandstone.    This  has  many  nodules,  and  even  continuous  layers  of  concre- 
tionary rock.    These  lumps  are  sometimes  very  fine,  no  larger  than  peas,  and  sometimes  they 
swell  out  so  as  to  be  a  foot  or  more  in  thickness,  constituting  nearly  continuous  layers,  and  making 
a  very  firm  rock,  since  they  consist  entirely  of  cemented  grains  of  silica,  the  cement  itself  being 

17 


258  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[St.  Croix  sandstone. 

apparently  siliceous.  These  beds  are  in  the  upper  portion  of  the  line  of  constant  rock-exposure  in 
the  upper  part  of  the  high  bluffs  of  the  Whitewater  river  in  Whitewater  and  Elba  townships,  and 
in  other  places,  and  sometimes  their  greater  endurance  is  evinced  by  a  shoulder-like  jog  in  the  out- 
line of  the  turfed  slopes,  running  near  the  top  of  the  St.  Croix.  Twenty-five  to  thirty  feet. 

3.  Loose,  massive  sand,  more  or  less  stained  with  iron,  generally  turfed  over,  or  covered  with 
timber.    In  favorable  situations  this  loose  sandy  rock  forms  a  line  of  constant  exposure,  since  its 
face  becomes  nearly  perpendicular;  the  overlying  quartzitic  beds  protecting  it  from  denudation. 
The  thickness  of  this  member  amounts  to  forty  or  fifty  feet. 

4.  Argillaceous  and  siliceous  beds  much  like  No.  1,  embracing  the  quarries  at  Lake  City  and 
at  Hokah,  generally  greenish  and  often  sandy,  with  remains  of  trilobites  and  graptolites.    The 
shaly  portion  of  these  beds  embraces  a  large  percentage  of  lime.    Thirty  to  forty  feet. 

5.  Crumbling  sand,  about  fifty  feet. 

6.  Shales  and  shaly  sandrock,  generally  hid,  about  eighty-five  feet. 

7.  Sandrock.  quarried  by  Tostevin  at  Dresbach  ;  including  at  least  one  shale  bed  of  six  feet 
in  its  lower  portion,  which  is  generally  spring-bearing  along  the  foot  of  the  bluffs ;  120  to  150  feet. 

8.  Shales  and  shaly  sandrock,  very  fossiliferous ;  extending  to  the  water  level  at  Dresbach, 
and  including  a  conglomerate  bed  of  four  inches ;  ten  to  fifteen  feet. 

9.  Gray  sandrock,  penetrated  by  the  Winona  Mining  company  at  Dresbach  below  the  level 
of  the  Mississippi,  at  least  twenty  feet. 

10.  At  Dresbach  the  Davis  brothers  drilled  for  coal(!)  a  few  years  ago  to  the  depth  of  116  feet 
below  the  depot  level,  and  found  all  the  way  nothing  but  shale  and  shaly.  sandrock  alternating. 
Hence,  add  for  Davis'  drill,  shales  aud  shaly  sandrock  below  all  the  above,  sixty-eight  feet. 
Total  thickness  of  the  St.  Croix  in  Winona  county,  488  to  558  feet. 

No.  8,  above,  contains  what  may  be  pteropodous  forms,  also  some  that 
may  be  orthoceratitic,  and  fragments  of  trilobites,  and  numerous  specimens 
of  Lingula.  One  bed  of  about  sixteen  inches  at  Dresbach,  is  largely  made 
up  of  linguloid  shells.  It  is  fragile.  The  shales,  which  are  bluish,  contain 
numerous  beautiful  specimens  of  mud-cracks,  and  of  stems  of  fucoids.  The 
conglomerate,  which  is  in  No.  8,  is  composed  of  fossiliferous  pebbles  of  a 
gray  sandstone,  which  is  apparently  only  hardened  pieces  of  rock  like  No.  9, 
or  like  No.  7,  and  is  almost  quartzyte,  showing  some  mica-scales. 

At  Beaver,  the  St.  Croix  sandstone  rises  about  300  feet  above  the  river 
and  at  Stockton  it  rises  190  feet  above  the  depot,  which  is  113  feet  above 
above  low  water  at  Winona,  giving  303  feet  for  the  thickness  of  the  St. 
Croix,  as  exposed  at  Winona  and  Stockton,  exclusive  of  any  dip  in  the 
formation,  which  cannot  amount  to  more  than  twenty-five  feet. 

At  Winona,  about  half  a  mile  above  the  foot  of  Observatory  bluff,  at 
the  base  of  the  bluffs,  may  be  seen  a  much  rusted  and  hardened  sandstone, 
heavy  and  massive,  the  bottom  of  the  exposure  being  about  fifteen  feet 
above  the  surface  of  Winona  lake.  This  contains  numerous  specimens  of  a 
species  of  Lingula. 

The  location  of  the  shaft  of  the  Winona  County  Mining  Company  is  in 
the  north  part  of  the  village  of  Dresbach,  at  the  level  of  the  Mississippi, 


WINONA  COUNTY.  259 

St.  Croix  sandstone.] 

between  high  and  low  water  mark.  It  is  at  the  same  place  as  the  work 
done  here  many  years  ago.  Two  or  three  shafts  were  sunk  then  on  the 
slope  of  the  bluff,  into  the  shaly  and  sandy  beds  of  the  St.  Croix,  some  hun- 
dred or  more  feet  above  the  river.  There  is  a  fault  in  the  formation  at  this 
place.  This  has  formed  a  crevice,  and  has  attracted  attention.  How  much 
the  slip  is,  cannot  be  stated,  nor  in  which  direction,  but  there  is  some  rea- 
son for  supposing  the  north  wall  has  passedljelow  its  former  position.  The 
opening  of  the  crevice  at  the  surface  is  three  or  four  feet  wide,  some  of  it 
being  due  to  erosion  by  water  and  frost.  The  width  at  fifteen  feet  below  the 
surface,  where  this  company  sunk  a  shaft,  was  reduced  to  about  two  inches. 
Drifting  alongside  of  it,  twenty-five  feet  into  the  bluft,  and  then  penetrating 
it  again,  it  was  found  to  be  made  up  of  a  lot  of  fragments  somewhat  rece- 
mented.  The  downward  sections  on  the  different  sides  of  the  fault  are  as 
follows: 

Section  on  the  south  side. 

1.  Slope,  turfed  and  wooded,  about  '  -       20  feet. 

2.  Sandrock,      -  15  feet. 

3.  Shale,  green  or  blue,       -  -       6  inches. 

4.  Fossiliferous  Lingula  bed,  -  6  inches. 

5.  Shale,  coarse  and  sandy,  -        6  feet. 

6.  Slope  to  the  river  level,        -  15  feet. 

Section  on  the  north  side. 

1.  Slope,  turfed  and  wooded,  24  feet. 

2.  Shale,  seen,  6  feet. 

3.  Sandrock,  -        10  feet. 

4.  Fine  green  shale  (or  blue)  seen,  -  6  feet. 

5.  Beach  to  the  river  level,  -       15  feet. 

0 

Above  all  these  rises  a  high  bluff  capped  with  the  St.  Lawrence,  the  top 
being  about  five  hundred  feet  above  the  river. 

The  galena  ore  for  which  this  mining  was  done,  occurs  on  the  walls 
of  the  fault,  accompanied  sometimes  with  pyrite;  some  of  it  is  found  among 
the  debris  in  the  bottom,  as  it  was  excavated.  It  is  disseminated  in  the 
rock,  more  or  less,  on  each  side  of  the  crevice;  particularly  is  it  found  in 
the  fossiliferous  Lm^Mfa-bearing  layer  near  the  bottom  of  the  section  on  the 
south  side  of  the  crevice.  Some  of  the  galena  is  changed  to  a  carbonate. 
Galena  is  also  found  sparingly  in  the  limerock  near  the  top  of  the  bluff.  It 
is  there  in  seams,  and  on  the  faces  of  the  joints,  accompanied  by  calcite 
coatings. 


260 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


[Drift. 


FIG.  12.      STRATIFICATION    OF  SUGAR  LOAF,  WINONA. 
THE   DRIFT. 

"What  has  been  said  respecting  this  deposit  in  the  report  on  Houston 
county  is  almost  equally  true  of  it  in  Winona  county.  In  the  western  part, 
however,  of  this  county,  the  true  glacier- drift  begins  to  appear.  The  map 
of  the  county  does  not  represent  it,  since  the  rock  formations  are  well  known 
and  should  be  represented  rather  than  the  drift.  It  would  be  impossible 
moreover,  to  define  the  eastern  boundary  of  the  true  glacier-drift  in  Winona 
county,  since  it  thins  out  imperceptibly  under  the  loess-loam.  A  few  locali- 
ties where  it  can  be  seen  by  any  observer  will  here  be  mentioned,  but  it  is 
very  probable  that  it  will  be  found  in  many  places  farther  east  than  any 
here  designated. 

There  is  an  exposure  of  till  with  small  boulders,  N.  E.  J  sec.  33,  Elba,  by  the  grading  of  the 
road,  also  in  the  S.  E.  J  sec.  34.  There  is  a  little  gravel  with  stones,  and  one  red  quartzyte  boulder, 
about  2J  miles  southeast  of  Lewiston,  by  the  railroad. 

There  is  a  plenty  of  drift  one  mile  south  of  Utica,  in  the  southern  part  of  section  19. 


WINONA  COUNTY.  261 

Alluvial  Terrace.] 

There  is  drift-gravel,  and  some  stones  at  least  eight  inches  in  diameter,  a  mile  and  a  half 
south  of  Oak  Ridge,  by  the  road,  section  5,  Norton. 

On  section  17,  Norton,  in  the  valley  of  the  creek,  is  a  boulder  of  white  granite  two  and  a  half 
feet  through,  the  smaller  diameter  being  about  a  foot  and  a  half,  associated  with  several  smaller 
drift  stones,  but  in  general  at  this  place  can  be  seen  only  the  yellow  loam. 

In  the  foot  of  the  slope,  near  the  head  of  Winona  lake,  are  at  least  two  large  granite  boulders, 
one  of  them  being  rather  dark  and  hornblendic  and  three  feet  across.  These  are  so  situated  that 
they  may  have  come  with  the  deposition  of  the  material  of  the  terrace,  but  they  are  too  large  to 
have  been  brought  by  water  ulone.  There  are  also  other,  finer,  drift-stones  and  gravel,  along  the 
bluff  road,  which  may  be  regarded  the  remains  of  the  great  river-terrace  which  is  found  in  the 
protected  angles  of  the  bluffs  at  various  places  in  Winona  county. 

In  the  southern  part  of  the  county,  as  far  west  at  least  as  Money  creek,  no  drift  can  be  seen, 
except  the  pebbles  along  the  Mississippi  river.  Along  the  valley  of  Money  creek  no  drift  is  visible, 
but  on  emerging  from  it  to  the  uplands  on  section  29,  Wilson,  a  few  small  foreign  pebbles  may  be 
seen  in  the  gullies  by  the  roadside. 

On  section  10,  Fremont,  (N.  W.  J)  are  traces  of  drift  in  the  form  of  stones  and  boulder, 
The  soil  is  also  a  sandy  loam,  sometimes  a  little  gravelly. 

There  are  no  foreign  stones  along  the  valley  of  Rush  creek,  nor  in  the  washouts. 

In  ascending  Pine  creek  valley,  in  the  southern  part  of  Fremont,  and  thence  west  to  Clyde 
post  office,  no  drift  can  be  seen,  but  it  probably  lies  intact  on  some  of  the  upper  swells  of  the  sur- 
face, under  the  loam.  Indeed  Mr.  J.  D.  Clyde,  section  18,  Fremont,  has  a  well  which  struck  blue 
stony  clay  under  the  loam,  at  a  depth  of  ten  feet.  It  i§  about  fifteen  feet  thick,  and  has  white 
sand  below  it.  He  took  out  a  "lap-stone"  eight  inches  in  diameter,  from  this  well.  Several  other 
wells  in  the  same  neighborhood  have  encountered  the  same  blue  clay. 

There  is  drift,  even  boulders  of  granite,  at  the  corners  of  the  towns  of  Saratoga,  Utica, 
St.  Charles,  and  Fremont,  seen  in  a  ravine  of  the  Trenton. 

At  St.  Charles,  and  a  mile  or  two  east  of  there,  the  drift  under  the  loam  appears  thickened 
obscuring  the  geological  boundaries  somewhat.  It  lies  _bjth  on  the  elevated  land  (above  the 
Trenton)  and  in  the  valleys,  but  is  visible,  particularly  in  the  former  position,  or  on  the  upper 
part  of  the  slope  from  the  table-land.  North  and  northeast  of  St.  Charles  there  is  much  evidence 
of  a  thicker  deposit  of  drift  under  the  loam  than  in  the  rest  of  the  county, 

High  alluvial  terrace.  In  some  places  along  the  Mississippi  river  may 
be  seen  a  high  alluvial  terrace,  preserved  in  the  retreating  angles  of  the 
rock  bluff.  This  plateau  also  ascends  some  of  the  valleys  tributary  to  the 
Mississippi,  particularly  the  larger  ones,  and  constitutes  the  principal  fea- 
ture of  their  topography.  It  also  gives  character  to  their  agricultural 
capabilities,  spreading  its  arable  soils  high  up  the  bluffs,  which  would  other- 
wise be  precipitous  and  rocky  or  too  sandy  for  tillage.  The  upper  portion 
of  the  contents  of  this  terrace  is  frequently  a  loam  undistinguishable  from 
that  which  everywhere  covers  the  county,  but  the  lower  portion  consists 
of  coarser  sand,  and  often  of  gravel. 

At  Beaver,  in  the  valley  of  the  Whitewater,  there  is  a  loam  and  gravel  terrace  that  rises  from 
forty  to  fifty  feet  above  the  bottom-land,  or  flood-plain,  though  it  is  probably  very  rare  that  this 
bottom-land  is  flooded  by  the  river. 

The  gravel  terrace  rises  fifty-eight  feet  above  the  flood-plain  of  the  Rollingstone,  on  section 
10,  near  Minnesota  City,  and  about  sixteen  feet  above  the  level  of  the  Minnesota  City  depot,  or 
fifty-two  feet  above  the  Mississippi  river  at  low  water  stage. 

At  Pickwick  the  loam-clay  that  constitutes  the  top  of  the  terrace  is  stratified,  as  may  be  seen 
also  in  numerous  other  places  in  the  county ;  but  it  is  difficult  to  affirm  this  of  the  loam,  in  its 


262  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Loess  loam. 

original  condition,  which  is  spread  over  the  uplands,  so  far  as  seen  in  Winona  county.  In  cases 
where  it  is  exposed  along  the  roads  by  grading  it  does  not  now  show  that  condition.  But  the  expo- 
sures are  nearly  always1  along  old  slopes,  where  the  present  condition  is  due  to  former  sliding 
down  from  above,  this  having  destroyed  the  strata  if  they  once  existed. 

At  Pickwick  was  taken  the  section  illustrated  by  figure  No.  9,  on  page  246,  which  is  as  fol- 
lows, in  ascending  order: 

1.  St.  Croix  sandstone. 

2.  Stratified  fine  lo  im,  yellowish,  with  an  uneven,  eroded,  upper  surface,       -  -  -  -  IS  feet. 

3.  Waterworn,  rotted  debris  from  the  bluff  with  lenticular  patches  of  stratified  sand,  similar  to  those 

seen  in  the  Potsdam  conglomerates  at  lake  Superior,      '------  18  feet. 

4.  Thin  strata  of  clay,  more  or  less  mingled  with  liner  materials  like  those  of  No.  3,      -           -  4  feet. 

5.  Same  as  No  3.               ______...__.  3  feet. 

6.  Stratified  fine  loam,            ...........  6  feet. 

No.  6  rises,  where  this  section  is  made,  in  the  slope  of  the  valley  somewhat  above  the 
level  of  the  valley  fiat,  but  seems  to  consist  of  the  same  deposit  as  the  surface  of  the  valley  flat 
Across  the  creek,  but  a  short  distance  from  the  foregoing,  is  a  section  exposed  in  the  materials 
of  the  valley*  flat,  covering  about  eighteen  feet  of  the  same  interval,  and  occupying  about 
the  level  of  No.  3.  This  consists  wholly  of  fine  stratified  loam ;  showing  either  that  the 
present  valley  was  excavated  after  the  deposit  of  the  materials  of  the  foregoing  section  and  subse- 
quently covered  over  with  a  stratified  fine  loam,  or  that  the  fine  loam  was  continuously  deposited, 
but  was  interrupted  along  the  then  talus  slopes  by  the  accumulation  of  gerolkf  from  the  bluffs, 
The  basin-shaped  contour  of  a  section  across  the  valleys,  taken  in  connection  with  the  existence 
of  these  beds  of  coarse  material  within  the  loam  near  the  base  of  the  bluffs,  seems  to  indicate  the 
latter  as  the  true  hypothesis. 


FIG.  13.  FROM  THE  BLUFFS  AT  PICKWICK. 

The  loess-loam.     The  last  consideration  mentioned  above  has  a  bearing 
on  the  question  of  the  origin  of  the  loess-loam.    If  it  be  true  that  this 


•The  flat  here  designated  valley  flat,  is  the  lowest  flat  of  t  he  valley.  It  is  that  which  contains  the  most  tillable  land. 
It  has  no  reference  to  the  high  terrace;  but  sometimes  instead  of  being  flat  it  slopes  gradually  upward  on  both  sides  of 
the  valley  to  the  bluffs,  or  to  the  foot  of  the  high  terrace. 

Where  is  no  English  word  thai  expresses  the  significance  of  this  from  the  German.  This  deposit  is  a  loose,  semi- 
rounded,  quickly  accumulated  debris  that  is  precipitated  by  freshets  down  the  gorges  into  the  valleys. 


WINONA  COUNTY.  263 

Loess  loam.J 

gerolle  was  being  accumulated  along  the  bluffs  under  the  influence  of  fresh- 
ets, thus  interjecting  coarse  materials  within  the  strata  of  the  loam,  and 
also  that  the  loam  was  then  continuously  being  deposited,  it  would  seem  at 
first  glance  that  the  country  could  not  have  been  under  a  lake  of  fresh 
water,  since  that  would  have  protected  the  bluffs  from  the  wash  of  freshet 
floods.  The  conclusion  would  then  be  plausible,  that  the  loam  must  have 
originated  from  atmospheric  agents,  such  as  wind  and  rain,  according  to 
the  theory  of  Richthofen.  But  granting  that  such  may  have  been  the  origin 
of  these  intercalated  beds  of  debris,  it  is  also  necessary  to  admit  that  they 
may  have  been  accumulated  sub  aqua,  by  the  same  forces,  viz.,  water  and 
wind,  just  as  the  rock  shingle  from  an  island  or  beach  is  carried  along  by 
waves  and  currents,  especially  by  storms,  and  is  distributed  on  the  bottom 
of  the  ocean.  This  of  coarse  makes  a  shallow  lake,  and  not  a  deep  one, 
necessary  for  the  deposit  of  the  loam. 

One  hypothesis  for  the  explanation  of  these  beds  of  coarse  materials 
within  the  loam  in  the  valleys  is  perhaps  as  good  as  the  other,  but  when 
taken  in  connection  with  the  horizontal  lamination  of  the  loam,  which  is 
nothing  like  the  oblique  and  cut-off  stratification  seen  in  wind-blown  sedi- 
ments, it  seems  as  if  the  preponderance  is  in  favor  of  the  old  theory  of  the 
lake-origin  of  the  loess. 

There  is  still  another  point  which  should  not  be  lost  sight  of  in  attrib- 
uting any  cause  to  these  coarse  beds,  viz.,  there  is  some  reason  for  attrib- 
uting an  earlier  date  to  the  loam  of  the  uplands,  than  to  the  loam  of  the 
valleys,  the  latter  being  in  that  case  only  a  redeposited  wash  from  the  sur- 
face of  the  upland  loam,  during  a  period  of  high  water  in  the  Mississippi* 
when  the  high  terrace  of  that  great  valley  was  being  deposited.  Such  a 
high-water  stage  would  fill  the  tributary  valleys  with  the  necessary  shallow 
lakes  for  the  action  of  waves,  winds  and  currents  on  the  foot  of  the  bluffs 
that  should  rise  above  it,  and  at  the  same  time  leave  the  uplands  uncovered 
and  liable  to  the  freshets  that  are  necessary  for  the  production  of  the  coarse 
material  within  the  loam.  Thus  both  materials'  (fine,  stratified  loam  and 
coarse,  unstratified  gerolle)  would  be  accumulating  simultaneously  within 
the  valleys.  This  will  explain  the  phenomena  of  the  section  given,  and 
generally  of  the  main  valleys  of  the  county,  and  yet  not  require  anything 

•See  the  report  on  Houston  county. 


264 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


[Springs. 


but  an  earlier  more  extensive  fresh  water  lake  for  the  production  of  the 
upland  loam. 

Fossil  remains  in  the  alluvium.  At  Minnesota  City  the  remains  of  a 
mastodon  were  taken  out  of  the  alluvium,  and  logs  and  "sea  mud"  are 
found  in  deep  wells  at  Dresbach,  within  the  Mississippi  valley,  but  at  the 
mouths  of  ravines  descending  from  the  uplands. 

Springs.  Of  the  numerous  copious  springs  in  the  county  which  issue 
from  the  base  of  the  bluffs,  almost  invariably  at  the  level  of  one  of  the  shaly 
members  of  the  St.  Croix  sandstone,  it  is  only  necessary  to  allude  specifi- 
cally to  that  of  Mr.  F.  C.  Bryan,  which  has  acquired  a  local  repute  for  medi- 
cinal qualities.  This  is  located  near  the  centre  of  section  15,  Rollingstone. 
The  water  of  this  spring  has  been  analyzed  by  Dr.  W.  A.  Noyes  for  the 
geological  survey,  and  has  been  found  to  contain  the  following  mineral  in- 
gredients. The  sample  here  reported  also  contained  sulpuretted  hydrogen 
gas.  A  second  sample  received  later,  gave  no  reaction  for  sulphuretted 
hydrogen. 

Analysis  of  water  from  F.  C.  Bryan's  spring,  near  Minnesota  City,  obtained  in  October,  1882. 
Composition  of  residue  from  evaporation. 


Part*  per 

I,(  OO.OOO. 

Percent  -ge. 

Grains  per 
gallon. 

Silica  

16  3 

5  2 

0  95078 

Alumina  and  oxide  of  iron.  .  . 
Carbonate  of  lime 

2.5 
182  0 

.8 
57  7 

0.14583 
10  61606 

Carbonate  of  magnesia   

104  3 

33  0 

6  08382 

Carbonate  of  lithia  

trace. 

Carbonate  of  potash  

1.6 

.5 

0.09333 

Sulphate  of  potash  '.  .   . 

.7 

.2 

0  04083 

Nitrite  of  potash  

trace. 

Sulphate  of  soda  

7  7 

24 

0  44914 

Chloride  of  sodium  

.5 

.2 

0  02917 

Total  

315.6 

100.0 

18.40896 

Iodine  and  bromine,  absent;  phosphates,  traces;  borates,  absent;  hardness,  11.5  degrees. 

The  water  rises  in  a  peat  bog  on  the  slope  from  the  foot  of  the  terrace 
on  which  the  village  of  Stockton  is  situated.  This  terrace  rises  fifty  feet 
above  the  spring,  and  contains  white  limy  concretions  and  a  bed  of  red  clay 
at  the  level  of  eighteen  feet  above  the  spring,  visible  at  another  place,  which 
probably  runs  through  the  terrace.  Beneath  the  peat  bog  is  a  sloping  bed 
of  blue  clay,  the  result,  presumably,  of  the  denudation  and  redeposit  from 
the  high  rock  bluffs  that  enclose  the  valley,  of  the  shales  of  the  St.  Croix. 


WINONA  COUNTY.  265 

Quarries.] 

This  underlying  blue  clay  is  the  cause  of  the  accumulation  of  the  peat-bog, 
since  it  sheds  the  surface  waters  as  effectually  as  the  beds  of  shale  within 
the  strata.  It  is  highly  probable  that  the  water  of  the  spring  derives  its 
qualities  mainly  from  the  bog  through  which  the  water  slowly  seeps  after 
its  issue  from  the  St.  Croix  formation.  This  is  rendered  more  probable 
from  the  fact  that  at  many  other  places  where  springs  rise  from  the  same 
formation,  their  water  shows  no  such  qualities;  and  especially  from  the  fact 
that  other  springs  near  the  same  place,  situated  so  that  their  water  does  not 
pass  through  this  bog  before  rising  to  the  surface,  though  they  feed  the  bog 
along  its  upper  margin,  do  not  in  any  known  case  possess  these  qualities. 

MATERIAL   RESOURCES. 

Stone  quarries  in  Winona  county.  The  principal  quarries  of  the  county 
are  at  Winona,  in  the  lower  strata  of  the  St.  Lawrence  limestone.  These 
have  been  prosecuted  for  many  years  (since  1854),  both  for  building-stone 
and  for  quicklime.*  They  are  owned  by  John  O'Dae,  C.  H.  Porter  and 
E.  0.  Wallace,  and  they  supply  an  excellent  material  for  building-stone  and 
for  quicklime.  The  character  of  the  stone  has  been  sufficiently  described 
in  giving  the  characters  of  the  St.  Lawrence  limestone.  The  quarry  in  the 
same  formation  at  Dresbach  is  owned  by  Mr.  S.  V.  Brown.  Outside  of  the 
city  of  Winona  but  little  use  has  been  made  of  stone  for  construction  in 
Winona  county.  Brick  is  more  common.  Mr.  Bottle  Ringley  has  a  stone 
farm  house,  about  two  miles  east  of  Utica.  The  Pickwick  flouring-mill  is 
built  of  stone  quarried  at  Pickwick  on  land  owned  by  the  mill  company. 
The  flouring-mill  at  Troy  is  constructed  from  the  Shakopee  limestone  at 
that  place. 

The  new  quarries  in  the  St.  Croix  sandstone  at  Dresbach  and  Dakota, 
which  promise  to  become  very  important  to  the  county  and  to  the  state, 
have  been  fully  described  in  the  proper  place  in  the  chapter  on  the  build- 
ing stones  of  the  state.  There  are  a  few  quarries  also  in  the  Trenton  in  the 
southwest  part  of  the  county,  which  supply  stone  to  St.  Charles. 

Quicklime.  The  lime  burned  at  Winona,  and  generally  in  the  county, 
has  the  superior  qualities  that  dolomitic  limestones  impart.  It  is  slow  to 
slack  and  set,  evolves  less  heat,  and  is  believed  to  be  more  enduring  when 

'Compare  the  chapter  on  the  building-stones  of  the  state. 


266  THE  GEOLOGY  OP  MINNESOTA. 

[Brick. 

suitably  handled  in  the  mortar,  than  lime  derived  from  pure  limestones. 
This  industry  is  carried  on  extensively  at  Winona,  by  Messrs.  Porter  and 
O'Dae,  and  to  some  extent  in  several  other  places  in  the  county.  John  Died- 
rich  burns  lime,  section  8,  Elba,  supplying  a  local  demand. 

Brick.  Throughout  the  county  the  clays  of  the  loess-loam  make  red 
brick.  The  principal  manufacturers  are  the  following : 

John  Groff,  three  miles  south  of  Winona;  produces  from  six  to  seven 
hundred  thousand  per  year;  sells  for  eight  dollars  per  thousand;  oak  wood 
costs  from  $4.50  to  $5.00  per  cord;  uses  the  loam  of  the  upper  slope  from 
the  bluff. 

0.  Biesanz,  west  of  Winona,  thirteen  hundred  thousand  per  year;  sells 
at  $8.00  per  thousand;  wood  $4.00  per  cord;  uses  the  loam  of  the  country, 
which  there  has  no  limy  concretions. 

Sherwood  and  Johnson,  Dresbach;  in  good  weather  make  30,000  per 
day;  two  millions  were  made  in  1881;  sell  at  $6.00  per  thousand,  loaded  on 
the  cars;  oak  wood  is  $3.00  per  cord,  soft  wood  $2.50;  ship  by  cars  and  by 
river;  steam  machinery  for  molding. 

Mosse  and  Dresbach,  Dresbach;  sell  hand-mold  brick  at  $6.00  per  thou- 
sand, on  the  the  cars  ;  this  is  a  new  firm. 

Williams  and  Schmidtz,  a  new  firm,  sell  for  the  same  price. 

The  brick-yards  at  Dresbach  are  in  active  and  nourishing  condition, 
and  they  furnish  a  fine  quality  of  red  brick,  some  of  them  being  a  superior 
pressed  brick,  equal  in  texture  and  fineness  to  those  from  St.  Louis,  but  not 
yet  their  equal  in  the  mechanical  execution  of  the  molding  and  handling. 
The  loam  used  is  free  from  limestone  and  from  concretions.  It  lies  directly 
on  the  sandstone  of  the  St.  Croix,  but  has  in  its  upper  portions  (which  are 
rejected)' layers  of  debris,  like  Nos.  3  and  5  of  the  section  at  Pickwick. 

Archceology.  At  Dresbach  have  been  found  interesting  implements  in 
making  excavations  in  the  loam  for  extending  the  brick-yards.  It  became 
necessary  to  remove  several  of  the  ancient  earth-mounds,  and  in  so  doing 
two  copper  implements  were  obtained,  together  with  fragments  of  chert 
and  pieces  of  human  skull,  and  of  ancient  pottery.  The  skeleton  accom- 
panying these  specimens  was  stated  by  Mr.  Geo.  B.  Dresbach,  Jr.  and  by 
Mr.  Mosse,  to  have  measured  eight  feet  in  length.  This  also  agrees  with  a 
statement  made  by  Col.  George  B.  Dresbach,  concerning  the  size  of  a  skele- 


WINONA  COUNTY.  267 

Minerals.] 

ton  exhumed  several  years  ago  from  a  mound  situated  on  the  high  loam- 
terrace  of  the  Mississippi,  near  the  same  place.  From  the  latter  mound 
were  taken  several  skulls  and  other  human  bones,  a  lot  of  flint  arrow-points, 
and  one  copper  hatchet,  the  edge  of  which  was  said  to  have  been  hardened 
by  some  process. 

Minerals.  An  impure  limonite,  pseudomorphous  after  marcasite,  is 
frequently  seen  lying  loosely  on  the  tops  of  the  wind-worn  bluffs  along 
the  Mississippi,  among  other  fragments  of  siliceous  rock  and  of  quartz. 
Sometimes  it  is  in  cock's-comb  aggregations,  and  sometimes  irregularly 
spreading  and  hepatic  in  outline,  or  botryoidal  or  mammillated.  It  seems 
to  be  mainly  at  the  bottom  of  the  debris  covering  the  rock. 

At  St.  Charles  was  formerly  a  large  piece  of  lamellar  calcite,  very  dense 
and  firm,*  lying  on  a  sloping  surface  underlain  by  the  St.  Peter  sandstone. 

It  was  originally  four  or  five  feet  across,  and  about  a  foot  thick,  but  has 

• 

been  broken  up  for  hand  specimens  and  carried  away.  It  very  nearly  re- 
sembled argentine  and  had  a  wavy  and  curly  internal  structure,  in  layers, 
giving  it  much  the  appearance  of  woody  fiber,  and  it  was  regarded  as  a 
specimen  of  petrified  wood  for  a  number  of  years  after  its  discovery. 


FIG.  14.  PROFILE  ROCK,  WINONA. 


•See  the  Houston  county  report  for  an  account  of  similar  deposits  in  that  county. 


CHAPTER  YI. 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  FILLMORE  COUNTY. 


BY  N.  II.  WINCIIELL. 

This  county  is  shown  on  plate  10.  It  is  situated  next  w.est  of  Houston 
county  and  borders  on  the  Iowa  state  line.  Its  area,  including  land  and 
water,  amounts  to  555,014.44  acres,  of  which  1,912.54  acres  are  water.  It 
contains  no  lakes,  this  water  area  consisting  of  the  actual  water  surface 
of  the  larger  streams,  as  meandered  by  the  United  States  surveyors.  The 
most  of  the  county  is  suitable  for  farm  tillage.  The  county  seat  is  Preston, 
in  the  valley  of  the  south  branch  of  the  Root  river.  Lanesboro,  Spring 
Valley,  Chatfield  and  Rushford  are  its  other  principal  towns. 

SURFACE     FEATURES. 

Natural  drainage.  The  surface  waters  of  the  county  are  removed  almost 
wholly  by  the  various  tributaries  of  Root  river,  the  only  exceptions  being 
in  Beaver,  Bristol,  Harmony  and  Canton  townships,  where  a  few  small 
valleys  are  drained  by  the  Upper  Iowa  river,  which  skirts  along  the  state 
boundary  in  this  county.  Root  river,  flowing  toward  the  east,  spreads  out 
its  tributaries  toward  the  north,  west  and  south,  like  the  rays  of  a  fan' 
crossing  the  entire  county  from  west  to  east.  Many  of  these  tributaries 
rise  in  the  counties  next  west  and  north,  in  a  tract  of  country  covered  by 
the  northern  drift.  After  passing  the  county  line  they  soon  enter  canon - 
like  valleys,  the  drift  at  the  same  time  becoming  much  lighter.  They  then 
converge  toward  the  main  valley,  following  deeply  cut  rocky  valleys,  and 
leave  the  county  in  one  volume  a  little  east  of  Rushford,  in  the  northeastern 
corner.  These  streams  furnish  frequent  water-power,  and  in  a  number  of 
places  this  has  been  improved  in  the  erection  of  mills. 

Water-power  and  water-power  mills  in  Fillmore  county. 

At  Chatfield,  T.  Dickson's  mill  has  thirty  horse-power;  twenty  feet  head ;  making  forty  bar- 
rels of  flour  per  day.  The  main  mill  has  a  26-inch  Mulligan  wheel.  There  are  also  one  17j-inch 
Leffel  wheel,  4  run  of  stone  (one  for  feed|  and  one  set  of  smooth  rollers.  John  Cozzen's  mill  has 
20  or  25  horse-power,  with  a  twelve-foot  head,  making  from  fifteen  to  twenty  barrels  per  day  ;  has 
a  40-inch  Dayton  (Ohio)  wheel,  one  set  of  smooth  rollers  and  two  run  of  stone,  one  being  for  feed. 


I>L.\'I'K  111 


*SH   MOW 


•'.9.*    C     0     U      N      T      '. 


N    o     j.     s     n     o 


* 


FILLMOEE  COUNTY.  269 

Water-power.] 

The  mill  of  Dickson,  Easton  and  Johnson  has  a  capacity  of  one  hundred  barrels  per  day  of  24 
hours ;  13  feet  head,  foi  r  Mulligan  wheels  (30  36-inch),  two  run  of  stone  (none  for  feed),  four  sets 
of  double,  corrugated  rollers,  and  three  or  four  sets  of  smooth  rollers  There  is  also  a  woolen- 
mill  at  Chatfield  run  by  water-power.  It  is  owned  by  Marsden  and  son,  and  has  a  48-iiich  turbine 
wheel,  giving  20-25  horse-power-  The  dam  is  6  feet  9  inches.  The  factory  has  one  40-inch  set  of 
woolen  machinery. 

On  section  34,  Sumner,  the  Tunnel  mill  on  Bear  creek  has  a  head  of  26  feet,  with  an  average 
of  39  horse  power  in  summer.  During  one-tldrd  of  the  year  this  power  is  doubled,  and  in  freshet 
stage  of  the  river  it  sometimes  amounts  to  a  hundred  times  that.  There  is  about  one-third  more 
water  in  Bear  creek  at  the  Tunnel  mill  than  at  Odell's. 

On  Bear  creek,  above  the  Tunnel  mVl  are  the  following  powers:  At  Hamilton,  one  mill,  14 
feet  fall,  with  nearly  as  much  water  as  at  Lime  City  ;  at  Lime  City,  the  old  Frazer  mill-site,  with 
twelve  feet  head.  By  the  use  of  the  possible  tunnel  here  this  power  might  be  improved.  This 
tunnel,  when  constructed,  would  produce  a  fall  of  16£  feet,  and  would  be  400  feet  in  the  rock,  and 
500  feet  from  water  to  water.  With  a  six-foot  dam  this  fall  may  be  increased  to  21  feet.  The 
Tunnel  mitt  dam  "flows  back"  to  the  old  Frazer  site. 

Below  the  Tunnel  mill  on  Bear  creek  are  the  following  powers:  Stone  mill,  has  one-fourth 
more  water  than  the  I'unnel  mill,  with  ten  feet  head,  with  a  possibility  of  twelve  ;  an  unimproved 
power  (12  feet  head);  Washington  mill,  8  feet  head,  and  double  the  water  at  the  Tunnel  mill;  Qrei- 
iier's  mill,  water  about  the  same  as  at  the  Washington  mill,  head  14  feet:  Yeariny's  mitt,  head  13J 
feet,  same  water  as  at  Greiner's ;  Thompson's  mill,  12  feet  head,  and  ten  per  cent,  more  water  than 
at  the  Washington  mill. 

On  Deer  creek  are  the  following:  Weisbach's  mill,  S.  E.  J  sec.  11,  Spiing  Valley,  fall  5  feet ; 
Olds'  mill  and  Fritz'  mill. 

On  Hush  creek,  see.  3,  Kushford,  Gore  and  Company  have  a  flouring  mill,  with  saw-mill 
machinery  connected.  It  has  forty  horse-power,  12  to  15  feet  head  of  water,  two  Leffel  wheels, 
and  three  run  of  stone  (one  for  feed). 

At  Clear  Grit,  on  the  Root  river,  sec.  22,  Carrollton,  one  flouring-mill. 

At  Preston,  on  the  Root  river,  are  one  flouring-mill  and  one  woolen-mill. 

At  Carimona,  on  the  Root  river,  is  one  flouring-mill. 

There  is  one  also  at  Forestville,  on  the  same  stream. 

At  Etna  is  a  flouring-mill  run  by  a  tributary  of  the  south  branch  of  Root  river. 

At  Fillmore,  on  the  middle  branch  of  Root  river,  are  two  mills. 

At  Baldwin's  bridge,  sec.  21,  Forestville,  is  one  mill  on  the  south  branch  of  Root  river. 

De  For's  flouring-mill  is  on  sec.  24,  Bloomfleld,  on  the  south  branch  of  Root  river. 

There  are  three  flouring-mills  at  Rushford,  one  at  Peterson,  two  at  Whalen,  two  at  Granger, 
and  three  on  the  south  fork  of  Root  river. 

'1  he  Hammer  mills  are  owned  by  Dr.  Hammer.  They  are  on  Trout  run,  in  Pilot  Mound, 
have  eight  horse-power,  two  tribune  wheels,  three  buhrs  (one  for  feed)  and  18  feet  head,  making 
forty  barrels  per  day. 

At  Lanesboro  the  horse-power  of  the  mills  is  estimated  as  follows:  Seven  cubic  feet  of  water 
per  second,  under  26  feet  head,  is  reckoned  as  one  power.  Ten  of  these  constitute  the  capacity  of 
the  Lanesboro  Company's  dam,  at  lowest  water;  ordinarily  there  are  four  more  of  these  powers 
available  here.  James  Thompson's  mill  has  the  same  water;  under  17  feet  head.  The  others  a} 
Lanesboro  are:  White,  Nash  and  Co.,  six  powers ;  White  and  Beynon,  four  powers. 

At  two  miles  south  from  Lanesboro  is  Durschee's  mill.  This  is  run  by  the  water  that  gushes 
out  from  the  bluff  in  a  single  spring  It  has  a  15}-inch  Leffel  wheel  and  28  feet  head,  and  is 
capable  of  about  v6  horse-power,  but  as  a  considerable  quantity  of  the  water  is  wasted,  only  about 
fifteen  horse-power  is  actually  used.  It  carries  three  run  of  stone. 

At  the  Tunnel  mills,  sec.  24  Sumner,  advantage  has  been  taken  of  the  winding  course  of 
Bear  creek.  The  creek  is  enclosed  on  both  sides  by  high  rocky  walls.  A  tunnel  has  been  cut 
through  a  narrow  neck,  excavated  in  the  rock,  admitting  the  water,  which  falls  again  into  the 
river  on  sec.  34,  producing  a  fall  of  26  feet  in  600  feet.  The  cut  in  the  rock  is  600  feet  long,  for 
the  tunnel,  and  100  feet  for  tail  race.  At  G.  Weisbach's  mill  a  similar  opportunity  is  offered. 
This  is  on  sec.  11,  Spiing  Valley.  By  a  tunnel  of  70  feet  through  the  "  hogsback",  a  fall  of  17 
feet  10  inches  may  be  secured,  and  at  the  limekiln  of  Mr.  J.  H.  Hall,  near  Weisbach's,  a  tunnel  of 


070  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Topography. 

125  feet  will  furnish  a  power  of  20  feet.    About  twenty  rods  from  Weisbach's,  a  tunnel  of  45  > 
feet  will  afford  64  feet  head  of  water.    The  rock  is  limestone,  in  horizontal  bedding. 

Topography.  That  portion  of  the  county  which  is  covered  with  a  thick 
deposit  of  foreign  drift  presents  the  usual  monotony  of  surface  character- 
istic of  the  drift  latitudes.  This  includes  the  most  of  the  range  of  town- 
ships across  the  western  end  of  the  county,  and  some  portions  of  the  next 
range  east.  There  are,  however,  even  within  this  drift  area,  a  number 
of  narrow,  deeply  cut  valleys,  with  precipitous  rocky  bluffs,  having  very 
much  the  nature  of  canons,  like  those  of  the  driftless  territories  of  the  west. 
Toward  the  east  these  deeply  cut  valleys  are  more  numerous.  All  the 
little  streams,  and  a  great  many  narrow  valleys  that  have  no  running  watef 
in  them,  have  high  rocky  bluffs  along  their  whole  course.  These  valleys 
and  streams,  constituting  the  drainage  system  of  the  county,  converge 
toward  the  valley  of  Root  river.  The  valley  of  this  stream  with  its  prin- 
cipal tributaries  presents  some  of  the  most  remarkable  and  instructive  phe- 
nomena of  erosion  to  be  found  in  the  state.  It  passes  nearly  at  right  angles 
across  the  strike  of  the  formations.  These  are  alternating  limestones  and 
sandstones,  with  an  occasional  bed  of  soft  shale.  The  Trenton  limestone, 
underlain  by  the  easily  eroded  St.  Peter  sandstone,  the  same  as  at  the  falls 
of  St.  Anthony,  although  about  a  hundred  and  sixty  feet  in  thickness,  is 
eaten  into  by  the  retroaction  of  the  water  as  it  plunges  over  the  falls  at  the 
point  where  the  streams  cross  the  line  of  its  superposition  over  the  St.  Peter, 
until  they  have  each  excavated  in  the  Trenton  a  deep  channel  from  fifteen 
to  thirty  miles  in  extent.  Through  the  line  of  the  strike  of  the  St.  Peter 
these  valleys  are  widened  out,  the  surface  of  the  low  ground  within  the 
bluffs  being  usually  one  of  rich  meadow  with  undulating  surface,  from  one 
to  two  hundred  feet  below  the  general  level.  The  Cambrian  formations  are 
entered  upon  by  the  streams  while  they  are  yet  a  good  many  miles  within 
the  general  area  of  the  Trenton.  As  these  formations  consist  of  two  lime- 
stones, separated  and  succeeded  by  sandstones,  they  repeat  the  succession 
of  phenomena  witnessed  in  the  erosion  of  the  Trenton  and  St.  Peter.  As 
the  water  leaves  the  Shakopee  limestone  and  enters  upon  the  Jordan  sand- 
stone, it  passes  over  a  series  of  rapids,  or  a  fall  of  several  feet  perpendicular, 
which  falls  or  rapids  undergo  a  process  of  recession  under  the  same  causes 
as  produce  the  recession  of  the  Trenton-St.  Peter  falls.  Again  when  the 


FILLMORE  COUNTY.  271 

Topography.] 

stream  passes  from  the  St.  Lawrence  limestone  upon  the  St.  Croix  sand- 
stone the  same  conjunction  of  circumstances  causes  another  rapid  or  water- 
fall. Thus  by  a  series  of  steps  more  or  less  evident,  the  branches  of  Root 
river  descend  from  the  area  of  the  Galena  limestone  to  the  St.  Croix  sand- 
stone. The  valleys  widen  in  the  sandstone  areas,  and  become  abruptly  nar- 
row in  the  limestone  belts.  In  passing  down  a  stream,  within  a  sandstone 
area,  where  the  valley  is  perhaps  half  a  mile  wide,  with  tilled  farms  in  the 
bottom  land,  the  high  bluffs  being  remote  from  the  stream,  the  first  indica- 
cation  of  an  approaching  change  in  the  formation  is  the  rise  of  a  terrace 
along  the  immediate  river  bank,  with  an  occasional  exposure  of  limerock 
facing  the  water.  This  terrace,  which  becomes  almost  continuously  rocky, 
rises  slowly  till  it  exposes  the  full  thickness  of  the  rock  which  causes  it. 
On  the  other  hand  the  first  evidence  of  a  change  from  limestone  to  sand- 
stone, visible  in  descending  the  stream,  is  the  occurrence  of  a  waterfall  or 
rapid.  Such  changes  produce  water-powers,  many  of  which  have  been 
improved.  Hence  the  location  of  a  flouring-mill,  on  one  of  these  branches, 
is  an  intimation  to  the  geologist  that  at  that  point  one  of  his  boundary  lines 
crosses  that  stream.  Around  these  points  gathered  the  first  village  settle- 
ments. Preston  is  located  where  the  water-power  formed  by  the  descent 
of  the  river  from  the  Shakopee  to  the  Jordan  induced  the  construction 
of  mills.  The  water-power  at  Chatfield  is  formed  in  the  same  way.  Near 
Fillmore  the  branches  of  Root  river,  known  as  Deer  and  Bear  creeks,  afford 
good  water-powers  by  their  descent  from  the  Trenton  to  the  St.  Peter. 
Mills  have  been  built  at  both  points.  On  the  south  branch  of  Root  river, 
above  Forestville,  the  stream  leaves  the  Trenton,  and  the  waterfall  has  been 
improved  in  the  same  manner,  at  Baldwin's  mill.  The  same  fact  is  illus- 
trated by  a  great  number  of  eastward  flowing  streams  in  the  eastern  border 
counties,  between  Fillmore  county  and  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony  at  Minne- 
apolis. Of  course  rapids  are  also  likely  to  be  formed,  specially  in  small 
streams,  when  passing  through  the  areas  of  rocks  of  uniform  hardness. 
Such  water-powers,  and  others  that  are  formed  by  the  construction  of  dams, 
do  not  fall  into  this  class. 

While  the  immediate  valleys  of  Root  river  and  its  tributaries  are  apt 
to  be  rocky,  the  country  that  spreads  out  in  either  direction,  after  leaving 
the  valleys,  is  not  rough.  It  is  rolling,  or  undulating.  In  the  eastern  por- 


272  FILLMORE  COUXTY. 

[Topography. 

tion  the  rocks  are  covered  by  a  heavy  deposit  of  rich,  clayey,  loam,  known 
as  the  loess,  which  fills  up  many  depressions  and  lends  a  uniform  and 
remarkable  fertility  to  the  soil.  It  constitutes  the  soil.  The  farms  are  all 
well  drained,  naturally.  The  county  contains  no  lakes.  In  York  township 
there  is  a  slough  which  on  some  maps  is  represented  as  a  lake.  It  is  about 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  across.  The  Trenton  area  is  distinctly  separated,  topo- 
graphically, from  that  of  the  St.  Peter  and  the  lower  formations.  From 
the  Trenton  to  the  Shakopee  the  surface  descends  by  a  step  or  terrace, 
about  125  feet.  Some  of  the  Trenton  areas  are  isolated  from  the  main  area, 
and  constitute  small  tables  or  mounds,  which  are  well  known  as  "  Trenton 
mounds",  in  the  early  reports.  Some  travelers  have  referred  them  to  the 
agency  of  the  ancient  "mound-builders",  and  a  good  many  of  the  residents, 
who  are  not  aware  of  the  causes  that  have  produced  them,  still  believe  that 
they  are  artificial  instead  of  natural. 

From  some  of  the  elevated  Trenton  areas,  overlooking  the  river  valleys, 
magnificent  views  of  landscape  may  be  had.  From  the  elevated  Trenton 
area,  in  Newburgh  township,  the  eye  looks  over  the  valley  of  the  south  fork 
of  Root  river,  and  can  almost  discern  the  Trenton  bluffs  on  the  opposite 
slopes  of  Root  river  in  the  northern  part  of  the  county.  From  the  penin- 
sula of  the  Trenton  running  north  between  Camp  and  Willow  creeks  in 
Preston  township,  the  village  of  Fountain  is  plainly  discernible  across  the 
valleys  of  the  south  branch  of  Root  river  and  Watson's  creek,  with  a  wide 
expanse  of  alternating  timber  and  prairie  between,  while  on  either  side  is  a 
broad  undulating  valley 'of  prairie  land.  On  the  east  is  Camp  creek  valley, 
and  on  the  west  is  that  of  Willow  creek.  These  valleys  are  deep  and  wide, 
but  owing  to  the  thickness  of  the  loess-loam  the  slopes  are  gentle  and  broad; 
and,  in  the  fall  of  the  year,  when  the  industry  of  the  farmer  is  exhibited  in 
the  plowing  of  his  wheat  fields,  and  the  threshing  of  his  last  crop,  in 
every  direction  may  be  heard  the  rattle  of  threshers,  often  running  by  steam, 
and  a  hundred  teams  may  be  seen  preparing  for  the  next  harvest.  Another 
magnificent  view  may  be  obtained  from  the  Trenton  peninsula  on  sections 
10  and  15  in  Carrollton.  From  here  the  view  extends  north  over  the  valley 
of  Root  river  to  the  Trenton  bluffs  along  the  north  boundary  of  the  county, 
a  distance  of  over  forty  miles,  and  toward  the  south  over  the  valley  of  the 
south  branch  of  Root  river,  looking  over  Preston  and  Lanesboro,  which  are 


FILLMORE  COUNTY.  273 

Topography.] 

situated  within  the  river  bluffs,  so  far  below  the  general  level  of  the  country 
that  they  can  be  seen  but  a  short  distance  before  reaching  them. 

Further  down  Root  river  valley,  the  gorge  in  which  the  river  runs  be- 
comes wider,  being  at  Rushford  about  two  miles  in  width,  with  fine  farm 
lands  in  the  bottoms.  The  bluffs  are  rounded  off  with  age  and  have  a  thin 
soil,  generally  turfed,  though  showing  frequent  rock  exposure.  The  river 
is  there  565  feet  below  the  tops  of  the  bluffs,  as  measured  by  aneroid.  At 
Whalen,  in  Holt  township,  the  river  is  by  the  same  measurement,  470  feet 
below  the  top  of  the  Trenton  terrace  on  section  20.  Whalen's  bluff  is  250 
feet  high  above  the  river.  At  Lanesboro,  in  Carrollton,  the  river  is  285  feet 
below  the  immediate  river  bluffs,  which  consist  wholly  of  the  Cambrian  for- 
mations, and  about  440  feet  below  the  top  of  the  Trenton  terrace  on  section 
20,  Holt.  At  Preston  the  river  at  the  stone  mill  is  335  feet  below  the  Tren- 
ton terrace,  which  forms  the  general  level  about  a  mile  south  of  the  village. 
At  Isinour's  station  the  river  runs  145  feet  below  the  top  of  the  Shakopee 
limestone,  which  forms  there  the  brow  of  the  immediate  river  bluffs.  At 
Forestville  the  hight  of  the  country  north  of  the  village,  above  the  river,  is 
285  feet.  The  immediate  river  bluffs  are  190  feet  above  the  mill  pond.  At 
Chatfield  the  river  is  about  222  feet  below  the  general  level  of  the  country. 
At  Fillmore  the  prairie  upland  is  200  feet  above  the  river  level.  From 
Fountain  to  Isinour's  station  the  track  of  the  Southern  Minnesota  railroad 
descends  401  feet,  passing  from  the  Galena  to  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  enter- 
ing the  latter  formation  about  twenty-five  feet,  the  rocks  all  lying  nearly 
horizontal.  At  Weisbach's  mill,  on  Deer  creek,  section  11,  Spring  Valley, 
the  river  is  205  feet  below  the  general  level  of  the  country.  There  is  here 
a  little  drift,  but  the  cut  is  mostly  in  the  Galena  and  Trenton  limestones. 
The  village  of  Fountain  is  about  350  feet  higher  than  the  terrace  at  Preston 
on  which  the  Stanwix  House  stands.  These  measurements  might  be  mul- 
tiplied, but  enough  have  been  given  to  show  the  u»evenness  of  the  surface 
due  to  erosion.  The  rocks  lie  everywhere  nearly  horizontal.  The  varied 
topography  of  the  county  is  due  to  the  influence  of  running  water,  and 
atmospheric  forces,  on  the  rocks,  combined  with  their  alternations  of  lime- 
stone with  soft  sandstone.  The  limestones  are  firm,  and  resist  these  forces 
much  longer  than  the  sandstones.  They  alternate  in  the  following  manner 
in  descending  order: 

18 


274  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

I  Topography. 

Trenton  limestone. 

St.  Peter  sandstone. 

Shakopee  limestone. 

Jordan  sandstone. 

St.  Lawrence  limestone. 

St.  Croix  sandstone. 

The  limestones  form  the  prominent  features  in  the  topography.  They 
have  the  most  frequent  outcrops.  They  project  along  the  summits  of  the 
bluffs  and  constitute  the  brows  of  benches  or  terraces  that  diversify  the 
county.  The  sandstones  never,  or  very  seldom,  appear  in  the  tops  of  the  bluffs. 
They  outcrop  in  sheltered  nooks,  or  below  the  line  of  the  limestone  exposure. 
They  are  more  likely  to  be  hid  by  soil  and  turf.  The  Lower  Trenton  is 
overlain  by  a  layer  of  about  twenty  feet  of  easily  eroded  green  shale, 
which,  outcropping  by  roadsides,  introduces  a  series  of  springs  and  muddy 
spots,  being  impervious  to  water,  that  invariably  follows  that  boundary  line 
wherever  it  goes.  It  withstands  the  disintegrating  action  of  the  elements 
even  more  successfully  than  the  limestones  themselves.  For  that  reason 
it  protects  the  Trenton  which  lies  below  it,  long  after  the  Galena  limestone 
which  lies  above  it  has  been  entirely  denuded. 


(Jrc/tfun&rrace) 


FIG.  15.      SHOWING  THK  EFFECT  OF  THE  TUENTON  AND  GEEEN  SHALES  ON  THE  TOPOGRAPHY. 


FILLMORE  COUNTY.  275 

Topography.] 

Explanation. 

At  a  the  Galena  and  Trenton  have  their  full  thickness,  about  160  feet.  Such  a  point  may  be 
found  at  Fountain ;  b  represents  an  outcrop  of  the  Galena,  or  Upper  Trenton,  as  seen  along  the 
gorges  that  are  frequent  in  the  Galena  area.  Such  an  outcrop  is  visible  at  the  "Big  Spring"  a 
few  miles  northwest  of  Fountain,  where  the  water  rashes  out  in  a  great  volume  near  the  base  of 
the  bluff,  and  probably  on  a  level  with  the  top  of  the  green  shale.  At  c  is  a  marshy  tract,  or  one 
that  is  gently  sloping,  having  a  springy  margin,  near  the  brow  of  the  lower  bluff.  Such  spots 
are  visible  particularly  at  Chatfleld,  in  the  northern  part  of  the  village,  near  Jacob's  limekiln,  and 
west  of  there.  A  fine  illustration  of  the  effect  of  this  shale  on  the  surface  drainage  may  be  seen  in 
section  35,  Holt,  where  a  copious  spring  issues  from  near  the  top  of  the  mound  of  Trenton,  the  water 
being  shed  by  the  shale  overlying,  and  gathered  by  troughs  into  a  tank  for  watering  stock,  d  rep- 
resents the  outcropping  edge  of  the  Trenton.  It  is  this  which  is  seen  in  the  summits  of  the  isola- 
ted mounds,  and  which  forms  the  conspicuous  shoulder  that  exists  wherever  the  strike  of  the 
Trenton  crosses  the  county.  The  slope  e  is  occupied  by  the  St.  Peter  sandstone.  Sometimes  this 
is  quite  precipitous,  and  its  upper  forty  or  fifty  feet  are  very  apt  to  be,  but  its  lower  portion  is  very 
gently  descending,  so  that  it  is  impossible  to  determine  where  it  is  replaced  by  the  Shakopee  which 
underlies  it.  The  horizontal  distance  between  &  and  d  is  sometimes  several  miles.  This  is  apt  to 
be  the  case  along  the  eastern  margin  of  the  Trenton  area.  Indeed  the  detached  Trenton  areas  in 
Holt  and  Amherst,~and  notably  that  in  Pilot  Mound,  townships  comprise  only  this  lower  portion 
of  the  Trenton.  The  Shakopee  limestone,  /,  underlying  the  St.  Peter,  is  that  which  occurs  along 
the  tops  of  the  immediate  bluffs  of  the  river,  as  at  Preston,  Lanesboro,  Clear  Grit,  and  Whalen. 
At  Chatfield  it  is  seen  at  the  mill,  and  rises  about  thirty  feet  above  the  river. 

The  strike  of  the  Galena  and  Hudson  Elver  formations  is  often  driven 
back  several  miles  from  that  of  the  Lower  Trenton.  The  limerock  which 
lies  below  this  shale  is  about  twenty  feet  thick.  The  singular  Trenton 
mounds,  which  have  already  been  mentioned,  are  composed  of  the  Lower 
Trenton,  protected  by  a  greater  or  less  thickness  of  this  green  shale,  and  a 
portion  of  the  St.  Peter  sandstone.  The  preceding  diagram  illustrates  the 
manner  of  weathering  down  of  the  Trenton  and  St.  Peter.  Instances  of  this 
may  be  seen  in  almost  any  square  mile,  in  the  loam-covered  area,  along  the 
out-running  strike  of  the  Trenton. 

Throughout  the  Galena  and  Upper  Trenton  areas  are  found  a  great 
many  depressions  that  are  well  known  as  "sink-holes".  These  consist  of  bro- 
ken down  spots  in  the  drift,  or  loam,  where  it  had  been  spread  over  a  pre- 
existing canon  in  the  rock.  In  some  places  they  are  very  numerous,  but 
they  are  confined,  so  far  as  known,  with  but  very  few  exceptions,  to  these 
limestone  areas.  They  throw  some  light  on  the  condition  of  the  rocky  sur- 
face prior  to  the  period  which  witnessed  the  spreading  of  the  drift.  The 
rock  was  wrought,  at  least  in  Fillmore  county,  in  very  much  the  same  man- 
ner as  we  now  see  it  along  the  river  gorges.  The  immense  valleys  of  erosion 
which  we  see,  not  only  in  Fillmore  county  but  also  throughout  the  tract 
that  has  been  denominated  the  "driftless  area",  were  excavated  before  the 
glacial  period.  Where  the  streams  of  the  present  time  run  in  such  gorges 
they  have  been  so  located  by  the  exigencies  of  surface  drainage  and  ero- 
sion since  the  last  glacial  epoch.  That  these  gorges  antedate  the  last  ice 


276  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

I  Topography. 

period  is  shown  by  their  existence  beneath  the  glacial  drift.  These  sink- 
holes sometimes  occur  in  lines,  and  with  increasing  frequency  and  size 
toward  a  large  valley,  and  at  last  coalesce  so  as  to  form  a  continuous 
valley,  though  frequently  without  running  water,  that  becomes  tribu- 
tary to  the  larger  gorge.  These  gorges  under  the  drift  can  sometimes 
be  traced  for  some  distance  by  a  series  of  successive  sink-holes.  Some- 
times streams  are  lost  in  them,  and  re-appear  at  lower  levels.  There  are 
several  well-known  subterranean  passages  in  the  county.  Lost  creek,  in 
Jordan  township,  and  the  Brook  Kedron,  in  Sumner,  both  have  under- 
ground passages  for  several  miles.  Canfield  creek,  south  of  Forestville, 
runs  underground  about  twelve  miles,  and,  finally,  the  south  branch  of 
Root  river  sinks  in  the  N.  E.  J  sec.  19,  Forestville,  and  runs  underground, 
except  in  high  water,  to  about  the  center  of  section  21,  where  it  re-appears. 
These  underground  passages  are  in  the  area  of  the  Galena.  They  indicate 
the  corrugated  appearance  the  country  presented  prior  to  the  overspread- 
ing of  the  drift  and  the  loess-loam.  The  Galena  cannot  be  supposed  to 
have  been  any  more  subject  to  such  causes  as  produced  this  channeling  in 
the  rock  than  the  formations  of  the  Cambrian.  .There  is  some  reason,  how- 
ever, why  these  gorges  are  found  almost  entirely  confined  to  that  limestone. 
As  has  been  said,  the  Cambrian  consists  of  alternating  sandstones  and  lime- 
stones, which  conduces  to  their  breaking  down  laterally,  the  sandstones 
easily  crumbling  out.  The  Galena  limestone,  on  the  other  hand,  in  con- 
junction with  the  Trenton,  while  they  have  a  thickness  of  160  feet,  more 
or  less,  have,  near  the  bottom,  a  bed  of  impervious  shale  which  prevents 
the  downward  infiltration  of  the  surface  water,  and  protects  the  underlying 
sandstone.  Hence  the  erosions  that  operate  lateral!}',  in  tearing  down  the 
Cambrian  formation,  are  occupied  in  the  Galena  and  Trenton  limestone 
area,  in  cutting  narrow  perpendicular  gorges.  For  this  reason  the  Galena 
area  is  everywhere  the  highest  in  the  county.  From  the  eastern  boundary 
of  the  Trenton,  looking  east,  one  beholds  a  broad  landscape,  lying  several 
hundred  feet,  in  some  places,  below  him,  the  effect  of  the  more  rapid  denu- 
dation of  the  rocks  in  that  portion  of  the  county.  Into  such  narrow  gorges 
neither  the  drift  nor  the  loess-loam,  however  deposited,  would  enter  with 
such  compactness  as  to  close  up  the  pre-existing  water  courses;  and  when 
partially  closed  up,  as  they  were  wherever  sink-holes  have  since  appeared, 


FILLMORE  COUNTY.  277 

Elevations.] 

they  have  been  undergoing  ever  since  a  process  of  re-excavation.  This 
process  is  revealed  in  the  occasional  collapsing  of  the  surface  soil,  and  thus 
the  formation  of  a  new  sink-hole,  and  in  the  enlargement  of  others,  since 
the  settlement  of  the  county. 

Elevations  in  Fillmore  county  on  the  Southern  Minnesota  division,  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and 

Saint  Paul  railway. 

From  George  15.  Woodworth,  assistant  engineer,  La  Crosse. 

Distances  in  miles       Hightsinfeet 
from  La  Crosse.       above  the  sea. 

Rushford,       -  29.9  714 

Peterson,  31.6  748 

Whalen,  43.4  778 

Root  river  bridge,  46.0  793 

Root  river  bridge,                              .  47.5  816 

Lanesboro,  48.0  833 

Root  river  bridge,  51.7  865 

Isinour's,  53.6  891 

Fountain,  59.3  1294 

Depression,  grade,  60.6  1251 

Summit,  grade,  64.7  1322 

Wykoff,    -  66.6  1302 

Summit,  grade,  68.6  1359 

Spring  Valley,     -  73.6  1258 

Mean  elevation  of  the  county.  From  the  contour-lines  shown  on  the 
map  the  average  elevation  of  each  township  is  estimated  as  follows  : 

Rushford,  1025  feet  above  the  sea;  Norway,  1150;  Preble,  1050;  New- 
burgh,  1150;  Arendahl,  1075;  Holt,  1050;  Amherst,  1150;  Canton,  1175;  Pilot 
Mound,  1025;  Carrollton,  1050;  Preston,  1125;  Harmony,  1200;  Chatfield,  1100; 
Fountain,  1200;  Carimona,  1175;  Bristol,  1250;  Jordan,  1200;  Fillmore,  1225; 
Forestville,  1225;  York,  1275;  Sumner,  1275;  Spring  Valley,  1275;  Bloom- 
field,  1300;  and  Beaver,  1300.  The  mean  elevation  of  Fillmore  county, 
derived  from  these  figures,  is  approximately,  1170  feet  above  the  sea. 

Soil  and  timber.  The  soil  of  the  county  is  generally  very  fertile.  The 
immediate  surface  is  a  loam.  This  varies  in  color  and  composition,  as  well 
as  in  origin.  That  portidn  of  the  county  covered  with  the  northern  drift 
has  primarily  a  drift  soil,  which  consists  of  gravelly  clay.  Where  this 
forms  the  immediate  surface,  which  is  the  case  only  on  knolls  and  on  the 
brows  of  the  river  bluffs,  it  affords  a  soil  of  an  ashen  color,  if  dry.  In  tim- 
bered belts  it  is  more  stony  or  gravelly.  In  the  open  prairies,  and  in  low 
ground,  it  is  covered  with  a  loam.  This  is  believed  to  have  resulted  from 
the  natural  decomposition  of  the  coarse  materials  of  the  drift,  under  the 
calcining  influence  of  the  prairie  fires,  and  the  frosts  of  the  ages.  It  has 


278  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Soil and  timber. 

never  been  stratified,  or  arranged  with  any  regularity  that  would  indicate 
its  having  been  deposited  either  by  standing  or  running  water.  In  most 
cases,  specially  on  the  open  prairie,  it  is  nearly  black.  As  it  is  mingled 
with  the  drift  clay  it  becomes  lighter  colored.  In  the  low  grounds  it  is 
much  thicker,  and  also  of  a  black  color.  Overlapping  the  drift  area  in  a 
belt  about  five  miles  wide,  is  a  soil  formed  by  the  mingling  of  the  loess-loam 
with  the  drift.  The  loess-loam  is  later  than  the  glacial  drift,  and  in  the 
process  of  deposition  it  is  modified  by  contact  with  the  drift  clay.  The 
loess-loam  is  indistinctly  stratified,  though  it  usually  appears  massive,  and 
consists  of  fine,  often  clayey  sediment.  The  soil  derived  from  it,  usually 
sandy  and  light  colored  or  rusty,  is  sometimes  so  clayey  as  to  make,  when 
wet,  a  fine  and  very  slippeiy  mud.  The  soil  derived  distinctly  from  the 
loess-loam  covers  at  least  one-half  of  the  county,  and  is  supposed  to  extend 
to  the  Mississippi  river.  It  makes  a  rich  and  apparently  strong  soil,  as  it 
supports  a  cropping  of  wheat  from  year  to  year.  It  is  impossible  to  define 
its  western  limit.  If  it  were  derived  from  a  long-standing  inland  lake  some 
beach-lines  would  be  found  indicating  its  western  boundary.  No  beach- 
lines  have  been  found.  That  it  was  deposited  from  standing  water  can 
hardly  be  questioned.  It  thins  out  westwardly  gradually,  passing  through 
a  confused  or  mixed  condition  resulting  from  the  mingling  of  the  drift  ma- 
terials with  the  sediment,  or  by  its  overlapping  the  drift.  While  the  essen- 
tially loess-loam  soil  of  the  eastern  part  of  the  county,  can  be  distinguished 
easily  from  the  drift  soil  of  the  western,  no  line  of  demarkation  separating 
them  has  been  noticed.  A  line  drawn  from  the  southeast  corner  of  Bristol 
to  the  northeast  corner  of  Jordan  would  roughly  set  off  the  area  that  has  a 
distinctively  loess-loam  soil.  West  of  that  is  a  belt  of  five  or  six  miles  wide, 
in  which  the  loess-loam  soil  mingles  with  the  drift  soil.  The  rest  of  the 
county  toward  the  west  is  occupied  with  a  distinctively  drift  soil,  or  drift- 
loam  soil. 

Trees  and  shrubs  of  Fillmore  county. 

The  following  list  embraces  such  native  trees  and  shrubs  as  were  seen  in  the  survey  of  the 
county.  The  trees  are  arranged  in  the  estimated  order  of  frequency.  The  area  covered  by  native 
timber  is  steadily  increasing.  A  large  proportion  of  the  county  is  covered  with  bushes  which  are 
composed  of  hazel,  aspen,  oak  (two  sorts)  and,  where  these  are  wanting,  a  species  of  low  willow 
which  seems  to  come  up  first  after  the  prairie  fires  are  stopped.  After  the  willow,  hazel  and  oak 
and  aspen  gradually  come  in,  and  in  time  convert  the  original  prairie  to  a  bushy  or  timbered  re- 
gion. Over  some  large  tracts  in  the  county  this  process  is  going  on.  There  are  thousands  of  acres 


FILLMORE  COUNTY.  279 

Trees  and  shrubs.] 

of  young  native  timber,  not  exceeding  five  or  six  inches  in  diameter,  due  to  this  gradual  change 
since  the  suppression  of  the  prairie  fires. 

Quercus  macrocarpa,  Michx.    Bur  oak. 

Quercus  coccinea,  Wang.,  var.  tinctoria,  Gray.    Black  oak. 

This  is  the  oak  that  is  abundant  as  underbrush,  and  small  trees.  It  often  forms  thickets 
skirting  the  outlines  of  a  prairie.  Large  trees  are  found  in  the  heavy  timber  in  the  northwestern 
portion  of  the  county. 

Populus  tremuloides,  Michx.    Aspen.    Generally  small,  and  on  the  borders  of  prairies. 

Quercus  alba,  L.  White  oak.  Common  in  the  timber  in  Spring  Valley  and  Jordan  town- 
ships, and  generally  along  the  valleys  of  the  principal  streams. 

Prunus  Americana,  Marshall.    Wild  plum. 

Populus  grandidentata,  Miclix.  Great-toothed  poplar.  Very  frequently  mistaken  for  the 
American  aspen. 

Ulmus  Americana,  L.  (PI.  Clayt.),  Willd.    American  elm. 

Tilia  Americana,  L.    Bass. 

Fraxinus  Americana,  £.    White  ash. 

Pirus  coronaria,  L.  American  crab-apple.  Common  along  the  margins  of  prairies  and  in 
open  valleys. 

Ostrya  Virginica,  Willd.    Ironwood. 

Acer  dasycarpum,  Ehr.    Soft  maple ;  white  or  silver  maple. 

Acer  saccharinum,  Wang.  Sugar  maple.  Common  in  the  heavy  timber  in  Spring  Valley 
and  Jordan  townships. 

Populus  monilifera,  Ait.    Cottonwood. 

Prunus  serotina,  Ehr.    Black  cherry.    Trees  generally  small. 

Carya  amara,  Nutt.  Bitternut. 

Juglans  cinerea,  L.  Butternut.  Seen  most  abundant  in  the  heavy  timber  in  the  north- 
western part  of  the  county. 

Prunus  Pennsylvania,  L.    Wild  red  cherry. 

Crat»gus  coccinea,  L.    Thorn  apple. 

Crataegus  Crus-galli,  L.    Cockspur  thorn. 

Betula  papyracea,  Ait.  Paper  or  canoe  birch.  Trees  small ;  generally  on  stony  soil,  or 
along  rocky  river  banks. 

Juglans  nigra,  L.  Black  walnut.  In  the  heavy  timber  of  the  northwestern  part  of  the 
county. 

Negundo  aceroides,  Moench.    Box-elder. 

Juniperus  Sabina,  L. ,  var.  procumbens,  Pursh.  Trailing  cedar ;  savin.  Along  the  rocky  river 
bluffs. 

Pinus  Strobus,  L.  White  Pine.  An  occasional  large  tree  is  seen  along  the  river  bluffs,  but 
the  most  of  it  suitable  for  lumber  has  been  cut. 

Carpinus  Americana,  Michx.    Water  beech. 

Carya  alba,  Nutt.  Shagbark  hickory.  Seen  in  the  valley  of  Root  river,  and  in  the  tributary 
gorges,  at  Rushford. 

Rhus  glabra,  L.    Smooth  sumach. 

Cornus  paniculata,  L'Her.    Panicled  cornel. 

Cornus  circinata,  L'Her.    Round-leaved  cornel. 

Symphoricarpus  occidentalis,  B.  Br.    Wolf  berry. 

Lonicera  grata,  Ait.    American  woodbine. 

Amelanchier  Canadensis,  Torr.  and  Gray.    Juneberry. 

Corylus  Americana,  Walt.    Hazelnut. 

Rubus  villosus,  Ait.    High  blackberry. 

Rubus  strigosus,  Michx.    Red  raspberry. 

Rubus  occidentalis,  L.    Black  raspberry. 

Rosa  blanda,  Ait.,  and  R.  lucida,  Ehr.    Dwarf  wild  rose. 

Vitis  cordifolia,  Michx.    Frost  grape. 

Ampelopsis  quinquefolia,  Michx.    Virginia  creeper. 

Spiraea  opulifolia,  L.   Nine-bark. 


280 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


[Geological  structure 


Viburnum  Lentago,  L.    Sheep-berry. 

Rhus  typhina,  L.    Staghorn  sumach.    Bare. 

Celastrus  scandens,  L.    Climbing  bitter-sweet. 

Trees  in  ike  order  of  abundance  at  Lime  City.  Mr.  L.  G.  Odell  estimates  the  trees  about  Lime 
City  in  the  following  order  of  abundance.  Black  oak,  basswood,  sugar  maple  (largely  cut  off), 
aspen,  white  ash,  ironwood,  white  elm,  white  oak,  red  elm,  rock  elm,  black  ash,  butternut,  bitter- 
nut,  hackberry,  white  pine,  red  cedar,  box-elder,  cotton  wood,  black  cherry,  water  beech,  black  wal- 
nut, bur  oak  (on  the  outskirts  of  the  timber),  juneberry,  black  haw,  stag  (or  spotted)  alder,  juniper 
(a  shrub  that  hangs  over  the  bluffs,  growing  in  clumps),  balsam  fir,  whitewood  (also  called  yellow 
poplar,  formerly  cut  into  lumber,  uow  nearly  gone,  probably  the  Populus  gmndidentata),  leather- 
wood  (on  the  tops  of  the  bluffs),  and  doubtfully  the  American  yew. 

THE   GEOLOGICAL   STRUCTURE. 

The  rocks  of  the  county  belong  to  the  Devonian,  and  to  the  Silurian 
and  Cambrian  ages.  The  Cretaceous  also  appears  in  Sumner  township,  in 
the  extreme  northwestern  corner  of  the  county.  They  occur  as  arranged 
in  the  following  order,  with  their  approximate  thicknesses. 

1.  Cretaceous,  thickness  unknown,   perhaps  twenty-five  feet,   lying 
unconformably  over  the  older  rocks. 

2.  Upper  Devonian,  Hamilton,       ) 

3.  Lower  Devonian,  Corniferous  ?  ^ 

4.  Niagara,  of  the  Upper  Silurian, 

5.  Maquoketa,  of  the  Lower  Silurian, 

6.  Galena,  of  the  Lower  Silurian, 

7.  Trenton,  of  the  Lower  Silurian, 


100  ft  ? 


i  Hudson  River, 
i  and  Utica  slate  ? 


8.  St.  Peter, 

9.  Shakopee, 

10.  Jordan, 

11.  St.  Lawrence, 

12.  St.  Croix, 


Cambrian, 


-  100-150  ft. 
75-100  ft.* 
75-100  ft. 

160  ft. 
122  ft. 
75ft. 

-  25-40  ft. 

200  ft. 
-  Exposed  375  ft. 


With  the  exception  of  the  Cretaceous  these  formations  have  a  strike 
across  the  county  northwest  and  southeast.  They  have  a  gentle  dip,  at  least 
theoretically,  toward  the  southwest,  though  no  general  dip  is  perceptible. 
The  oldest  rock  in  the  county  is  the  St.  Croix  sandstone,  which  appears  in 
the  northeastern  corner  of  the  county.  The  latest,  except  the  Cretaceous, 
is  the  Devonian,  in  the  southwestern  part  of  the  county.  The  areas  of  out- 
crop are  shown  by  the  colored  map  of  the  county  (plate  10)  accompanying 
this  report.  The  boundary  between  the  Trenton  and  the  St.  Peter  is  the 


'Geology  of  Witeontin.  1862.    Vol.  I.,  p.  181. 


FILLMORE  COUNTY.  281 

St.  Croix  sandstone. 

\ 

most  accurately  defined,  owing  to  the  terrace  which  marks  it.  The  bound- 
ary between  the  St.  Peter  and  Shakopee  it  is  impossible  to  ascertain  cer- 
tainly, because  of  the  universality  of  the  loam,  which  acts,  in  that  respect, 
just  the  same  as  a  heavy  drift  deposit,  and  also  because  of  the  persistency 
of  the  Shakopee  compared  to  that  of  the  St.  Peter.  When  the  friable  rock 
is  below  a  hard  and  persistent  one,  as  the  St.  Peter  below  the  Trenton,  the 
boundary  between  them  can  be  traced  out  easily  by  the  resulting  topo- 
graphy; but  when  the  soft  one  is  uppermost  it  wedges  out  imperceptibly 
under  the  loam,  or  drift,  and  one  can  not  say  when  it  is  all  gone.  In  the 
western  part  of  the  county  the  lines  are  all  obscured  by  the  prevalence  of 
the  drift.  The  Maquoketa  shales  have  but  little  exposure  in  the  county. 
They  are  visible  in  the  bluffs  of  the  Upper  Iowa  river,  at  Lime  Springs, 
about  three  miles  south  of  the  state  line,  and  continue  through  Fillmore 
county,  in  the  strike  of  the  Lower  Silurian,  appearing  at  Spring  Valley. 

The  St.  Croix  sandstone.  The  area  of  the  St.  Croix  sandstone  is  small. 
It  occupies  the  lower  portion  of  the  river  bluffs,  and  the  bottom-land  in- 
cluded between  them,  from  the  county  line,  near  Rushford,  to  near  Lanes- 
boro.  This  bottom-land  is  sometimes  two  miles,  or  more,  in  width,  but  it 
is  an  alluvial  deposit  and  never  reveals  the  rock.  The  only  rocky  outcrops 
are  in  the  slopes  of  the  bluffs.  This  sandstone  also  enters  the  county  in  a 
similar  manner,  in  the  valley  of  the  south  branch  of  Root  river,  and  extends 
about  three  miles  west  of  the  county  line. 

Its  general  litholoyical  character  is  all  that  can  be  learned  of  this  rock 
from  its  exposures  in  Fillmore  county.  The  opportunity  for  examination 
is  very  unfavorable.  The  bluffs,  over  the  interval  occupied  by  it,  are  almost 
universally  turfed,  and  a  heavy  talus  rises  nearly  or  quite  to  the  lower  level 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  limestone.  It  is  in  general  a  light-colored  sandstone, 
with  alternations  of  limestone,  and  some  shale,  in  its  upper  portions.  The 
sandstone  layers  crumble  easily.  Some  of  the  beds  are  of  a  very  coarse 
grain,  but  the  quartz  is  generally  white,  almost  transparent.  The  lime- 
stone layers  are  like  that  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  contain  a  few  fossils, 
none  of  which  have  been  studied  yet  with  care  sufficient  for  reliable  specific 
identification.  At  Whalen  about  ninety-five  feet  of  the  St.  Croix  sandstone 
is  included  in  the  lower  slopes  of  the  bluffs.  This  thickness  of  bedding  dis- 
appears below  the  river  level  before  reaching  Lanesboro.  At  Rushford  the 


282  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

(St.  Lawrence  limestone. 
t 

sandstone  and  tains,  which  is  supposed  to  consist  mainly  of  sandstone,  rise 
375  feet  above  the  river.  Near  the  upper  portion  of  the  sandstone  a  con- 
spicuous terrace  or  line  of  frequent  exposure,  producing  a  shoulder,  may  be 
seen  along  the  creek  in  entering  Rushford  from  the  south. 

The  St.  Lawrence  limestone.  This  is  the  lowest  portion  of  the  Lower 
Magnesian  formation  of  Dr.  D.  D.  Owen.  In  the  annual  report  for  1873  the 
geology  of  the  Minnesota  valley  is  given.  It  is  there  announced  that  the 
great  formation  to  which  the  name  Lower  Magnesian  had  been  applied,  con- 
sists of  three  distinct  members — two  limestones  separated  by  a  sandstone— 
and  the  names  of  the  localities  where  these  members  have  their  character- 
istic outcrops,  in  that  valley,  were  applied  to  distinguish  them,  as  they 
were  certain  to  play  an  important  part  in  working  out  the  detailed  geology 
of  the  eastern  portion  of  the  state. 

The  area  of  this  limestone  is  embraced  in  one  with  that  which  on  the 
accompanying  plate  includes  also  the  areas  of  the  Jordan  and  Shakopee 
formations.  Along  the  river  bluffs  nearly  to  Rushford  it  is  found  only  in 
the  lower  portion  of  the  limestone  belt,  as  the  Jordan  sandstone  and  Shak- 
opee limestone  are  both  preserved  and  overlie  it,  but  toward  Rushford  this 
limestone  begins  to  be  the  only  one  that  is  found  in  the  bluffs,  the  upper 
members  of  the  Cambrian  having  a  strike  across  the  country  some  miles  in 
either  direction  away  from  the  immediate  valley,  There  are  places,  how- 
ever, even  further  east  still,  where  the  overlying  Jordan  and  Shakopee  are 
preserved  and  appear  in  the  tops  of  the  river  bluffs.  The  St.  Lawrence  ex- 
tends in  the  bluffs  of  the  Root  river  to  some  distance  above  Isinour's  station, 
and  nearly  to  the  lower  mill  at  Preston.  The  valley  of  Watson's  creek  at 
Isinour's  station  is  cut  about  twenty-five  feet  into  the  St.  Lawrence.  At 

9 

Lanesboro  the  amount  of  the  St.  Lawrence  visible  is  about  195  feet.  At 
Whalen  155  feet  are  seen  in  the  upper  portion  of  Whalen's  bluff.  At 
Rushford  the  uppermost  190  feet  of  the  bluffs  are  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  The 
thickness  of  the  formation  is  not  far  from  two  hundred  feet. 

The  St.  Lawrence  in  Fillmore  county  is  a  dolomitic  limestone,  with  some 
of  its  layers  distinctly  arenaceous,  and  stained  with  green  sand.  In  general 
its  bedding  is  regular  and  evident,  but  there  is  a  thickness  of  about  fifteen 
feet  near  the  bottom  of  the  formation  in  which  the  bedding  is  confused,  or 
the  layers  are  lost  horizontally  Below  this  confused  bedding  are,  however, 


FILLMORE  COUNTY.  283 

St.  Lawrence  limestone-] 

• 

about  twenty-five  feet  of  regular  beds,  which  have  a  fine  even  grain,  and 
though  not  plainly  arenaceous,  yet  have  a  very  fine  grit.  On  fresh  surfaces 
it  is  of  a  buff  color,  varying  to  cream  coloi1.  The  upper  portion  abounds  in 
patches  of  white  calcite.  There  are  also  in  the  upper  portion  spots  that 
show  thin,  concentric,  though  wavy  laminations,  as  if  from  concretionary 
forces,  or  the  result  of  silicified  masses  of  foraminifers,  reminding  the  ob- 
server of  the  laminated  masses  of  limestone  from  the  Laurentian  containing 
the  Eozoon  Canadense  of  Dr.  J.  W.  Dawson.  Though  the  most  of  the  rock 
of  this  formation  is  vesicular,  often  coarsely  so,  it  is  much  used  for  building, 
for  which  it  furnishes  both  large  blocks  for  the  heaviest  masonry,  and  fine- 
grained stone  that  can  be  cut  into  delicate  forms.  When  cut  for  window 
caps  or  sills  the  cut  surfaces  are  nearly  white.  The  bedding  varies  in 
thickness  from  two  or  three  inches  to  two  or  three  feet,  and  sometimes 
embraces  thin  beds  of  shaly,  light-colored,  fine-grained  rock  that  is  useless 
for  all  purposes. 

At  Clear  Grit  mills,  in  the  valley  of  Root  river,  the  St.  Lawrence  begins 
to  show  a  continuous  line  of  bare  rock,  in  the  river  bluffs,  running  along 
the  lower  slopes,  and  causes  a  shoulder  or  terrace 'in  the  general  descent. 
A  quarry  near  the  mill-dam  shows  about  fifteen  feet  of  even  layers.  Above 
these  are  the  layers  represented  in  the  railroad  cut  near  that  place.  These 
are  light-colored,  dolomitic,  vesicular,  abounding  in  patches-of  calcite  with 
some  chert  and  siliceous  concretions,  the  latter  sometimes  covered  with 
limonite,  pseudomorphous  after  pyrite  or  marcasite.  The  annexed  profile 
exhibits  the  cut  and  the  materials  exposed. 


PIG.  16.    RAILROAD  CUT  AT  CLEAR  GRIT. 

Explanation. 

a.    Loess-loam,  red 3  feet. 

i>.    Drift-gravel,  red 4  feet. 

c.  Jordan  sandstone,  red 16  feet. 

d.  St.  Lawrence  limestone - 30  feet. 


284  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Jordan  sandstone. 

• 

At  Whalen  the  St.  Lawrence  is  finely  exposed  in  the  bluff  that  stands 
in  the  valley  about  half  a  mile  below  the  village.  It  has  here  been  consid- 
erably quarried,  and  furnishes  a  very  good  stone  for  buildings.  It  lies  in 
even  layers  which  are  easily  broken  into  desirable  size  and  shape,  furnish- 
ing a  good  cut-stone  of  close  grain,  without  openings.  Of  the  155  feet  that 
here  overlie  the  St.  Croix  sandstone,  only  the  lower  portion  is  well  exposed. 
The  exposed  layers  are  separated  from  those  seen  at  the  quarry  at  Clear 
Grit  by  an  interval  of  fifty  feet.  They  consist  of  the  following  parts,  aggre- 
gating sixty  feet. 

Section  at  Whalen. 

1.  Slope,  hid  by  turf  (St.  Lawrence),  95  feet. 

2.  Heavy  beds,  even-grained,  vesicular,  the  best  general  building  stone,       20  feet. 

3.  Bedding  confused,  not  evident,  lenticular,     -  15  feet. 

4.  Fine  grit,  regular  beds,  dolomitic,       -  20  feet. 

5.  Hard,  arenaceous,  projecting,  fossiliferous  with  the  remains  of  trilobites,    5  feet. 

At  Lanesboro  the  St.  Lawrence  has"  been  used  in  the  construction 
of  the  principal  buildings.  The  quarries  are  owned  by  the  Lanesboro  Mill 
Company.  The  stone  presents  the  usual  characters,  but  has  associated 
masses  of  marcasite,  largely  converted  to  limonite,  showing  orthorhombic 
and  other  forms  of  crystallization.  In  s*ome  of  the  cherty  nodules  are  found 
small  orthorhombic  crystals  of  hydrated  iron  peroxide  formed  by  the  con- 
version of  marcasite  into  limonite.  This  iron  ore  is  quite  plentiful,  but 
seems  not  to  be  a  native  of  the  rock.  It  embraces  crag  and  bog-ore  depos- 
its, and  is  referable  to  the  drift  period.  (See  under  drift.) 

The  Jordan  sandstone.  The  sandstone  lying  next  above  the  St.  Law- 
rence limestone,  is  not  so  frequently  seen  along  the  river  bluffs.  It  is  most 
commonly  embraced  in  that  interval  of  slope  that  comes  between  the  two 
lines  of  limestone  outcrop,  which  is  mostly  turfed  over,  as  in  the  bluffs  at 
Lanesboro,  and  at  points  between  Preston  and  Lanesboro.  Farther  down 
the  river,  where  the  strike  of  the  Shakopee  runs  back  from  the  river  a  few 
miles  on  either  side  of  the  valley,  it  occupies  the  undulating  surface  between 
the  immediate  river  bluffs  and  the  boundary  of  the  Shakopee,  as  at  Rush- 
ford.* 

In  Fillmore  county  the  thickness  of  the  Jordan  is  not  so  great  as  it  is 


FILLMOKE    COUNTY.  285 

Jordan  and  Shakopee.] 

in  the  Minnesota  valley.  It  seems  to  vary  from  twenty-five  i'eet  to  forty 
feet.  It  is  uniformly  a  coarse-grained  quartzose,  crumbling  and  light-col- 
ored sandstone.  It  is  sometimes  locally  stained  with  iron  from  surface 
water,  when  it  presents  a  reddish  or  rusty  color,  and  is  apt  to  be  much 
harder.  It  has  in  _such  cases  a  shell  or  thin  coating  of  harder  rock  about 
half  an  inch  in  thickness  on  the  weathered  surfaces,  on  penetrating  which 
the  grains  are  loosely  cemented  and  even  crumbling.  In  other  places  it 
presents  internally  a  streaked  appearance,  due  to  the  stoppage  of  iron  fil- 
tering through  its  strata.  No  fossils  have  been  found  in  it  in  this  county. 

One  of  the  best  exposures  for  examining  this  sandstone  may  be  seen  at 
Preston,  where  it  rises  twenty-five  feet  above  the  level  of  the  river  opposite 
the  stone  mill,  and  is  surmounted  by  about  thirty-five  feet  of  the  Shakopee 
limestone.  The  bluff  itself  rises  about  ninety-five  feet  above  the  river,  but 
the  contents  of  the  upper  portion,  though  probably  of  the  Shakopee,  are  not 
certainly  known.  The  loam  covers  it.  The  bedding  of  the  stone  here'is 
regular,  though  in  some  places  a  little  wavy,  and  is  of  all  thicknesses  from 
a  foot  to  three  or  four  inches. 

At  Lanesboro  the  Jordan  exhibits,  near  the  top,  a  finely  concretionary 
structure.  The  balls  vary  from  a  few  inches  to  nearly  a"  foot  in  diameter. 
Some  of  them  are  elongated,  and  several  are  frequently  united.  The  rock 
itself  is  generally  friable  and  crumbles  out,  leaving  the  concretionary  shapes 
visible.  They  are  often  loosened  and  roll  down  the  bluff.  They  lie  in 
approximate  layers  for  a  thickness  of  four  or  five  feet.  Some  of  them  are 
pendant  from  the  projecting  shelf,  and  stud  the  whole  under  surface.  They 
are  generally  spherical,  but  when  they  are  lengthened  perpendicularly  they 
show  the  original  lamination  that  ran  through  the  rock,  in  the  form  of  rings 
and  furrows. 

At  Clear  Grit  the  Jordan  is  twenty-five  feet  thick,  and  is  exceedingly 
ferruginous.  At  Lanesboro  it  is  about  forty  feet  thick. 

The  Shakopee  limestone.  This  is  so  named  from  the  village  of  Shakopee 
in  Scott  county,  on  the  Minnesota  river,  where  it  was  first  identified  as  a 
distinct  member  of  the  great  Lower  Magnesian  formation  of  Dr.  Owen.* 
In  Fillmore  county  it  is  more  frequently  seen  along  the  valley  of  Root  river 


*Dr.  Owen's  detailed  descriptions  apply  the  name  Lower  Magrnesian  to  the  St.  Lawrence  limestone,  and  Dr,  Shu- 
mard's  to  the  Shakopee,  as  these  limestones  were  regarded  as  one.  Wherever  they  saw  the  Jordan  sandstone  they  inis- 
teok  it  either  for  the  St.  Peter  or  the  St.  Croix,  though  in  the  latter  ease  supposing  it  to  be  of  the  age  of  the  Potsdam. 


286  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Shakopee  limestone. 

and  its  tributaries  than  any  other  formation.  As  it  lies  between  two  sand- 
stones, each  of  which  easily  crumbles  away  under  the  operation  of  the 
elements,  it  is  made  to  have  a  prominent  position  in  giving  form  to  valleys 
and  river  bluffs.  The  north  branch  of  Root  river  enters  it  about  six  miles 
northwest  of  Chatfield  in  Olmsted  county;  the  middle  branch  near  the  town 
line  between  Chatfield  and  Jordan,  and  the  south  branch  but  a  short  dis- 
tance below  Forestville.  South  Root  river  strikes  it  near  Henry  in  Amherst 
township.  Thus  throughout  about  two-thirds  of  the  county  it  is  the  con- 
stant companion  of  the  traveler  along  the  river  valleys,  and  it  meets  him 
often  in  the  uplands,  and  in  the  valleys  of  little  creeks.  Its  effect  on  the 
topography  is  to  render  the  valleys  narrow,  rocky  and  abrupt.  East  of  the 
general  area  of  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  and  the  Trenton  limestone  it  pro- 
duce j  a  shoulder  in  the  descent  from  the  uplands  to  the  valley.  The  fol- 
1  ,:\ ing  diagram,  taken  at  Chatfield  on  the  northern  boundary  of  the  county, 
illustrates  in  general  the  effect  of  this  limestone  in  producing  a  terrace 
along  the  lower  slopes  of  the  river  bluffs. 


drift  gravel 


FIG,  17.     PROFILE  OF  THE  NORTH  SIDE  OF  THE  VALLEY  AT  CHATFIELD. 

Explanation. 

1.  Loam  .............  ....................................  6—  16  feet.       5.  St.  Peter  ........................................................  1J2  feet. 

2.  Upper  Trenton  ...................................  20—50  feet.       6.  Shakopcc..  ........................................................  30  feet. 

S.  Green  shale  .........................................       15  feet.       7.  Flood  plain. 

4.  Lower  Trenton  ....................................       20  feet. 

The  descent  from  the  general  level  of  the  country  at  Chatfield  (No.  1) 
to  the  river  (No.  7)  is  about  222  feet,  of  .which  about  thirty  feet  are  of  the 
Shakopee,  the  Shakopee  being  at  the  river.  The  broad  terrace  on  which 
Chatfield  stands  is  constituted  of  the  Shakopee  overlain  by  irregular  thick- 
nesses of  the  St.  Peter,  with  some  drift  and  loam.  The  lithology  of  the 
Shakopee  is  very  much  the  same  in  Fillmore  county  as  has  been  described 
in  reports  on  Houston  and  Winona  counties.  It  is  very  similar  to  the 
St.  Lawrence,  with  much  less  of  green-sand.  It  contains  at  Chatfield  con- 


FILLMORE   COUNTY. 


287 


Shakopee  limestone.] 


siderable  disseminated  sand,  and  nodules  of  calcite.  The  calcite  is  some- 
times purely  transparent,  so  as  to  exhibit  the  double  refraction  of  Iceland 
spar,  parting  into  large  rhombohedrons,  but  the  most  of  it  is  opaque.  It  is 
sometimes  interspersed  with  sand  grains  taken  up  in  the  process  of  crys- 
tallization. These  are  so  abundant  as  to  make,  of  some  crystalline  masses, 
a  sandstone  which  is  then  nodular  and  hard,  with  warty  projections. 

At  Parsley's  ford,  center  of  section  15,  Chatfield,  a  bridge  has  been 
built  over  the  river,  the  abutments  being  of  the  Shakopee  stone  taken  out 
near  the  ford  on  Mrs.  Doyle's  land.  At  the  ford  the  river  is  on  the  Jordan 
sandstone.  There  has  been  considerable  stone  cut  off  the  bluffs,  in  the 
Shakopee,  for  use  in  the  railroad  bridge  near  the  same  place,  and  laid  up  in 
heavy  blocks;  but  much  of  the  Shakopee  is  in  irregular  and  thin  layers, 
unfit  for  such  use. 

At  almost  any  point  east  of  Chatfield  and  Carimona  the  Shakopee  can 
be  seen  by  one  crossing  the  valley  of  the  Root  river,  exhibiting  its  peculiar 
tendency  to  narrow  the  valley,  and  forming  a  conspicuous  bench  or  shoul- 
der. The  following  diagram  of  a  general  profile  section  of  the  valley  illus- 
trates its  form  at  points  between  Preston  and  Lanesboro;  also  between 
Chatfield  and  Lanesboro  along  the  north  branch.  At  Preston  the  rocks 
show  a  dip  to  the  south. 


•  3  to  5 Mil as 


FIG.  18.   GENERAL  PROFILE  SECTION  ACROSS  THE  VALLEY  OF  ROOT  RIVER. 


Bj'Itlanation. 


1.  Galena  or  Upper  Trenton  limestone. 

2.  Green  shales. 

3.  Trenton  limestone. 

4.  St.  Peter  sandstone. 


5.  Shakopee  limestone. 

6.  Jordan  sandstone. 

7.  St.  Lawrence  limestone. 


At  Isinour's  station  the  battlements  of  rock  that  enclose  the  valley, 
rising  about  thirty  feet  above  the  water,  are  of  the  Shakopee.  There  is  an 
undulating  ascent  thence  over  the  St.  Peter  to  near  the  Trenton  terrace, 
which  rises  nearly  perpendicular  about  fifty  feet.  Beyond  that  is  a  flat, 
running  sometimes  but  eight  or  ten  rods,  but  not  unfrequently  a  quarter 


288  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[St.  Peter  sandstone. 

of  a  mile,  when  a  further  gradual  ascent  begins,  covering  the  Green  shales 
and  the  Upper  Trenton.  This  last  ascent,  with  the  loam  that  here  covers 
the  country,  generally  makes  about  175  feet. 


H.O 


FIG.    19. 

At  Carimona  the  Shakopee  is  visible  in  the  banks  of  the  river,  rising 
twenty-five  or  thirty  feet.  Its  average  thickness  is  about  seventy-five  feet. 

The  St.  Peter  sandstone.  The  thickness  of  this  well-known  formation 
in  Fillmore  county  does  not  vary  much  from  125  feet.  At  Chatfield  it 
measures,  by  aneroid,  122  feet.  In  lithological  characters  it  is  uniformly  a 
clean,  white  sand  that  easily  crumbles.  Near  Fountain  an  exposed  section 
near  the  top  of  the  formation  afforded  fragments  of  an  unknown  species 
of  Lingulepis,  the  first  and  only  fossil  of  any  kind  that  had  ever  been  re- 
ported from  this  rock.*  The  following  section  was  taken  at  this  place.  It 
includes  the  overlying  Trenton  and  the  tjreen  shales,  as  seen  at  the  old 
quarry  of  Mr.  Joseph  Taylor,  section  13,  Fountain. 

Section  'near  Fountain.     Quarry  of  Joseph  laylor. 

No.  1.    Green  shale,  embracing  lenticular  slabs  of  limestone  that  are  eminently  fossilifertus,  seen  3  feet. 

No.  2.    Limestone,  of  a  bluish-gray  color,  in  beds  four  to  six  inches  thick,  free  from  shale,  though  the  layers  are 

sometime!*  thinly  separated  by  shaly  partings,  10  feet. 
No.  3.    Arenaceous  and  ferruginous  shale,  alternating  horizontally  with  firmly  cemented  patohes  of  sandstone, 

2  feet. 
No.  4.    Massive,  coarse  sand;  white,  except  when  iron-stained;.  containing  irony,  quartzyte  pebbles,  and  fragile 

remains  of  bivalves. 

No.  5.    Green  shale,  with  some  arenaceous  and  calcareous  laminations,  3  feet. 
No.  6.    Cemented  sandstone,  the  cement  being  shale  and  lime,  forming  when  the  bluff  is  weathered,  the  floor  ol  a 

bench,  1  foot. 

No.  7.    White  sand  in  beds  that  are  about  one  foot  thick  and  horizontal,  6  feet. 

No.  8.    A  course  in  the  sandstone  more  firmly  cemented,  forming  a  table,  but  less  persistent  than  No.  6,  1  foot. 
No.  8.    Massive  sandstone,  in  some  places  showing  an  oblique  lamination,  seen  6  feet. 


I'i  i il .  T.  C.  Chamberlin  has  since  reported  organic  remains,  consisting  of  the  tubes  of  Scolithus  and  fucoidal  mark- 
ings, in  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  in  eastern  Wisconsin.  Otology  of  Wisconsin,  Vol.  II.,  1873-7,  p.  288.  See  also  the  Dakota 
county  report. 


FILLMORE  COUNTY.  289 

Trenton  limestone.] 

The  Southern  Minnesota  railroad  here  enters  on  its  descent  to  the  Root 
river  valley. 

The  species  of  Lingulepis  mentioned  is  found  in  No.  4  of  the  foregoing 
section.  The  remains  are  exceedingly  fragile,  and  as  the  grains  of  sand  in 
which  they  are  embraced  are  feebly  cemented  together,  it  is  nearly  impos- 
sible to  transport  or  even  to  handle  them  without  their  falling  to  pieces. 
These  fragments,  for  no  entire  specimens  were  obtained,  are  arranged  pro- 
miscuously in  the  coarse  sand,  and  are  all  confined  within  three  feet  of  the 
top  of  No.  4.  They  seem  to  have  suffered  the  attrition  and  fracture  inci- 
dent to  coarse  sedimentary  transportation. 

The  remarks  that  have  already  been  made  on  the  topography  of  the 
county,  and  the  diagrams  that  have  been  given,  will  sufficiently  elucidate 
the  nature  of  the  St.  Peter  sandstone,  and  its  important  part  in  the  causes 
that  have  diversified  the  surface  of  Fillmore  county. 

The  Trenton  limestone.  That  which  has  been  described  hitherto,  in  this 
volume,  as  the  Trenton  limestone,  embraces  a  thickness  of  strata  amount- 
ing to  not  more  than  twenty -five  feet.  These  calcareous  strata  are  over- 
lain in  Houston  and  Winona  counties,  by  a  series  of  shales  and  shaly  strata, 
embracing  some  lenticular  layers  of  very  fossiliferous  limestone,  likewise 
belonging  to  the  Trenton  period,  amounting  to  perhaps  twenty-five  feet, 
which  have  been  referred  to  the  Hudson  River  epoch  ot  that  period.  In 
Fillmore  county,  above  these  shaly  strata,  appears  a  considerable  thickness 
of  other  calcareous  strata  belonging  to  the  same  period,  which  are  the 
equivalent  of  the  Galena  limestone,  and  of  the  strata  which  in  the  reports 
of  progress  were  distinguished  as  Upper  Trenton,  amounting  to  about  125 
feet.  The  exact  position  of  these  strata  in  the  Trenton  period  it  is  not 
possible  to  state,  but  there  is  some  reason  to  include  them  all  within  the 
Hudson  River  epoch,  with  some  evidence  of  the  presence  also  of  the  hori- 
zon of  the  Utica  slate.* 

It  has  already  been  stated  that  the  "green  shales"  of  the  annual  reports 
seem  to  belong  to  the  Hudson  River  group  of  New  York.  This  is  based 
mainly  on  the  lithological  resemblance;  yet  the  Trenton  fossil  Columnaria 
alveolata,  Goldfuss,  was  taken  from  these  shales  near  St.  Charles,  in  Winona 
county.  If  this  coral  be  regarded  as  diagnostic  of  the  Trenton  epoch,  the 

•Compare  Transactions  of  the  Albany  Institute,  Vol.  X.   June,  1879.    The  Vtica  Slate  and  Bflaled  Formations    C.  D. 
Walcott. 

19 


290  THE  GEOLOGY  OP  MINNESOTA. 

[Trenton  period. 

Trenton  proper  is  increased  to  a  thickness  of  about  160  feet,  and  the 
Galena  formation  only  can  he  thrown  with  the  epoch  of  the  Hudson  River, 
as  a  possible  equivalent  of  the  Utica  slate.*  The  proper  arrangement 
of  the  rocks  of  the  Trenton  period  in  the  county  may  be  expressed  thus: 

1.  Maquoketa  shales  of  Iowa,  seen  about  15  ft. 

2.  Galena  limestone,  vesicular  and  magnesian,  and  Upper  Tren- 

ton, about  125  ft. 

3.  Shales  and  shaly  limestone,  containing  Columnariaalveolata,    20-25  ft 

4.  Trenton  limestone,  20-25  ft. 
Of  these,  the  first  at  least  belongs  to  the  Hudson  River  group  of 

New  York. 

There  seems  to  have  been  little  mention  made  of  the  "green  shales,"  as 
such,  in  northeastern  Iowa,  in  any  of  the  geological  reports  of  that  state, 
although  Prof.  James  Hall  says  that  "a  large  admixture  of  shaly  matter 
often  marks  the  Black  River  limestone,  which  in  some  of  its  bands  contains 
Ormoceras  tenuifilum,  and  Gonioceras  anceps"  and  that,  "instead  of  alterna- 
tions of  calcareous  and  shaly  laminae  at  the  base  of  the  group,  there  are 
beds  of  shale  of  considerable  thickness  without  defined  limestone  bands."! 

Dr.  John  Locke,  also,  noted  a  series  of  strata  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  in 
1839,  of  which  he  observed  a  thickness  of  thirty  feet,  made  up  of  blue  fos- 
siliferous  limestone,  abounding  with  its  characteristic  fossils,  and  having 
the  usual  external  characters,  alternating  with  blue  clay-marl,  the  layers 
of  stone  being  very  thin  and  "apparently  corroded,"  which  he  believed  to 
.be  identical  with  the  rocks  of  the  Cincinnati  group,  or  the  Ohio  blue  lime- 
stone.:}: These  beds  lie,  according  to  Dr.  Locke,  immediately  above  the 
"buff  limestone,"  which  is  twenty  feet  thick,  non-fossiliferous,  and  lies  upon 
the  St.  Peter  sandstone.  This  horizon  of  green  shales  is  brought  out  dis- 
tinctly after  it  enters  the  state  of  Minnesota,  by  reason  of  the'part  it  bears 
in  producing  the  peculiar  mounds  of  the  "mound  limestone." 

The  transition  from  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  to  the  Trenton  is  quite  ab- 
rupt. There  is  but  little  commingling  of  qualities  from  the  Trenton  down- 
ward into  the  St.  Peter,  although  a  shaly  layer  of  about  two  feet  separates 
them.  The  limestone  always  projects  boldly  beyond  the  sandstone,  and  the 

*8ee  the  reports  on  Goodliue  and  Rice  counties. 
tReporton  the  geological  survey  of  Iowa,  Vol.  I.,  part  I.,  p.  55  57. 

JOwen's  report  of  a  geological  exploration  of  part  of  Iowa,  Wisconsin  and  Illinois.  1839,  as  published  by  the  0.  • 
senate  in  1844,  p   135. 


FILLMOEE  COUNTY.  291 

Trenton  limestone.] 

sandstone  becomes  immediately  white  and  friable,  with  a  very  slight  cal- 
careous cement.  The  Trenton  plays  the  most  important  part  in  producing 
the  marked  topographical  characters  of  the  central  portions  of  Fillmore 
county,  since  by  its  superposition  over  the  crumbling  St.  Peter,  it  consti- 
tutes the  edge  of  the  shoulder  or  terrace  that  marks  their  line  of  superpo- 
sition, and  not  unfrequently  spreads  out  on  the  top  of  an  isolated  table  or 
mound,  thinly  overlain  by  the  lower  layers  of  the  green  shale.  Under  the 
head  of  surface  features  this  point  has  been  mentioned  already,  and  the 
reader  is  referred  to  that  section. 

In  Fillmore  county  the  Lower  Trenton,  known  sometimes  as  the  "buff 
limestone,"  which  corresponds  in  horizontality  with  the  limestone  quarried 
at  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul,  is  much  less  affected  by  disseminated  shale  than 
in  those  cities,  and  hence  makes  a  much  more  desirable  building  stone. 
The  color  is  light  blue,  and  in  quarrying  the  layers  rarely  exceed  five  inches 
in  thickness.  On  weathered  bluffs  the  bedding  appears  even  thinner  than 
that,  being  apparently  not  more  than  two  inches.  When  these  layers  are 
opened  and  considerably  quarried  they  combine,  and  produce  layers  that 
are  from  four  to  six  inches  in  thickness.  They  are  generally  tough  and 
hard,  though  when  broken  they  often  fracture  conchoidally,  and  in  unex- 
pected directions.  The  most  striking  fossils  are  species  of  Orthoceras,  often 
regarded  by  the  quarrymen  as  the  remains  of  huge  snakes,  though  really 
oceanic  shell-fishes,  a  beautiful  species  of  Lingula,  named  Lingitla  Elderi  by 
Mr.  R.  P.  Whitfield,  Orthis  tricenaria,  Con.,  0.  perveta,  Con.,  Strophomena 
alternata,  Con.,  and  numerous  other  brachiopods. 

The  following  details  concerning  this  limestone  will  farther  elucidate 
this  formation  as  it  appears  at  various  places  in  the  county. 

S.  E.  J  sec.  23,  Spring  Valley,  quarry  of  John  Kleckler.  The  rock  here 
is  a  gray  limestone,  with  interlaminations  of  shale.  This  is  very  different 
from  the  Devonian  limestones,  as  seen  at  Spring  Valley  village.  It  is  com- 
pact, and,  with  the  exception  of  the  thin  laminae  of  shale,  consists  entirely 
of  limestone.  Exposed  about  ten  feet. 

S.  E.  i  sec.  23,  Spring  Valley,  Jos.  Lester  has  a  quarry  in  the  valley 
of  the  middle  branch,  very  similar  to  Kleckler's.  That  of  Henry  Prosser 
occurs  on  S.  E.  J  sec.  14. 

North  part  of  sec.  25,  Spring  Valley.    At  Mr.  H.  Perkins'  saw-mill  the 


292  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Trenton  limestone. 

same  rock  is  visible  and  has  been  wrought.  From  this  point  the  banks 
of  this  creek  become  continuously  rocky. 

G.  W.  Knight's  quarry  is  near  Fillmore,  sec.  10.  The  stone  is  hard, 
gray,  compact,  brittle  and  fossiliferous,  in  beds  of  all  thicknesses,  depend- 
ing on  the  weathering  and  exposure,  up  to  eight  or  more  inches.  It  is  sit- 
uated along  the  ravine,  approaching  Fillmore. 

Geo.  Shepherd's  quarry  is  also  near  Fillmore,  on  N.  E.  J  sec.  9,  and  seems 
to  consist  mostly  of  isolated  even  layers  in  the  shale  that  so  frequently 
accompanies  the  Trenton.  In  this  shale  are  Chcetetes,  Rhynchonella  and 
Strophomena.  The  stone  is  not  of  much  account,  owing  to  its  being  encum- 
bered so  heavily  with  the  shale,  but  is  very  desirable  for  the  uniformity 
of  its  thickness.  S.  C.  Pettit  has  a  quarry  of  the  same  kind,  N.  E.  £  sec.  10. 

At  Chatfield  the  Trenton  appears  in  the  highest  bluifs  on  the  north 
side  of  the  village.  It  is  made  up  very  largely  of  shale,  but  affords  also 
some  even  layers  that  are  wrought.  These  have  the  same  stratigraphical 
horizon  as  the  stone  at  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul,  but  do  not  contain  so 
much  argillaceous  matter.  They  are  much  firmer  and  more  compact, 
though  not  so  thick  in  the  aggregate.  Below  these  layers  the  St.  Peter 
sandstone  is  seen.  The  Trenton  at  this  point  has  a  gentle  dip  N.  E.,  while 
the  Shakopee  at  the  mill  by  the  river  dips  N.  W.  The  brachiopods  so  com- 
mon at  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony,  are  here  seen  in  great  numbers,  and  an 
occasional  specimen  oiLingula  Cobourgensis,  Bill.  The  section  at  the  quarry 
of  Dennis  Jacob  is  made  up  of  seven  feet  of  limestone  and  shale,  crumbling 
.away,  underlain  by  about  eight  feet  of  limestone. 

The  old  qujirry  of  Mr.  Joseph  Taylor,  sec.  13,  Fountain,  has  been  men- 
tioned already  under  the  head  of  the  St.  Peter  sandstone,  and  the  exposed 
section  given.  At  this  quarry  very  large  cephalopods  have  been  taken  out, 
and  some  fragments  of  galena  have  been  encountered.  The  strata  which 
belong  to  the  Trenton  at  this  point  may  be  more  fully  described  thus: 

Section  of  the  Trenton  near  fountain. 

1.  "  Upper  Trenton"  strata,  10  feet. 

2.  Green  shales,  containing  various  species  of  coiled  shells,  brachiopods,  corals, 

lamellibranchs  and  a  small  trilobite.  Some  of  the  calcareous  layers  em- 
braced in  this  shale  are  charged  with  oolitic  brown  haematite,  giving  them 
a  very  rusty  color  when  disintegrating,  20  feet. 

8.  Limestone,  of  a  bluish  gray  color,  with  some  shaly  layers,  10  feet. 

4.  Arenaceous  and  ferrugiuou*  shale,  2  feet. 


FILLMORE  COUNTY.  293 

Upper  Trenton  and  Galena.] 

The  quarry  of  Mr.  Enoch  Winslow  is  on  the  same  horizon  as  Mr.  Tay- 
lor's. It  is  situated  on  the  bank  of  Sugar  creek,  S.  W.  J  sec.  4,  Fountain. 
Another  on  the  same  horizon  is  that  of  John  Johnson,  two  miles  south 
of  Fountain. 

The  green  shales.  The  interval  covered  by  the  green  shale  (20  feet)  is  not 
often  seen  well  exposed.  The  uppermost  layers  have  been  seen  in  Fillmore 
county  only  at  Mr.  Taylor's  quarry  above,  but  the  lower  layers  are  visible  in 
many  places  where  the  Trenton  is  quarried.  When  wet  constantly  this  shale 
becomes  a  plastic  clay.  Along  the  brow  of  the  Trenton  terrace  it  colors  the 
earth  in  nearly  all  roadways  that  cross  it,  and  produces,  by  shedding  the  sur- 
face water,  very  muddy  spots,  in  which  teams  are  sometimes  mired.  This 
shale  always  lies  in  thin  layers,  and  sometimes  embraces  continuous  beds  ot 
blue  limestone  which  are  exceedingly  fossiliferous.  It  also  sometimes  holds 
fragments  of  limestone  of  the  same  kind,  in  the  form  of  slabs.  A  great 
many  fragments  of  Ch&tetes  Lycoperdon  accompany  this  shale  and  i-oll 
down  the  face  of  the  weathered  slope,  besides  crinoidal  fragments,  and 
species  of  Orthis,  Leptwna  and  Strophomena. 

The  Upper  Trenton  and  Galena.  By  the  Iowa  geologists  the  Trenton 
limestone  has  been  considered  as  embracing  not  only  the  lower  calcareous 
beds,  and  the  green  shales,  but  also  a  part  of  the  overlying  limestone  strata, 
fading  off  to  the  Galena  formation  upward  by  a  gentle  lithological  change 
in  the  rock.  But  since  the  Hudson  River  horizon  actually  covers  every 
thing  of  the  Lower  Silurian  above  the  Trenton  (in  the  absence  of  the  Utica 
slate)  this  distinction  between  the  "  Upper  Trenton,"  of  the  annual  reports; 
and  the  Galena  limestone,  becomes  one  of  much  less  importance,  and  of -still 
less  importance  in  counties  farther  north  where  the  distinctive  lithology  ot 
the  Galena  fades  out  altogether.  Hence  for  the  sake  of  convenience,  if  any 
designation  besides  Hudson  River,  be  needed,  the  term  Galena  may  include 
all  the  calcareous  strata  above  the  green  shales,  belonging  to  the  Lower 
Silurian. 

These  calcareous  beds,  which  have  in  part  been  denominated  Galena, 
and  in  part  Upper  Trenton,  include  a  thickness  of  about  125  feet,  and  con- 
sist of  a  bluish,  or  grayish,  evenly  bedded  limerock  varying  from  fine- 
grained and  compact,  in  the  lower  part,  in  layers  of  a  few  inches,  to  more 
vesicular,  sometimes  arenaceous,  and  often  magnesian,  beds  of  one  to  two 


294  TH£  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Galena  timeitooe. 

feet,  toward  the  upper  portion.     They  contain  but  little  shale  in  Fillmore 
county,  and  that  is  near  the  base  and  near  the  top. 

This  rock  forms  a  great  many  precipitous  bluffs.  It  appears  in  the 
form  of  mural  faces  along  a  great  many  creeks  and  canons  in  the  central 
portion  of  the  county.  It  generally  rises  nearly  perpendicularly  from  the 
top  of  a  short  talus  to  the  summit,  exhibiting  a  continuous  section  of  the 
bedding.  Its  area  is  pre-eminently  the  region  of  sink-holes.  The  canons 
that  are  so  frequent  in  it  run  out  in  ascending  the  valleys,  and  disappear  in 
a  succession  of  sink-holes  which  become  smaller  and  smaller,  and  more  and 
more  distant,  till  the  general  prairie  level  is  reached.  While  in  general  its 
ithological  characters  are  quite  uniform,  near  the  top  the  layers  begin  to 
alternate  with  layers  that  exhibit  the  characteristic  lithology  of  the  Galena, 
and  are  accompanied  with  some  thin  layers  of  green  shale.  It  seems  to 
pass  gradually  into  the  Galena,  or  rather  to  assume  the  features  that  have 
b«en  ascribed  to  that  formation. 


"VIEW  ON  T>EZR    CREEK  raEARWEISBACHJS MILIJ 
FIG.  20. 

The  accompanying  views  represent  the  manner  ot  weathering  of  the 
Galena  and  Upper  Trenton.  At  Weisbach's  dam,  on  Deer  creek,  S.  E.  \  sec.  11, 
Spring  Valley,  the  face  of  the  bluff  which  rises  perpendicularly  about  a 
hundred  feet,  is  wrought  into  a  series  of  majestic  pilasters  running  from 
the  bottom  to  the  top  of  the  escarpment,  as  shown  in  figure  21. 


296 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


[Galena  limestone. 


The  weathering  and  erosion  of  the  Galena  and  Upper  Trenton  have  left 
many  scenes  of  picturesque  beauty  in  the  county.  The  following  are  some 
of  the  most  noteworthy,  Fig.  22  shows  the  Eagle  Rocks,  situated  in  the 
valley  of  the  south  branch  of  Root  river,  on  sec.  27,  Forestville.  They  stand 
isolated  in  the  valley,  but  do  not  rise  higher  than  the  common  rocky  walls 
of  the  valley. 


FIG.  22.    EAGLE   ROCKS. 

Chimney  rock  is  on  the  side  of  the  bluft  of  a  ravine,  tributary  to  the 
south  branch  of  Root  river,  on  sec.  27,  Forestville.  A  crevice,  originally 
due  probably  to  a  plane  of  jointage,  enters  the  rock  at  a  small  angle  with 
the  face  of  the  bluff,  and  has  been  widened  by  frost  and  water  till  it  will 
admit  a  man.  The  detached,  wedge-shaped  mass,  has  been  broken  through 


PILLMORE  COUNTY.  297 

Galena  limestone.] 

near  the  foot  of  the  bluff,  and  by  the  falling  out  of  repeated  fragments  an 
opening  having  a  fancied  resemblance  to  an  oven  with  a  low  chimney  has 
resulted. 

Sometimes  the  Galena  shows,  on  freshly  opened  quarries,  along  the 
bluffs,  almost  a  white  color.  This  is  particularly  the  case  on  the  N.  -Jsec.  35, 
Sumner,  where  an  opening  in  a  long-weathered  "hogsback"  reveals  a  very 
light-colored  limestone,  in  beds  of  about  three  inches,  of  a  fine  grain  and 
compact  texture,  not  much  crystalline  and  evidently  impure  with  argilla- 
ceous and  siliceous  qualities. 

Extensive  working  and  burning  of  the  Galena  into  quicklime  is  carried 
on  along  Bear  and  Deer  creeks,  the  banks  of  which  are  continuously  rocky, 
rising  perpendicularly  from  one  to  two  hundred  feet  from  the  water,  in 
Sumner  and  Spring  Valley  townships.  These  quarries  are  described  under 
the  head  of  Economical  Geology.  The  Galena  is  also  wrought  at  Forestville 
and  near  Carimona,  presenting  no  exceptional  features.  At  Forestville  it 
contains  Receptaeulites  and  Strophomena,  and  exposes  a  thickness  of  about 
140  feet. 

The  same  rock  appears  in  the  S.  E.  £  sec.  6,  Forestville,  along  a  little 
ravine,  and  is  slightly  opened  by  John  Hipes.  It  also  appears  at  other 
points  between  there  and  Spring  Valley. 

At  Baldwin's  dam.  sec.  21,  Forestville,  130  feet  of  these  calcareous  strata 
are  seen. 

S.  E.  J  sec.  30,  Forestville.  In  some  fragments  thrown  out  in  the  dig- 
ging of  a  .well  a  fine-grained  rock  occurred,  resembling  the  fine  shale  seen 
in  the  race  at  De  For's  mill,  which  crumbles  to  pieces  in  the  weather. 
It  here  lies  below  some  heavy  calcareous  beds  seen  in  the  hills  enclosing  the 
valley,  and  contains  doubtfully  species  of  Graptolithus,  Orthis  and  Orthonota. 

At  Granger  the  Galena  only  occupies  the  bluifs;  but  at  two  miles  west 
of  Granger,  where  the  river  enters  the  state  for  a  short  distance,  the  bluffs 
are  high,  and  are  made  up  of  the  Galena  with  a  topping  of  fifteen  or  twenty 
feet  of  the  Devonian. 

N.  W.  £  sec.  36,  Bristol.  Hiram  Andrews  has  a  quarry  in  the  Galena, 
which  alone  occupies  at  this  place  the  river  banks,  though  the  beds  of  the 
quarry  are  apparently  in  the  upper  portion  of  the  formation.  The  layers 
are  thicker  than  usual,  somewhat  vesicular,  and  present  some  of  the  con- 


298  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Galena  limestone 

ventional  aspects  of  the  Galena.     The  rock  shows  a  slight  dip  to  the  south. 
Mr.  Andrews  has  built  a  stone  barn  and  stable. 

The  only  separating  horizon  between  the  "  Upper  Trenton"  and  Galena 
limestones  is  a  lithological  change  in  the  rock.  There  is  no  unconform- 
ability  between  the  layers  of  the  formations,  and  there  in  no  known  differ- 
ence of  fossil  contents.  Near  the  upper  portion  of  the  calcareous  strata, 
occasional  layers  appear  that  are  much  more  porous  and  have  a  light  butt 
color.  They  are  also  much  thicker  than  the  layers  of  the  Upper^Trenton, 
reaching,  after  the  change  is  fully  established,  a  thickness  of  four  or  five 
feet.  Mingled  with  these  heavy  magnesian  layers  are  thinner  layers  of  green 
shale.  When  these  heavy  magnesian  beds  are  near  the  top  of  a  bluff  they 
give  it  a  roughness  but  at  the  same  time  a  persistence  of  outline  which  the 
thinner  beds  alone  do  not  possess.  This  rock  is  sub-crystalline.  It  con- 
tains numerous  cavities  of  irregular  shape,  some  due  to  the  weathering  out 
of  carious  material  and  some  to  the  absorption  of  fossils.  It  holds  consid- 
erable masses  of  calcite,  and  sometimes  lumps  of  galena,  from  which  it  has 
derived  its  name.  Although  the  "  Galena  limestone "  near  Dubuque,  in 
Iowa,  is  stated  by  Prof.  J.  D.  Whitney  to  be  about  250  feet,  (Geology  of  Wis- 
consin, Vol.  I.,  p.  172),  the  distinctive  Galena  characters  enter  Minnesota 
with  a  thickness  much  less  than  that.  From  all  that  can  be  seen  of  the 
strata  in  Fillmore  county,  they  appear  to  be  less  than  seventy-five  feet 
thick.  The  Trenton,  on  the  other  hand,  is  given  by  the  same  authority,  at 
seventy  feet,  average  thickness,  at  Dubuque. 

The  characters  that  distinguish  the  Galena  are  not  constant..  In  Fill- 
more  county  the  "lead  fossil",  Receptaculites,  pervades  the  strata  as  low  as 
the  green  shale,  at  least,  although  regarded  as  characteristic  oi  the  Galena: 
and  the  Lingula  quadrata  (or  its  near  ally,  with  which  it  seems  to  have  been 
confounded,  Lingula  Elderi,  Whit.,)  also  said  by  Prof.  Whitney  not  to  appear 
in  the  lead  region  in  the  "blue"  nor  the  ''buff,"  is  found  throughout  both.  A 
very  fine  specimen  was  obtained,  of  Lingula  Elderi,  at  Mr.  Taylor's  quarry 
near  Fountain,  from  the  Trenton  ("buff  limestone"  of  Prof.  Whitney),  and 
of  L.  Cobourgensis,  Bill.,  from  Chatfield  from  the  same  horizon.  Lithologically 
also  the  two  limestones  appear  to  merge  into  one  another.  The  compact, 
hard,  blue  limestone,  characteristic  of  the  lower  beds,  gives  place  near  the 
top  to  a  lighter-colored,  slightly  vesicular,  even-grained,  more  heavily  bed- 


FILLMOKE  COUNTY.  299 

Galena  limestone.) 

ded  rock  that  is  very  useful  for  an  ornamental  cut-stone.  This  is  seen  ii> 
some  of  the  quarries  a  mile  or  two  east  of  Spring  Valley,  where  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  assign  the  beds  either  to  one  horizon  or  the  other.  A  short  distance 
farther  east  the  well  characterized  lithology  of  the  Trenton  appears.  The 
lead  ore,  moreover,  which  has  given  name  to  the  Galena,  is  not  confined  to 
that  formation.  It  is  found  to  some  extent  both  in  the  characteristic  Galena 
and  in  the  underlying  more  compact  strata,  though  in  neither  to  that  extent 
that  will  warrant  sanguine  expectations. 

The  principal  exposures  of  the  typical  Galena  in  the  county  are  on  Bear 
and  Deer  creeks,  and  on  the  south  branch  of  Root  river.  At  J.  Shumaker's 
quarry,  one  mile  east  of  the  valley,  about  eight  feet  of  the  bedding  are  ex- 
posed. The  layers  here  are  of  a  finer  and  more  uniform  texture,  and  are 
associated  with  shales.  When  cut  for  building  they  are  much  whiter  than 
the  stone  obtained  at  Mr.  Allen's  at  Spring  Valley.  Inconsiderable  quanti- 
ties of  galena  are  obtained  at  Spring  Valley.  No  systematic  exploration, 
however,  has  been  undertaken,  the  pieces  found  being  at  or  near  the  sur- 
face. It  has  been  found  at  a  number  of  other  points  in  the  county. 

There  is  a  weathered  exposure  of  the  Galena  on  land  owned  by  Mr. 
Harris,  N.  W.  J  sec.  26,  Sumner.  This  outcrop  fairly  presents  the  typical 
lithologicai  features  that  characterize  the  formation.  By  the  Galena  char- 
acters are  meant  a  yellowish,  or  buff,  limestone,  vesicular,  crystalline,  in 
heavy  layers,  even  on  weathered  bluffs,  having  usually  a  very  rough  exterior 
in  consequence  of  atmospheric  destruction  of  the  looser  portions.  When 
these  looser  portions  are  removed,  the  surface  of  the  rock  presents  a  pitted 
aspect,  becoming  covered  with  thimble  holes,  and  depressions  of  all  shapes, 
with  angular  knobs  and  excrescences  separating  them,  the  whole  overgrown 
with  lichens.  The  exposure  here  shows  perpendicularly  about  twelve  feet, 
in  layers  from  one  to  four  feet  thick,  piled  up  on  either  side  of  the  road  in 
detached  mounds,  like  bridge  abutments  from  which  the  roadway  has  been 
removed.  The  "lead  fossil",  Receptaculites,  appears  in  these  layers. 

The  following  is  the  composition  of  the  Galena  burnt  for  quicklime  at 
Lime  City,  sec.  9,  Spring  Valley. 

Oxide  of  iron,      -  .73 

Calcium  carbonate,  70.53 

Magnesium  carbonate,  -                                                                                   -        23.49- 

Silica,  &c.,     -  4.67 

99.32 


300  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

I  Maquoketa  shales. 

The  bluffs  at  Lime  City  consist  of  one  kind  of  rock,  being  this  dolomitic 
Galena,  but  rather  more  even  and  in  thinner  beds  than  is  seen  in  some  other 
places,  making  good  white  lime.  They  rise  about  seventy-five  feet,  but  the 
perpendicular  rock-bluffs  are  generally  not  more  than  forty.  Some  of  the 
beds  v/hen  quarried  become  three  and  four  feet  thick,  and  are  firm  and 
crystalline.  They  contain  the  fossils  Murchisonia  and  Maclurea,  and  a 
Strophomena  which  is  very  prolonged-convex,  like  fluctuosa;  also  Endoceras 
magniventrum,  and  another  orthoceratite  at  least  nine  inches  in  diameter 
and  circular  in  section,  and  the  "sun-flower  coral." 

At  Weisbach's  the  top  of  the  bluff  is  magnesian,  and  like  that  burned 
for  lime  at  Lime  City,  amounting  to  about  fifty  feet,  but  below  that  the 
rock  is  more  nearly  a  pure  limestone ;  at  least  it  is  sometimes  gray  and 
aluminous,  and  sometimes  like  the  compact  rock  at  St.  Charles  in  Winona 
county,  ashen  and  brittle  and  fossiliferous;  while  in  other  places  it  is  so 
aluminous  as  to  disintegrate  like  that  at  the  railroad  cut  near  Spring 
Valley.  There  is  perhaps  a  thickness  of  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet 
of  this  gray  "Upper  Trenton"  rock  below  the  magnesian  beds  that  are  burnt 
for  lime.  ,  The  level  of  the  dam  at  Weisbach's  must  be  nearly  on  the  top 
of  the  green  shale,  but  it  can  not  be  seen. 

The  Maquoketa  shales.  In  Iowa  Dr.  C.  A.  White  has  given  this  name  to 
a  series  of  shales  overlying  the  calcareous  beds  of  the  Trenton  and  Galena.* 
These  were  then  believed  to  be  the  sole  representative  of  the  Hudson  River 
rocks,  in  the  Northwest,  but  since  the  underlying  shales  (the  "green  shales" 
of  this  report)  contain  well  known  Hudson  River  fossils,  the  whole  interval 
of  strata  from  the  Lower  Trenton  to  the  Niagara  are  allied  to  that  geologi- 
cal epoch.  While  it  is  very  probable  that  this  upper  series  of  shales  enters 
Minnesota  from  the  south,  being  seen  two  and  a  half  miles  south  of  the  state 
line,  at  Lime  Springs,  it  has,  as  yet^  hardly  been  identified  within  the  limits 
of  the  state.  Being  made  up  of  soft  materials  its  outcropping  edge  is  apt 
to  be  hid  by  the  falling  down  of  drift  or  loam,  or  of  the  overlying  limestone. 
It  will  probably  be  a  long  time  before  any  well  authenticated  localities  of 
its'existence  are  known.  The  following  points  may  be  mentioned  at  which 
possibly  the  upper  shales  exist  in  Fillmore  county,  viz.,  the  shale  excavated 
in  the  mill  race  of  De  For's  mill,  N.  E.  ^  sec.  25,  Bloomfield,  and  N.  E.  \  sec. 

•Geology  of  Iowa.    1870.    Vol.  I.,  p.  180. 


FILLMORE    COUNTY.  801 

Maquokcta  shales.] 

35,  York.  At  Lime  Springs,  Iowa,  the  great  shale  bed  which  sheds  water, 
causing  the  springs  which  gave  name  to  the  place,  is  supposed  to  be  the 
Maquoketa. 

Besides  the  foregoing  points,  the  outcrop  of  shaly  rock  about  a  mile 
east  of  Spring  Valley,  exposed  by  the  grading  for  the  Southern  Minnesota 
railroad,  presents  various  interesting  features.  The  fossils  here  seen  con- 
sist in  part  of  Orthis  testudinaria,  Dal.,  0.  subquadrata,  Hall,  Lynx,  Eich., 
plicatella,  Hall,  subcequata,  Con.,  amoema,  Winch,  and  Whitfieldi,  Winch.;  also 
Strophomena  fluctuosa,  Bill.,  and  Leptcena  sericea,  Sow.,  as  well  as  some  forms 
of  Chcetetes,  and  of  crinoids,  indicating  sufficiently  the  Lower  Silurian  age 
of  the  strata.  These  can  be  picked  up  in  considerable  numbers  on  the 
sloping  surface  which  was  scraped  to  obtain  the  loam  for  the  railroad 
grading.  This  is  on  the  north  side  of  the  track,  but  at  a  point  a  little 
nearer  Spring  Valley  these  beds  are  also  exposed  on  the  south  side  in  the 
same  way.  In  passing  toward  Spring  Valley  depot  the  grade  descends  a 
little,  and  reaches  the  spring-bearing  horizon  which  has  given  origin  to  the 
name  of  the  village.  At  the  same  time  the  argillaceo-magnesian  strata 
of  which  but  little  can  be  seen  at  one  mile  east  of  the  depot,  are  brought 
out  more  conspicuously,  and  are  seen  in  outcrop  on  the  north  side  of  the 
valley  at  several  old  quarries  that  have  been  abandoned.  Here  these  beds 
contain  large  specimens  of  Strophomena  alternata  ( ?),  Leptcena  sericea,  Sow., 
and  a  small  Rhynchonella  that  has  not  been  named.  But  a  little  higher,  in 
order  of  actual  level,  are  the  coarse  cavernous  magnesian  layers  on  the 
south  side  of  the  valley,  in  the  highway  near  the  school-house,  that  have 
been  parallelized  with  the  Lower  Devonian.*  The  actual  superposition 
cannot  be  seen,  but  it  is  not  possible  for  many  feet  of  strata  to  intervene 
between  them  and  the  recognizable  Lower  Silurian  strata.  The  general 
section  at  Spring  Valley  may  be  arranged  as  follows  in  descending  order: 

Section  at  Spring  Valley. 

1.  Coarse  magnesian  strata,  containing  Atrypa  reticularis,  Spirifer  and  other  shells ; 

in  01  terop  only  on  the  south  side  of  the  valley  by  the  school-house,        -  4-6  feet. 

2.  Argillo-magnesian  strata  containing  Orthis  alternata  (?)  and  Leptcena  sericea  and 

Strophomena  fluctuosa,  Bill.,  in  outcrop  on  the  north  side  of  the  valley  at  the 
abandoned  quarries,  in  the  northwest  part  of  the  village,  and  slightly  at  the 
railroad  cut  about  a  mile  east,  20  feet. 

3.  Shaly  and  argillaceous,  containing  numerous  species  of  brachiopods  of  the  Trenton 

period ;  seen  at  the  railroad  cut,  and  probably  underlying  the  village,  causing 
springs  by  its  impervious  nature.  Under  it  are  the  limestone  beds  burnt  for 
lime  on  Deer  creek.  -  Thickness  unknown. 

*See  the  Mower  county  report. 


302  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Niagara  limestone. 

The  Niagara  limestone.  This  formation  has  been  indentified  in  Fillmore 
county  at  but  one  point.  It  is  much  more  enduring  than  the  shales  under- 
lying it,  but  it  enters  on  a  drift-covered  area,  with  small  valleys  of  drainage 
only,  some  distance  south  of  the  state  line.  The  nearest  important  point 
of  its  known  outcrop  is  at  Lime  Springs,  in  Iowa.  It  differs  from  the  Galena 
limestone  in  being  much  lighter  colored,  especially  when  broken  or  pow- 
dered. It  is  strongly  crystalline,  and  often  porous,  but  it  is  also,  in  some 
parts,  a  very  firm  and  enduring  limestone.  It  also  has  a  very  diiferent  and 
much  more  abundant  fossil  fauna.  It  is  separated  from  the  Maquoketa 
shales,  at  Lime  Springs,  by  a  limestone  breccia  of  about  eighteen  inches. 
Its  color,  in  its  heavier  and  close-textured  portions,  is  somewhat  grayish,  or 
leaden,  and  it  is  interbedded  with  hard  shale  which  turns  nearly  white  on 
exposure.  This  shale,  in  broken  pieces,  makes  up  the  larger  part  of  the 
breccia  mentioned,  and  falls  down  the  bluff  in  that  condition,  where  it  is 

» 

lost  in  the  weather,  the  framework  of  the  cement  only  remaining,  making 
a  curious  open  network  or  mesh,  the  partitions  and  threads  enclosing  angu- 
lar apartments.  The  great  bed  of  shale,  which  causes  the  water-power 
here,  may  be  75  or  80  feet  to  the  water,  at  the  quarry  of  Mr.  John  Smith, 
though  near  the  mill  it  is  reduced  to  ten  or  fifteen  feet.  Throughout  the 
most  of  that  interval  a  heavy  debris  covers  it  from  sight,  the  overlying 
Niagara  only  being  visible  along  the  top  of  the  bluff.  The  Niagara  has  a 
dip  of  five  or  six  degrees  to  the  S.  W.,  and  passes  below  the  Devonian  lime- 
stones which  are  exposed  and  quarried  at  Lime  Springs  station,  about  a 
mile  further  south.  The  thickness  of  the  Niagara  included  in  that  interval 
may  be  100  or  150  feet.  This  underlying  bed  of  shale  gives  rise  to  springs 
of  limy  water  that  enter  the  river  along  the  bluff. 

In  the  S.  E.  J  sec.  33,  York,  about  forty  rods  north  of  the  state  line  is  a 
very  small  exposure  of  the  Niagara  in  the  bottom  of  a  ravine,  with  the 
Devonian  in  the  enclosing  hillsides.  A  slight  opening  has  been  made  in 
these  beds,  which  are  very  porous  and  light-colored,  and  about  three  inches 
in  thickness.  Although  no  fossils  were  found  here  to  identify  the  forma- 
tion, the  presence  ot  a  very  different  rock  well  known  as  the  Devonian,  in 
the  hills  and  ridges  surrounding  it,  as  well  as  the  strong  resemblance  it 
bears  to  the  Niagara  at  Lime  Springs,  will  allow  of  its  being  regarded  only 
as  the  Niagara  limestone. 


FILLMOKE   COUKTY.  303 

Devonian  limestones.] 

The  Dernnian  limestones.  Since  the  report  of  the  Iowa  geological  survey 
of  1870,  by  Prof.  C.  A.  White,  in  which  the  rocks  of  the  Devonian  were  all 
regarded  as  belonging  to  the  Hamilton  epoch,  various  new  facts  have  been 
brought  to  light  in  the  Northwest,  bearing  on  the  age  of  the  different  parts 
of  the  Devonian.  Prof.  S.  Calvin  has  reported  the  existence  of  a  dark  shale 
at  least  twenty-five  feet  in  thickness,  lying  beneath  the  Devonian  lime- 
stones at  Independence,*  which  he  considers  sufficiently  similar 'to  the 
shales  at  Rockford,  which  overlie  the  Devonian  limestones,  to  indicate  that 
all  the  Devonian  strata  of  Iowa  belong  to  a  single  group.  Mr.  W.  H.  Barris 
has  shown  a  fossil  fauna  in  strata  at  Davenport  that  has  a  strong  general 
affinity  with  the  Corniferous. |  These  same  strata  had  in  1858  been  assigned 
to  the  Corniferous  by  Prof.  James  Hall.  Some  shaly  beds  at  Rockford 
Profs.  Hall  and  Whitfield  have  also  referred  to  the  Chemung  in  the  Twenty- 
third  report  of  the  New  York  state  cabinet. 

So  far  as  the  Devonian  appears  in  Minnesota  it  may  be  grouped  in  three 
parts,  but  to  what  particular  portions  of  the  New  York  nomenclature  these 
may  belong,  it  is  still  impossible  to  state.  1.  Shales  and  fine-grained,  hard, 
thin-bedded  magnesian  limestones.  2.  Harsh  magnesia?},  heavy-bedded  limestones. 
3.  Fine,  argillaceous  sandstones,  becoming  arenaceous  in  some  layers  and  calcare- 
ous in  others.  Of  these  only  the  second  is  known  in  Fillmore  county,  although 
it  is  possible  that  the  first  also  exists  beneath  the  drift  in  the  elevated 
portions  of  Beaver  and  Bloomfield  townships. 

The  Devonian  limestones  that  appear  in  Fillmore  county  are  very  dif- 
ferent, lithologically,  from  those  that  are  found  at  Le  Roy,  in  Mower  county, 
They  have  the  outward  aspect  of  the  Corniferous  as  seen  in  the  states  of 
Michigan  and  Ohio,  and  may  be  the  equivalent  of  those  strata,  but  owing 
to  the  meagerness  of  outcrops  in  the  county  no  comparison  can  be  made  ot 
their  fossils  with  those  of  the  Corniferous  of  New  York. 

The  distinctively  Onondaga  features  of  the  Ohio  Corniferous  |  are  the 
only  ones  seen  in  Fillmore  county.  The  color  of  the  limestone  is  like  that 
of  the  Galena.  Its  texture  is  generally  even  and  non-vesicular,  harsh  to 
the  feel  and  granular  like  most  magnesian  limestones.  The  bedding  is 


'Bulletin  of  the  United  States  Geological  and  Geographical  Survey  of  the  Territories.    Hayden.    Vol.  IV.,  p.  725 
tProcecdings  of  the  Duvenport  Academy  of  Sciences     Vol.  II.,  p.  261. 

tThat  portion  of  the  Ohio  Carniferous  here  referred  to  is  the  lower— as  seen  at  Columbus,  Delhi,  and   Millpoint. 
The  overlying  blue  beds,  seen  at  Delaware,  Marion  and  Sandu<ky,:are  supposed  to  represent  the  Hamilton.    See  Proceed 
m.  Asto.  Adv.  Set..  1873,  p.  100;  alto  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  and  Arts,  Apr.,  1874. 


304  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

I  Devonian  limestones. 

generally  less  than  eight  inches,  though  when  quarried  it  is  often  taken  out 
in  heavy  blocks  more  than  two  feet  thick.  Its  color  is  yellowish,  and  it  is 
tolerably  free  from  such  impurities  as  chert  or  calcite  lumps.  It  is  suitable 
for  most  purposes  in  common  masonry.  It  has  a  few  brachiopods,  Atrypa 
reticularis  being  the  most  common  and  most  conspicuous,  and  an  incrust- 
ing  bryozoan  like  Fenestella. 

At  Lime  Springs  station,  Iowa,  is  a  quarry  in  the  Lower  Devonian,  expos- 
ing about  ten  feet.  At  Hopkins'  quarry,  situated  two  miles  west  and  a 
little  south  of  Lime  Springs,  about  twelve  feet  in  heavy  layers  can  be  seen, 
without  fossils  but  holding  some  flint — dip  S.  E.  At  Chester  similar  beds 
are  exposed  near  the  mill,  three-fourths  of  a  mile  south  of  the  state  line. 
It  is  here  in  heavy  beds,  of  a  soft,  uniform,  granular  texture  and  yellowish 
color,  useful  for  cut  stone. 

At  Foreston,  one  mile  south  of  the  state  boundary  line,  the  Devonian 
appears  in  the  lower  river  bluffs,  and  is  in  very  rough  and  heavy  beds.  It 
presents  numberless  cavities  of  all  shapes,  as  large  as  a  thimble  and  larger, 
and  often  iron-stained.  It  here  has  a  noticeable  dip  to  the  south.  While 
it  is  fossiliferous,  it  is  so  coarsely  and  so  completely  crystalline  that  the  fos- 
sils are  either  entirely  absorbed  or  remain  as  indistinct  impressions  or  im- 
perfect casts.  It  contains  white  calcite  in  some  large  masses.  The  river 
itself  at  Foreston  is  probably  on  the  Galena,  the  water-power  there  improved 
being  due  to  a  change  from  the  firm  overlying  layers  to  a  soft  shale  indi- 
cating the  upper  portion  of  the  Hudson  River  group.  On  the  state  line,  due 
north  from  Foreston,  a  limestone  appears  in  the  road,  of  a  coarsely  crys- 
talline grain,  with  calcite  and  cavities,  entirely  like  the  Devonian.  It  is 

• 

observable  in  a  number  of  the  hilltops,  and  extends  half  a  mile,  at  least, 
north  of  the  state  line,  north  from  Foreston;  and  a  fourth  of  a  mile  east 
(N.  E.  |  sec.  35,  York)  the  Galena  appears  on  the  northeast  side  of  a  ravine, 
while  the  Devonian  appears  on  the  southwest  side,  the  road  running  be- 
tween the  two  and  probably  passing  over  the  Maquoketa  shales.  The  rock 
has  a  perceptible  dip  toward  the  south.  The  Devonian  occupies  the  high 
river-bluffs  from  that  point  nearly  to  Granger,  on  the  north  side  of  the  river, 
when  it  passes  to  the  south  and  lower  beds  take  its  place,  both  having  a 
dip  toward  the  south.  This  rock  is  probably  that  which  is  said  to  appear 
iu  the  river  banks,  sec.  34,  Beaver,  on  Jerry  Kingsley's  land. 


FILLMOBE  COUNTY.  305 

Devonian  limestones.] 

S.  E.  |  sec.  20,  Beaver.  This  rock  is  again  seen  here,  exposed  along  the 
banks  of  Beaver  creek;  owner's  name  unknown.  It  here  shows  a  brachio- 
pod  resembling  Orthis,  and  a  radiating  Fenestella.  It  is  in  the  midst  of  an 
uninhabited  prairie,  and  only  weathered  pieces  can  be  found. 

S.E.  |  sec.  18,  Beaver.  Several  years  ago  a  cellar,  dug  for  a  farmer's 
residence,  furnished  stone  of  the  same  kind  in  sufficient  quantity  to  con- 
struct his  house.  Similar  rock  again  appears  in  the  road,  N.  W.  J  sec.  20. 
Beaver,  but  is  somewhat  more  vesicular. 

Widow  Scarrie  has  a  small  quarry  in  a  yellowish,  fine-grained  rock 
almost  non-fossiliferous,  and  probably  of  the  Lower  Devonian,  on  the  S.  E.  \ 
sec.  28,  Bloomfield.  Outwardly  this  much  resembles  the  sandstone  exposed 
at  Austin,  in  Mower  county;  but  it  has  a  doubtful  brachiopod  that  appears 
like  Atrypa.  Its  weathered  color,  its  homogeneity  and  fineness  of  grain,  and 
its  irregularly  rounded  cavities  containing  loose,  ochreous  dirt,  indicate  it 
to  be  the  equivalent  of  that.  It  is  with  some  doubt  classed  as  Lower 
Devonian. 

This  limestone  is  found  in  loose  pieces,  and  often  in  surface  exposures, 
on  the  tops  of  knolls  near  the  state  line,  in  sees.  33  and  34,  York,  the  porous, 
white  Niagara  appearing  in  the  ravines. 

At  a  point  two  miles  west  of  Granger  the  Devonian  is  fifteen  or  twenty 
feet  thick,  in  the  top  of  the  river  bluffs.  These  thick  beds  give  a  square- 
ness and  prominence  to  the  tops  of  the  bluff's,  presenting  a  perpendicular 
rock-wall  toward  the  river.  Large  masses  of  this  rock  fall  from  the  bluffs 
and  weather  into  the  usual  rough  forms.  Though  this  exposure  embraces 
rock  that  is  a  little  softer  than  the  Devonian  at  Foreston,  yet  in  color, 
crystallization  and  all  general  characters  it  is  the  same. 

At  the  crossing  of  the  south  branch  of  Root  river,  N.  E.  £  sec.  21,  Bloom- 
field,  there  is  no  cut  in  the  rock  visible.  The  river  is  but  about  twenty  feet 
below  the  level  of  the  country,  which  is  in  a  broad  shallow  valley;  but  in 
the  road  are  a  few  pieces  of  rock  showing  fossils  and  lithology  like  the 
Devonian  at  Spring  Valley.  The  country  here,  and  toward  the  southwest, 
is  a  broad  level  prairie,  gently  rising  toward  the  west. 

N.  W.  J  sec.  26,  Bloomfield.  The  south  bank  of  the  river,  near  the 
west  side  of  the  section,  has  a  rock  bluff  exposed  about  twenty  feet  above 
the  river.  This  is  massive,  or  in  heavy  layers,  and  is  doubtfully  assigned 
20 


306  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Devonian  limestone!. 

to  the  Devonian,  as  it  has  some  of  the  features  of  the  Galena.    It  is  firm, 

te 

but  porous;  of  a  buff  color,  and  a  coarse  magnesian  grain,  with  superficial 
cavities  due  to  the  weathering  out  of  fossils.  It  is  on  the  land  of  Mrs. 
Annie  Postle.  A  similarly  doubtful  exposure,  slightly  quarried,  is  owned 
by  Dora  Wright  near  the  center  of  sec.  14,  Bloomfield,  by  the  roadside. 
Wm.  B.  McNee  has  also  taken  out  the  same  stone  near  his  barn,  N.  W.  ^  sec. 
14,  and  used  it  in  his  barn  foundation.  It  here  holds  considerable  calcite. 

At  Etna  Mr.  S.  S.  Belding  has  a  quarry-  in  the  Devonian.  This  is  a  soft, 
porous  stone,  in  heavy  beds,  which  once  held  fossils,  but  which  have  been 
lost  by  absorption,  leaving  the  rock  porous,  and  finely  vesicular.  Mr.  Bel- 
ding  states  that  this  limestone  has  a  hydraulic  quality,  but  as  near  as  can 
be  ascertained  it  makes  simply  a  quicklime  which  endures  well  under 
repeated  wetting.  The  rock  here  seen  amounts  to  eighteen  or  twenty  feet. 
Other  quarries,  similar  to  Mr.  Belding's,  are  owned  by  0.  M.  Postle,  N.  W.  J 
sec.  36,  Bloomfield,  by  George  Hoy  and  Mr.  De  For,  1ST.  E.  ^  sec.  25,  and  by 
H.  T.  Odell,  S.  E.  i  sec.  36. 

At  De  For's  mill,  N.  E.  J  sec.  25,  Bloomfield,  the  rock*  exposed  is  fine 
and  even-grained,  belonging  probably  to  the  lower  portion  of  the  Devonian. 
It  embraces  one  thin  layer  of  a  shaly  limestone  which  has  turned  white. 
It  makes  a  good  quicklime.  It  is  in  heavy  beds  of  about  eighteen  inches, 
and  holds  a  coarse  coralline  form  (Syringopora  ?)  seen  also  at  the  quarry 
of  Mrs.  Postle,  already  mentioned.  Below  these  heavy  layers  is  a  bed  of 
shale  which  was  exposed  in  the  digging  of  the  mill-race,  having  a  thickness 
of  five  and  a  half  feet.  Below  that  thickness  the  shale  becomes  arenace- 
ous, and  in  the  weather  crumbles  to  pieces.  Among  the  crumbled  frag- 
ments are  indistinct  remains  of  the  buckler  of  a  small  trilobite.  This  shale 
may  belong  to  the  Maquoketa  shales  of  Iowa.  At  Spring  Valley  quarries 
are  worked  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  by  Mr.  Willard  Allen,  Thomas  Thayer, 
Eurylas  Parsons  and  Nelson  Smith.  These  openings  are  on  the  south  side 
of  the  valley  and  are  all  in  about  the  same  kind  of  stone.  Some  of  them 
furnish  as  yet  only  rough  large  pieces,  water-worn  and  rusty,  dislodged 
from  their  original  places.  The  rock  has  undergone  long  weathering  and 
erosion  at  Spring  Valley,  and  is  disintegrated  and  changed  to  a  considerable 
depth.  Along  the  road  near  the  public  school,  a  small  cut  in  the  shat- 
tered crumbling  layers  has  exposed  a  great  number  of  detached  casts  of  a 


FILLMORE  COUNTY.  307 

Devonian  limestones.] 

brachiopod,  resembling  that  of  Atn/int  reticuluris.  These  were  regarded 
with  great  curiosity  by  many  as  "little  turtles"  petrified. 

The  outcrops  of  rock  about  Spring  Valley  have  unusual  geological  in- 
terest, since  they  seem  to  demonstrate  the  entire  absence  of  the  Upper 
Silurian,  and  the  immediate  superposition  of  the  foregoing  limestones  of  the 
Devonian  upon  the  Lower  Silurian.  The  exposure  of  rock  about  one  mile 
east  of  Spring  Valley  by  the  railroad  grade,  having  Hudson  River  fossils,  is 
overlain  by  four  feet  of  a  carious,  evenly-bedded,  argillo-magnesian  lime- 
stone, like  the  argillo-magnesian  limestones  seen  at  Spring  Valley  on  the 
north  side  of  the  creek  at  about  the  same  actual  elevation,  where  they  have 
been  somewhat  quarried  but  abandoned  as  unfit  for  masonry.  They  can 
be  seen  by  the  topography,  and  by  occasional  outcrops,  to  extend  from 
one  place  to  the  other.  At  the  latter  place  they  exhibit  fossils  that  indi- 
cate their  Lower  Silurian  age,  such  as  Strophomena  alternata  and  fluctuosa, 
and  another  strophomenoid  brachiopod.  They  probably  belong  to  the 
upper  portion  of  the  Lower  Silurian,  and  perhaps  represent,  with  the  under- 
lying shaly  beds  at  the  railroad  cut.  the  Maquoketa  shales  of  Iowa.  They 
have  an  exposed  thickness  of  about  fifteen  feet.  Directly  across  the  creek, 
on  the  south  side,  are  the  nearly  horizontal  beds  of  magnesian  limestone, 
containing  the  coarse  casts  of  Atrypa  reticularis,  which  is  supposed  to 
belong  to  the  lower  portion  of  the  Devonian  limestones,  having  such  a  topo- 
graphic relation  to  the  foregoing  that  no  considerable  thickness  of  beds  can 
intervene  between  them.  The  strata  are  all  nearly  horizontal,  the  dip 
being  so  gentle  toward  the  southwest  that  it  can  not  be  observed  in  the 
short  lines  exposed. 

N.  W.  |  sec,  16,  Jordan.  In  ascending  the  south  bluff  of  Lost  creek 
large  loose  pieces  of  Devonian  limestone  are  seen  in  the  road,  but  the 
Galena  is  in  outcrop  at  the  creek.  Similar  pieces  appear  on  sec.  31,  Jordan. 
These  are  on  the  most  eastern  limits  of  the  Devonian  area,  and  belong  to 
the  lowest  layers  of  the  formation. 

The  Cretaceous.  No  attempt  is  made  to  map  out  the  Cretaceous  area  in 
Fillmore  county,  inasmuch  as  it  is  all  embraced  in  the  drift-covered  portion, 
and  but  one  or  two  localities  of  its  existence  are  known.  It  pi-obably 
extends  no  further  east,  however,  at  any  point  than  the  east  side  of  the  first 
tier  of  towns  along  the  western  border  of  the  county.  Its  area  is  most 


308  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Cretaceous  strata 

reliably  indicated  by  the  surface  features,  in  the  absence  of  actual  outcrops. 
Guided  by  this  only,  it  is  supposed  to  occupy  the  flat  and  prairie  portion 
of  Sumner  township,  stretching  southward  through  Spring  Valley  and 
Bloomtield  and  crossing  the  most  of  Beaver,  and  perhaps  portions  of  York. 
Judging  from  the  prevalence  of  Cretaceous  features  in  the  drift-clay  exposed 
in  the  railroad  cut  at  Lime  Springs,  it  has  played  an  important  part  in  ori- 
ginating the  materials  of  the  heavy  drift-covering  that  spreads  over  not 
only  the  western  portion  of  Fillmore  county,  but  all  the  counties  of  the 
state  further  west. 

The  lower  portion  of  the  Cretaceous,  which  seems  to  be  that  represented 
in  this  county,  consists  of  sandstones  and  lignitiferous  clays  or  shales,  the 
sandstones  lying  at  the  base  of  the  formation  and  being  the  same  that  Dr. 
White  has  denominated  in  Iowa  the  Nishnabotany  sandstone,  and  belong- 
ing to  the  Dakota  group,  of  Messrs.  Meek  and  Hayden.  Above  this  sand- 
stone, which  is  often  white  and  incoherent,  with  a  thickness  of  about 
one  hundred  feet,  so  far  as  observed,  is  a  clayey  member  of  the  Cretaceous 
which  has  been  identified  by  Mr.  F.  B.  Meek*  as  the  Fort  Benton  group,  of 
Messrs.  Meek  and  Hayden.  These  rocks  are  well  exposed  in  the  region  of 
the  upper  Minnesota  valley  and  contain  some  impure  lignite,  and  are  found 
in  small  pieces  disseminated,  with  fossils,  through  the  drift-clay  cut  at  Lime 
Springs,  a  couple  of  miles  south  of  Fillmore  county,  in  Iowa.  The  Niobrara 
or  chalky  member  of  the  Cretaceous,  may  also  exist  in  the  western  portion 
of  the  state.  So  far  as  Fillmore  county  is  concerned  the  presence  of  the 
Cretaceous  is  known  more  by  certain  indirect  or  secondary  evidences,  than 
by  the  actual  discovery  of  its  beds  in  situ. 

Near  Spring  Valley,  on  David  Higby's  farm,  S.  W.  ^  sec.  32,  is  a  very 
fine  and  tough  clay,  of  a  generally  bluish  color,  almost  entirely  free  from 
grit,  which  is  spread  out  over  a  wide  area,  lying  but  few  feet  below  the  sur- 
face. The  overlying  soil,  which  is  annually  plowed,  is  a  black  loam  (rather 
clayey),  varying  below  to  a  yellow,  clayey  loam.  This  clay  was  discovered 
several  years  ago,  but  nothing  has  been  seen  that  will  demonstrate  its 
real  origin,  though  it  is  evidently  not  a  part  of  the  drift.  It  has  the  appear- 
ance of  being  suitable  for  pottery,  or  for  brick,  but  would  require  some 
sand.  A  soapy,  variegated  clay  also  occurs  at  J.  W.  Smith's  brick-yard, 

•American  Journal  of  Science,  (3)  III.  23. 


FILLMORE   COUNTY.  309 

Cretaceous  strata.] 

two  miles  northwest  of  Spring  Valley,  though  a  drift  clay  with  some  gravel 
is  used  in  the  manufacture  of  brick.  A  similar  clay  is  met  in  abundance  at 
Spring  Valley  village,  but  it  is  mingled  with  limestone  fragments  and  drift 
materials. 

Besides  these  clayey  deposits,  which  are  believed  to  have  resulted  from 
the  degradation,  or  more  or  less  perfect  preservation,  of  the  lower  Cretace- 
ous clays,  there  are  a  number  of  white  sand  deposits  in  the  same  portion 
of  the  county,  which  probably  are  referable  to  the  incoherent  layers  of  the 
Nishnabotany  sandstone.     One  of  these  occurs  north  of  Mr.  J.  W.  Smith's 
brick-yard,  on  sec.  17,  Spring  Valley.  Another  is  situated  on  C.  C.  Temple's 
land,  S.  E.  J  sec.  8.  Bloomfield,  where  it  is  twenty  feet  thick  at  least,  having 
been  tested  to  that  depth,  the  bottom  never  having  been  reached.    It  here 
occurs  in  an  open  prairie  country,  and  is  known  to  spread  out  over  many 
acres,  lying  but  two  or  three  feet  below  the  surface.    It  lies  on  the  Devo- 
nian limestones,  of  course  unconformably.    It  is  not  a  purely  white  sand, 
like  the  St.  Peter,  but  yellowish  white.    It  is  sometimes  very  fine,  but 
varies  to  coarse.    Another  deposit  of  this  kind  is  on  Mr.  Andrew  McNee's 
land,  N.  W.  J  sec.  22,  Bloomfield,  and  still  another  on  J.  M.  Rexford's,  N.  E.  J 
sec.  36,  where  it  has  been  opened,  as  at  the  other  points  named,  and  used 
for  mortar.     This  is  situated  in  an  undulating  tract,  with  some  shrubs  and 
trees.    These  sand  beds  are  not  regarded  as  belonging  to  the  Cretaceous 
rock  in  situ,  but  as  being  copious,  local  products,  under  drift  agencies,  ot 
the  Cretaceous.  Sometimes  they  embrace  lumps  of  clay  of  a  greenish  color, 
like  the  Fort  Benton,  and  sometimes  they  show  oblique  stratification.  They 
are  entirely  uncemented,  so  as  to  be  shoveled  directly  into  the  wagon*. 
Another  singular  deposit,  in  the  same  manner  referable  to  the  immediate 
presence  of  the  Cretaceous,  occurs  in  the  S.  W.  £  sec.  15,  Bloomfield,  land 
of  Peter  Peterson.    Here  a  series  of  knolls,  which  embrace,  indeed,  that  in 
which  is  Mr.  Andrew  McNee's  white  sand  pit,  and  are  covered  with  aspen 
and  hazel  brush,  are  found,  many  of  them,  to  be  composed  of  a  beautiful, 
coarse  gravel,  the  greater  part  being  white,  often  limpid,  quartz,  the  size 
of  the  pebbles  varying  from  that  of  a  pea  to  that  of  a  hazelnut.    On  these 
knolls  are  a  few  northern  drift  boulders,  and  no  doubt  the  gravel  was  also 
placed  in  the  position  it  now  occupies  by  the  drift  forces.    This  gravel,  so 

•Compare  the  Second  annual  report,  pp.  134  and  185. 


310  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Cretaceous  strata. 

remarkably  homogeneous,  like  the  white  sand  deposits  mentioned,  can  only 
be  referred  to  the  immediate  proximity  of  the  lower  Cretaceous.  It  could 
not  have  been  far  transported  without  being  mixed  with  other  rock  ma- 
terial. It  distinctly  points  to  the  existence  of  a  coarse  gravel  or  conglom- 
erate in  the  lower  Cretaceous,  of  which  traces  have  been  seen  in  several 
counties.  It  indicates  also  the  littoral  nature  of  the  Cretaceous  beds  from 
which  it  was  derived. 

There  is  still  another  indirect  evidence  of  the  existence  of  the  Creta- 
ceous in  the  western  portion  of  Fillmore  county.  There  are  heavy  deposits 
of  limonite  iron  ore,  bearing  some  unascertained  relation  to  the  Creta- 
ceous, or  to  the  drift  found  in  the  southwestern  part  of  the  county.  In 
the  second  annual  report  of  the  survey  mention  was  made  of  the  occur- 
rence at  a  number  of  places  in  the  Minnesota  valley,  and  in  that  of  the 
Blue  Earth,  of  a  coating  of  iron  ore  on  the  Cambrian  rocks  where  they  are 
unconformably  overlain  by  the  Cretaceous.  Dr.  Shumard  says  of  this 
(Owen's  Geological  Survey  of  Wisconsin,  Iowa  and  Minnesota,  page  487):  "The 
nodules  of  iron  ore  have  mostly  a  concentric  structure,  and  appear  to  be 
of  good  quality.  The  superficial  indications  render  it  probable  that  this 
bed  of  iron  ore  may  be  both  extensive  and  easily  accessible."  In  Fillmore 
county  a  discovery  was  made  by  Mr.  C.  C.  Temple  in  digging  a  well  near 
his  sand  pit,  already  described,  and  referred  to  the  Cretaceous  as  its  prob- 
able source,  which  throws  some  light  on  the  manner  of  occurrence  of  the 
limonite  referred  to.  He  testifies  that  this  bed  of  iron  ore  /.s-  at  least  thirty -six 
feet  in  thickness.  In  this  well,  which  is  six  feet  in  diameter  at  the  top,  he 
dug  down  about  eighteen  feet,  when  he  reached  rock,  fragments  thrown 
out  revealing  the  Galena  limestone.  He  describes  the  rock  as  occupying 
but  about  one-half  of  the  diameter  of  the  shaft  he  was  digging,  which  af- 
forded great  quantities  of  soft  limonite  or  ochre.  He  drilled  into  the  iron 
ore  a  depth  of  thirty-six  feet.  A  number  of  wells  in  the  vicinity  of  Etna,  a 
few  miles  further  southeast,  also  struck  a  similar  iron  ore.  On  sec.  36, 
Bloomfield,  a  great  many  loose  pieces  of  porous  limonite  are  found  in  the 
fields,  having  been  plowed  up  in  the  soil.  The  county  surveyor,  Mr.  J. 
Gregor,  also  found  it  impossible  to  lay  out  the  quarter  sections  of  that  sec- 
tion in  the  usual  manner,  by  the  use  of  the  magnetic  needle,  though  the 
original  United  States  surveyors  record  no  disturbance  of  the  magnetic 


FILLMORE  COUNTY.  311 

Drift.] 

needle.  Limonite  iron  ore  is  regarded  usually  as  non-magnetic.  In  large 
quantities,  near  the  surface,  it  seems  to  influence  the  magnetic  currents. 
What  relation  this  ore  bears  to  the  Cretaceous  is  not  known,  except  that  it 
has  been  found  to  overlie  the  Cambrian  rocks,  or  to  cover  their  surfaces 
with  a  scale,  where  the  Cretaceous  overlies  them  unconformably. 

The  Drift.  The  drift  presents  some  interesting  features  in  Fillmore 
county.  The  western  limit  of  that  well-known  tract  denominated  the 
driftless  area,  'by  Prof.  J.  D.  Whitney,  crosses  this  county.  This  boundary 
is  not  well-defined.  There  is  a  very  conspicuous  absence  of  the  bluish  clay 
and  the  northern  boulders  that  distinguish  the  true  northern  drift-sheet  of 
counties  further  west  and  north,  throughout  the  eastern  two-thirds  of  the 
county,  the  boundary  line  running,  approximately,  from  the  southeast  cor- 
ner of  Bristol  township,  to  the  northeast  corner  of  Jordan.  West  of  that 
line,  which  is  modified  in  its  course  by  valleys  and  uplands,  is  a  belt  of  five 
or  six  miles  in  width  which  is  characterized  by  an  overlapping  of  the  loess 

loam  on  the  thinning  out  edge  of  the  drift-sheet.     This  belt  is  character- 

• 

ized  further  by  peculiar  local  modifications  of  the  materials  of  the  drift, 
due  to  the  underlying  rock,  as  mentioned  under  the  head  of  Cretaceous. 
West  of  this  belt  the  true  drift  becomes  prevalent,  consisting  of  clay  with 
many  boulders. 

That  tract  which  is  regarded  as  driftless*  is,  so  far  as  Fillmore  county 
is  concerned,  not  without  some  evidences  of  having  been  subjected,  at  some 
time,  to  a  force  similar  to  that  which  is  supposed  to  have  deposited  the 
great  drift-sheet  of  the  Northwest.  There  are  isolated  patches  of  gravel, 
with  small  stones,  sometimes  cemented  into  a  crag,  which  have  been  noted 
in  Fillmore  county,  scattered  sparingly  over  the  eastern  part  of  the  county, 
as  the  following  field  minutes  will  show: 

Drift  pebbles  are  in  the  street  north  of  the  school  house,  S.  W.  J  sec.  25,  Amherst. 

Drift  occurs  in  the  form  of  gravel  and  boulders,  some  of  them  a  foot  in  diameter,  S.  W.  J 
sec.  4,  Fountain,  on  the  east  bank  of  Sugar  creek,  in  the  road ;  seen  in  going  east  from  the  quarry 
of  Enoch  Winslow.  At  Fountain  village  there  is  said  to  be  no  drift  between  the  loess  loam  and 
the  rock. 

A  little  drift  may  be  seen  at  the  Tunnel  oiills,  see.  34,  Sumner. 

There  is  a  little  fine  drift  visible  along  the  road,  S.  E.  J  sec.  25,  Sumner. 

At  Chat  field  there  is  some  gravelly  drift  with  small  boulders,  visible  in  the  street  near  the 
mill-race. 

Drift,  with  pebbles  and  stones,  appears  about  a  mile  south  of  Clear  Grit,  on  the  Shakopee 
terrace  along  the  highway ;  also  on  the  road  to  Carimona,  near  Preston. 


*J  D.  Whitney,  Geology  of  Wisconsin,  Vol.  I,  pages  114,  139. 


Qio  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

(Drift. 

About  midway  between  Preston  and  Carimona  a  wash  by  the  roadside  revealed  loam,  8  feet, 
underlain  by  gravelly,  red  loam  3  feet,  with  no  distinct  separation,  a  few  small  boulders  lying  in 
the  water-course  below. 

At  Carimona  a  thin  layer  of  drift  is  usually  found  under  the  loam. 
The  same  is  true  at  Forestvi.le. 

At  Spring  Valley  the  drift  is  so  prevalent  that  the  surface  of  the  country  is  smooth,  and  has 
a  lighter-colored  soil,  with  much  more  clay.  There  are  but  few  stones  or  gravelly  patches.  The 
loess  loam  is  hardly  noticeable.  One  large  boulder  lies  at  the  street  corner,  half  a  mile  south  of 
the  corporate  limits. 

Between  Baldwin's  mill,  sec.  21,  Forestville,  and  the  state  line,  due  south,  the  country  is  one 
of  drift  prairie,  nearly  the  whole  distance,  with  stones  and  boulders,  some  of  the  latter  pretty  large. 
At  Etna,  sec.  36,  Bloomfleld,  among  a  variety  of  stones  pertaining  to  the  drift,  may  be  seen 
an  occasional  one  that  is  glaciated. 

At  Lime  Springs  and  Foreston,  a  few  miles  south  of  the  state  line,  on  the  Upper  Iowa  river, 
the  drift  is  abundant. 

At  Granger  there  is  a  light  drift,  and  also  where  the  road  turns  north  to  Preston,  N.  E.  J 
sec.  36,  Bristol ;  but  it  becomes  lighter  still,  or  entirely  invisible,  in  traveling  to  Preston.  In  its 
place  a  heavy  rich  loam,  rather  clayey,  covers  the  country  and  smooths  it  off  almost  as  effectually 
as  if  drift-covered.  A  well,  being  dug  about  five  miles  south  of  Preston,  on  the  high  Trenton 
area,  passes  through  the  loam  eighteen  feet  before  striking  the  rock. 
The  drift  is  very  thin  at  Lenora,  if  not  entirely  wanting. 

About  four  miles  southeast  of  Preston  a  large  green  dioritie  boulder  may  be  seen  lying  in 
the  loess  loam,  in  the  road,  and  a  red  quartzose  pebble.  The  pebbles  that  appear  in  the  gullies  by 
the  roadside,  in  the  loam  area,  are  generally  of  chert,  from  the  rock  of  the  locality.  It  cannot  be 
ascertained  whether  this  dioritie  boulder  lies  on  other  drift  deposits,  but  it  is  surrounded  laterally 
only  by  the  loam. 

At  Elliota  is  a  thin  drift,  in  the  form  of  pebbles,  the  largest  being  three  or  four  inches  in 
diameter.  Thence  northwestward  to  Newburgh,  nothing  but  the  yellow  loam  is  observable.  Be 
tween  Newburgh  and  Biceford,  situated  on  the  western  edge  of  Houston  county,  no  northern  drift 
is  visible ;  but  at  Riceford,  which  lies  in  a  deep  and  narrow  gorge,  a  few  drift  pebbles  occur  iu 
the  street. 

About  the  center  of  sec.  29,  Holt,  is  a  deposit  of  gravel.  It  may  be  seen  in  descending  the 
hill  northward,  just  before  the  road  forks  to  Whalan  and  Lanesboro.  It  is  considerably  cemented 
by  lime,  forming  a  crag,  large  lumps  of  which,  some  eighteen  and  twenty  inches  thick,  have  been 
used  for  embankment  on  the  lower  side  of  the  road.  In  some  parts  it  is  quite  fine,  and  useful  for 
mortar,  for  which  it  has  been  hauled  away.  It  is  at  least  ten  feet  thick. 
There  are  boulders  in  the  valley  of  Duxbury  creek,  sec.  28,  Preston. 

Sec.  19,  Pilot  Mound.  In  the  road  going  to  the  river  from  the  south,  are  a  lot  of  boulders 
and  other  drift.  The  same  can  be  seen  on  the  north  side,  going  up  from  the  ford.  The  deposit 
seems  to  be  five  or  six  feet  thick,  gradually  mingling  with,  and  finally  becoming  replaced  by  the 
loess  loam. 

Drift  gravel  and  stones  are  seen  along  the  road  in  going  down  the  hill  to  Isinour,  from  Preston. 
Drift  pebbles  and  clay  occur  at  the  crossing  of  Watson's  creek,  on  the  direct  road  between 
Fountain  and  Preston,  and  on  the  terrace  of  the  Shakopee  limestone,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  south  of 
the  creek. 

Boulders  are  seen  at  Spring  Valley,  and  at  Mr.  Kleckler's  farm,  two  and  a  half  miles  east  of 
Spring  Valley. 

An  occasional  boulder  is  seen  in  the  river  valley  at  Geiner's  mill,  sec.  31,  Jordan;  but  the 
most  of  the  surface  covering  on  the  rock  in  the  high  prairie  region,  seems  to  be  of  the  loam.  • 

East  of  Highland  post  office  in  Holt  township,  sec.  36,  is  a  conspicuous  deposit  of  drift, 
exposed  in  the  road,  in  the  form  of  a  stony  gravel.  It  lies  on  the  brow  of  the  Shakopee  terrace. 

It  is  noticeable  that  in  nearly  every  instance  where  drift  pebbles 
occur  in  the  region  known  as  driftless,  they  lie  on  or  are  very  near  an 
outcrop  of  firm  rock.  They  frequent  the  brow  of  the  terrace  formed  by 


FLLLMOBE  COUNTY.  313 

[Drift, 

the  Shakopee  limestone.  The  above  named  localities  are  nearly  all  em- 
braced within  the  boundaries  of  the  driftless  tract  as  already  defined  in 
Fillmore  county.  These  patches  of  northern  drift  present  the  appear- 
ance of  greater  age  than  the  drift  of  the  w  c:,4^r^  portion  of  the  county,  and 
are  believed  to  belong  to  a  glacial  epoch  that  preceded  the  epoch  that 
produced  the  great  drift-sheet  of  the  Northwest.  An  "  interglacial  epoch  " 
separated  them.  It  was  probably  during  that  interglacial  epoch  that  grew 
the  peat  and  coniferous  vegetation  that  has  been  found  in  considerable 
abundance  embraced  within  the  great  drift-sheet  (or  at  least  below  fifty  feet 
of  drift  materials),  around  its  outer  margin,  as  mentioned  in  the  report  on 
Mower  county,  and  as  further  demonstrated  in  Fillmore  county.  It  is  the 
older  drift  that  is  covered  deeply  by  the  loess  loam,  and  it  is  within  the 
loam-covered  portion  of  the  comity  that  true  river-terraces  of  alluvial  composition 
are  found* 

Ancient  peat  and  vegetation  in  the  drift  deposits.  There  were  found  to  be 
quite  a  number  of  places  in  the  western  portion  of  the  county  where  farm- 
ers in  digging  wells  have  struck  a  bed  of  vegetationf  similar  to  that  also 
described  in  Mower  county.  No  opportunity  has  been  afforded  to  make  a 
personal  inspection  of  this  bed,  and  owing  to  the  indefiniteness  of  the  in- 
formation derivable  from  the  farmers  themselves,  and  its  contrariety,  it  is 
thought  best  to  give  only  the  statements  of  Mr.  Calvin  E.  Huntley,  of 
Spring  Valley,  a  professional  well-driller.  Throughout  the  whole  of  the 
county  there  is  much  difficulty  in  obtaining  ready  water  for  farm  and  do- 
mestic use,  and  a  great  many  wells  are  drilled  deeply  into  the  rock.  This  is 
owing  to  the  canoned  character  of  the  rock  surface,  both  within  the  drift 
area  and  the  loam-covered  portion.  These  canons  serve  as  subterranean 
drains,  though  they  are  generally  filled  with  drift  in  the  western  part  of 
the  county.  Mr.  Huntley  furnished  the  following  facts  concerning  this  bed 
of  vegetation.  Some  of  these  localities  are  within  the  limits  of  Mower 

county. 

N.  W.  J  sec.  6,  Beaver,  land  of  Andrew  Oleson  (Early).  It  was  found  here  at  the  depth  of 
thirty  feet,  situated  on  a  ridge  in  prairie  country.  It  was  two  or  three  feet  thick,  and  had  a  blue 
clay  both  above  and  below  it ;  then  struck  a  limerock. 

N.  E.  J  sec.  12,  LeKoy,  Mower  county,  land  of  D.  B.  Bosworth.    This  was  also  on  a  high 


•Compare  Geology  of  OMo,   Vol.  II..  Report  on  Delaware  county. 

tFpr  further  information  on  the  subject  of  vegetation  in  the"  drift  deposits  of  the  Northwest,  the  reader  is  referred 
to  a  paper  by  the  writer  in  the  proceedings  of  the  American..  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  1876,  Detroit 
meeting. 


314  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

I  Di  ift 

ridge,  with  blue  clay  above  and  below  it,  and  lay  at  the  depth  of  about  twenty-five  feet  below  the 
surface.  It  had  a  thickness  of  seven  feet,  and  contained  "decayed  stuff,  like  pressed  hay." 

N.  E.  ]  sec.  1,  LeBoy,  Mower  county,  land  of  Ole  Knutson  (Stoley);  found  at  the  depth  of 
thirty  feet,  five  feet  thick;  blue  clay  above,  and  two  feet  of  black  clay  below;  then  limerock. 

Sec.  30,  Beunington,  Mower  county;  on  land  of  Gents  Everson.  This  is  situated  on  a  flat, 
and  was  found  from  thirty  to  thirty-two  feet  below  the  surface.  It  was  three  feet  thick  and  lay 
below  blue  clay.  Below  it  was  gravel  to  the  thickness  of  eight  feet,  when  the  well  stri.ck  lime- 
rock. 

S.  E.  J  sec.  9,  Bennington,  Mower  county;  land  of  John  Meehan.  It  here  had  blue  clay  both 
above  and  below  it,  and  had  a  thickness  of  two  feet.  It  lay  at  the  depth  of  twenty  feet.  The 
underlying  blue  clay  was  gravelly. 

It  was  met  in  the  same  town  on  Robert  Cooper's  land,  at  the  depth  of  twenty-five  or  thirty 
feet.  It  was  here  on  a'  very  high  ridge.  It  was  in  a  blue  clay,  with  gravel  both  above  and  below, 
and  three  or  four  feet  thick.  This  well  was  abandoned  on  account  of  quicksand. 

On  the  slope  northeast  from  Mr.  Cooper's  it  was  reported  to  have  been  met  with  at  the  depth 
of  six  or  seven  feet  from  the  surface,  on  the  land  of  Mr.  Bap. 

Sec.  2,  Sumner,  land  of  Win.  Bailey;  met  a  deposit  which  was  embraced  between  layers  of 
what  was  then  supposed  to  be  limerock.  This  deposit  was  two  feet  thick  and  consisted  entirely  of 
wood.  Eock  was  struck  at  the  depth  of  eight  feet.  This  wood  was  thirty-five  feet  below  the  sur- 
face. The  owner  called  the  rock  "grindstone  rock."  This  is  probably  a  Cretaceous  sandrock  em- 
bracing a  bed  of  lignite. 

H.  part  of  sec.  28,  Spring  Valley,  land  of  A.  B.  Hutchinson.  An  irony  deposit  having  an 
unknown  thickness,  was  struck  at  the  depth  of  thirty-five  feet. 

This  was  also  met  in  the  central  part  of  Racine,  Mower  county,  on  the  farm  of  D.  Reed,  at  the 
depth  of  twenty-five  or  twenty-six  feet.  It  came  up  in  chunks  which; glistened  and  looked  like 
iron  ore. 

Under  the  head  of  Cretaceous  the  reader  will  find  further  statements  concerning  this  iron 
ore.  Two  miles  west  of  Spring  Valley,  on  the  land  of  O.  II.  Rose,  is  a  deposit  of  conglomerate. 
This  is  abundantly  cemented  with  iron,  lying  on  a  sloping  surface  covering  twenty-five  or  thirty 
square  rods,  rendering  the  land  unfit  for  cultivation,  in  the  vicinity  of  DO  rock-bluff,  and  on  a 
prairie  country.  Iron  ore  was  thrown  out  of  a  well  on  S.  W.  J-  sec.  24,  Bloomfield.  It  was  said 
to  hare  come  out  in  lumps,  and  to  be  as  heavy  as  iron.  It  rises  to  the  surface  and  a  plow  cannot 
be  passed  through  it.  This  is  owned  by  Geo.  H.  Smith.  Again  on  H.  T.  Odell's  land,  sec.  36, 
BJoomfield,  it  is  found  in  scattered  lumps  variously  mingled  with  the  soil  and  with  other  stone. 
These  surface  pieces  are  impure,  and  often  hold  cemented  gravel  and  pebbles.  They  are  also 
loose  and  porous,  and  pass  into  ochre.  Similar  pieces  occur  on  sec.  1 ,  Beaver,  land  of  O.  A.  Boyn- 
ton. 

Wood  was  taken  from  two  wells  in  Jordan  township,  sees.  29  and  30,  on  land  of  M.  Rob- 
bins  and  Geo.  Hare.  This  is  also  on  a  high  prairie.  In  Mr.  Hare's  well_was  said  to  have  been  a 
tree. 

In  order  to  study  further  the  thickness  of  the  drift,  and  its  lateral  ex- 
tent in  the  county,  a  great  many  observations  were  made  on  the  pheno- 
mena of  common  wells,  and  the  tabulated  list  herewith  appended  will  give 
the  results  of  some  of  those  examinations.  It  has  already  been  said  that 
there  are  a  great  many  subterranean  streams,  especially  within  the  area  of 
the  Trenton  limestone.  Some  of  these  streams  gush  out  along  the  river 
bluffs  and  give  rise  to  copious  springs.  Wherever  there  is  an  open  rock- 
structure,  which  is  not  imperviously  covered  by  the  drift  or  by  the  loam, 
it  acts  to  receive  the  surface  water  and  to  allow  its  passage  along  lower 
levels  to  the  main  river  valleys.  This  necessitates  the  drilling  of  a  great 


FILLMORE  COUNTY. 


Wells.J 


315 


•many  wells  which  penetrate  in  the  rock  to  a  depth,  sometimes,  of  two  or 
three  hundred  feet  before  reaching  water. 


WELLS  IN  FILLMORE  COUNTY. 


OWNER'S  NAME  AND  LOCATION. 

DRIFT 
Oil 
LOAM. 
FEET. 

IN 
THE 
HOCK. 

FEET. 

TOTAL 
FEET. 

KIND  OF 
WATER. 

REMARKS. 

Public  well  Fountain  t  ,  .  , 

12 

22 
20 
22 
412 
6 
6 
7 
Sin. 
10 
10 
20 
5 
20 
90 
ab't  20 
20 
13 
34 
28 
25 

I 

12 
14 
15 
18 
18 
4 
10 
9 
10 
17 
19 
16 
ab't  20 
27 
20 
8 

290 
30 
43 
38 

80 
47 
31 

69 
40 
22 
75 
50 
55 

110 

67 
82 
100 
117 

85 
35 
2 
6 
95 
8 
0 
27 
40 
31 
50 
0 
0 
33 
32 
Hi 
29 
48 

302 

52 
63 
60 
41* 
86 
53 
38 
70 
50 
32 
95 
55 
75 
90 
55 
130 
80 
116 
128 
142 
65 
92 
43 
14 
20 
110 
26 
18 
SI 
50 
40 
60 
17 
19 
49 
52 
41*. 
49 
•r>6 

good 
good 
good 
good 
good 
good 
good 
good 
good 
good 

good 
good 
good 

no  water 
good 
good 

tolerably  good 

good 
good 
good 
good 
good 
.good 
good 
good 
good 
good 
good 
good 
good 

Water  at  13   ft.,  but  lost  it  by  entering  a 
cavity  after  drilling  5  or  6  ft.  deeper. 

In  vellow  sandrock;  last  2  ft  clay. 
Drilled. 
Drilled. 
Sand  and  clay. 
"On  the  ridge." 
"On  the  ridge." 
Very  hard  water. 
In  a  "red  sandstone." 
Three  wells,  same  depth. 
Hard  water. 

Water  in  limerock. 

No  rock. 
"  In  a  large  crevice  in  the  rock." 

Sandrock  and  limestone,  water 
in  limestone. 
Gets  dry  in  summer. 
Gets  dry  in  summer. 

Well  incomplete. 
Last  three  feet  in  bluish-green 
shale. 
Last  foot   in  bluish   limestone; 
some  "oily  blue  clay." 
Eight  feet  in  St.  Peter  sandstone. 
Sand  and  gravel, 
27  feet  in  Trenton  limestone. 
40  feet  in  blue  limestone. 
31  feet  in  blue  limestone. 
10  feet  yellow  clay  and  stone. 
Six  feet  of  water. 
Two  layers  of  gravel. 
9  ft.  in  drift;  7  ft.  in  loose  rock. 

Clay,  quicksand  and  bluish  stone. 

Found  a  vein  of  Venetian  red,  10  ft  from  the  surface, 

Soil,  gravel  and  clay. 

Poor  farm  sec.  4,  Canton  

"W  II  Strong  Cariniona  . 

Win  llolton  Carimona  

J.  H.  Hall,  NE.  i  sec.  9,  Bloomf'ld 
E  Stfffins  Spring  Valley  

Col.  C.  G.  Edwards,  Spring  valley 
Calvin  E.  Huntley,  Spring  Valley 
Peter  Swab  sec  6  Jordan  .... 

Wm.  Twiggs.  1J  m.  SE  Spring  V. 
S.  S  Belding,  Etna  

J.M.Rixfoi(l,NE  i  sec36,Bloomf  Id 
Jas.  Smith,  SE  J-  sec.  18,  Beaver.  . 
A.  C.  Seelye,  Lenora  

jj  X,  Potter  Lenora  .  

Old  town-  well  Lenora  

Wm.  Barton,  1  J  m.  N.  of  Lenora.  . 
Jas  Walsh  sec  20  Amherst  .  . 

W.  Kimber,  SW  Jsec.  29,  Amherst 
S.  S.  Stark,  NW  J  sec.  2,  Amherst 
Henry  Rose,  NE  J  sec  3,  Amherst 
Public  well,  Highland  P.  O  
Andrew  Vogt.  SW  Jsec20  Amh'st 
Mrs.  Simmons,  sec.  35,  Spring  V. 
Public  well  Spring  Valley. 

A.  N  Hart  Spring  Valley  

S.  W.  Knight,  sec.  11  ,  Fillmore.  .  . 
S  Hoff  Fillmore 

D  S  Hoff  Fillmore  

J.  Kleckler,SE  i  sec.  26,  Spring  V. 
F  Greaves  Chatfleld  

Tho  Simpson  Chatfleld*  

W.  H.  Dunham,  Chatfleld  tp.  .  .  . 
E  Leonard  sec  14  Sumner 

J.  B.  Silbert,  2  m.  E.  Spring  Val. 
C.  B.  Brocksom,  2J  m.  E.  Spring  V. 
F.  Lageirg,  3  m.  E.  Spring  Valley 
J.  H.  Hall,  2  m.  S.  Spring  Valley 
O.  H.  Rose.  2J  m.  W.  Spring  Val. 
O.  H.  Rose,  2  m.  W.  Spring  Val. 

The  loess  loam.  The  greater  portion  of  the  county  is  covered  with 
this  loain.  It  contains  no  gravel  nor  boulders,  or  with  very  rare  exceptions, 
but  consists  almost  entirely  of  fine  siliceous  material  which  becomes  in 
some  places  quite  clayey,  making  a  very  slippery  mud  when  wet.  This  in 
outward  appearance  is  of  a  light  yellow  or  rusty  color,  and  differs  in  that 
respect  from  the  loam  seen  on  the  drift-covered  portion  of  the  county, 


'There  are  but  few  wells  in  ( 'hatfleld  because  of  the  necessity  of  drilling  from  twenty  to  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in 
the  limestone. 


316  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Loam. 

which  is  frequently  black,  or  brown,  varying  to  an  ash-color  when  mingled 
with  a  considerable  percentage  of  clay  from  the  drift,  and  also  contains 
gravel.  The  surface  loam  is  very  homogeneous  over  wide  tracts,  while  that 
in  the  drift  area  is  subject  to  local  and  sudden  varations.  The  loess  loam 
is  indistinctly  stratified,  in  valleys,  but  the  usual  appearance  on  the  uplands 
is  that  of  non-stratification.  This  stratified  arrangement  is  rendered  the  less 
evident  from  the  great  similarity  of  the  materials  from  the  top  to  the  bot- 
tom. It  does  not  consist,  apparently,  in  any  change  from  coarse  to  fine  in 
the  sedimentation,  but  in  a  lamination  of  the  homogeneous  clayey  loam, 
and  is  easily  obliterated  by  exposure,  or  by  trickling  water.  This  condition 
was  noted  particularly  in  the  valley  at  Preston,  and  indicates  that  it  there 
was  deposited  in  still,  or  gently  moving  water.  Where  this  loam  lies  over 
the  old  northern  drift,  it  passes  through  a  gravelly  stage,,  the  materials  of 
the  loam  mingling  with  the  coarser  portions  of  the  drift,  and  becoming 
finally  replaced  by  the  drift.  The  drift  patches  covered  by  this  loam,  pertain- 
ing to  the  eastern  and  central  portions  of  the  county,  and  believed  to  be- 
long to  an  earlier  drift  epoch,  are,  so  far  as  seen,  made  up  of  gravel  and 
sand,  with  small  stones.  Very  little  drift  clay,  or  till,  like  that  which 
covers  the  western  part  of  the  county,  has  been  seen  overlain  by  the  loess 
loam,  to  the  east  of  that  which  pertains  to  the  general  drift-sheet  of  the 
Northwest,  and  which  occupies  a  narrow  belt,  five  or  six  miles  wide, 
where  the  loam  overlaps  the  later  drift.  It  may  be  seen  at  several  points 
between  sec.  4,  Canton,  and  Lenora.  At  one  point  it  is  a  light-colored,  or 
ashen,  gravelly  clay,  which  above  is  very  irony  or  rusty.  Over  the  surface 
are  numerous  fragments  of  chert,  with  some  small  boulders  of  granite 
and  green-stone,  and  jasper  and  quartzitic  pebbles.  It  is  covered  by  several 
feet  of  loam.  It  is  seen  similarly  in  the  N.  E.  £  sec.  12,  Canton. 

The  pebbles  that  are  thus  mixed  with  the  lower  portion  of  the  loam 
are  smooth  and  waterworn,  not  covered  with  a  coating  of  decayed  material 
of  the  same  nature  as  the  pebbles  themselves,  as  they  would  be  expected 
to  be  if  the  loam  were  derived  from  the  decay,  in  situ,  of  the  materials  of 
the  drift.  The  thickness  of  the  surface  loam  sometimes  reaches  twenty  feet 
in  the  open  upland,  and  under  favorable  circumstances,  where  it  might 
have  accumulated  laterally,  as  well  as  perpendicularly,  it  is  much  .more.  It 
is  thickest  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  county. 


FILLMOEE    COUNTY.  317 

Loam.    Terraces.] 

It  has  already  been  stated  that  there  is  some  reason  to  assign  an  earlier 
date  to  the  origin  of  the  upland  loam  than  to  the  stratified  loess  loam  of 
the  valleys,*  and  it  is  equally  true  that  there  is  some  reason  to  assign  to  it 
a  different  origin.  Indeed,  the  explanation  of  its  origin  advanced  by  Prof. 
J.  D.  Whitney,!  m  1862,  is  applicable  over  a  very  large  part  of  the  "drift- 
less  area"  in  the  state  of  Minnesota.  He  says:  "  The  great  mass  of  super- 
ficial clay,  loam  and  other  loose  materials  lying  on  the  solid  rock  in  this 
region,  is  therefore  simply  the  residuum  left  after  the  more  or  less  complete 
solution  and  removal  of  the  soluble  portion  of  the  rock."  It  is  quite  prob- 
able that  all  the  instances  of  lamination  that  have  been  seen  in  the  surface 
materials  of  the  "driftless  area"  may  be  referred  either  to  the  agency  ot 
rivers  when  existing  with  larger  volume  than  at  present,  and  flowing  at 
higher  levels,  or  to  the  effect  of  local  drainage,  bringing  fine  sediment  from 
the  higher  levels  farther  west,  perhaps  at  the  time  of  the  last  glacial  epoch, 
and  depositing  it  both  on  the  pre-existing  drift  materials  and  on  the  older 
loam.  The  rotted  and  disintegrated  condition  of  the  surface  of  the  older 
rocks  on  the  higher  levels  in  the  county,  the  existence  throughout  this  de- 
cayed interval,  and  sometimes  extending  upward  in  the  loam,  of  pieces  of 
chert  referable  to  the  rock  itself,  the  great  uniformity  in  the  character  of 
this  loam,  and  its  massive  or  non-stratified  structure,  point  to  this  theory 
for  its  origin. 

Alluvial  terraces.  At  Preston,  besides  the  flood-plain,  the  river  has  a 
high  terrace-plain.  The  Stanwix  House  stands  on  it.  It  consists  of  loess 
loam  undistinguishable  from  the  loam  that  covers  that  portion  of  the 
county.  The  same  may  be  seen  at  Lanesboro,  and  at  Whalan,  but  it  is  not 
conspicuous.  At  Rushford  fragmentary  remains  of  this  high  terrace  are 
seen  in  the  valleys  of  the  tributary  streams.  Along  the  main  valley  they 
are  not  well  preserved.  There  are  two  terrace  levels,  besides  the  flood- 
plain.  The  highest  terrace-plain  is  from  seventy  to  eighty  feet  above  the 
second,  and  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  feet  above  the  river.  The  lower 
terrace,  on  which  Rushford  stands,  is  about  forty  feet  above  the  river,  and  is 
probably  never  reached  by  the  river  in  even  the  highest  water.  Within 
this  lower  terrace-plain,  which  spreads  out  laterally  and  forms  the  most  ot 


'Report  on  Winona  county,  p.  262-3. 
tGcology  of  Wisconsin,  1802,  p.  126. 

• 


318  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Fuel.     Iron. 

the  alluvial  land  between  the  rock-bluffs,  is  the  river  channel,  and  a  still 
lower  flood-plain  about  twenty  feet  above  the  river  at  low  stage.  This 
terraced  condition  of  the  valleys  of  Root  river  and  of  the  Mississippi,  is 
confined,  so  far  as  observed,  to  the  loam-covered  area,  which  nearly  coin- 
cides with  the  "driftless  area",  as  defined  and  described  by  Prof.  J.  D. 
Whitney. 

MATERIAL     RESOURCES. 

Fuel.  In  addition  to  the  products  of  the  soil,  which  will  always  be  the 
chief  source  of  material  wealth,  Fillmore  county  cannot  expect  any  impor- 
tant mineral  discoveries  to  augment  her  material  prosperity.  She  has  a 
good  supply  of  forest  for  purposes  of  common  fuel,  and  will  not  sutter  from 
the  absence  of  coal,  as  some  of  the  counties  farther  west  have  suffered. 
She  will  have  to  depend  on  her  native  forest  trees,  or  on  those  that  are 
being  propagated  succesfully,  for  the  most  of  her  home  fuel  supply.  There 
is  a  marked  absence  of  peat  in  this  county  as  well  as  in  Mower,  but  a  single 
locality  being  noted.  That  occurs  on  S.  E.  ^  sec.  26,  Spring  Valley,  land 
of  John  Kleckler  and  David  Broxlem,  and  is  said  to  be  about  'four  feet 
thick,  covering  four  or  five  acres.  There  is  no  doubt  that  other,  isolated, 
small  areas,  of  a  turf-peat,  also  exist  in  the  county,  but  the  circumstances 
which  promoted  the  production  of  so  large  a  surface  of  peat  in  a  belt  far- 
ther west,  including  Freeborn  county,  were  certainly  wanting  in  Fillmore 
county.  The  frequency  of  lakes  and  swamps,  and  abundance  of  peat  coin- 
ciding as  they  do  in  Freeborn  county,  taken  with  the  absence  of  both  in 
Mower  and  Fillmore,  point  to  the  existence  of  a  common  cause  for  these 
surface  features. 

Iron.  Throughout  the  western  portion  of  the  county  there  is  a  great 
deal  of  surface  iron,  manifesting  itself  generally  in  the  form  of  a  cement  in 
gravel,  forming  a  dark-colored  crag.  There  is  also  much  evidence  of  the  ex- 
istence of  a  heavy,  continuous  layer,  or  deposit,  of  limonite  iron  ore  a  few 
feet  below  the  surface,  in  Bloomfield  and  Beaver  townships.  The  details 
of  these  localities,  and  of  the  evidence  of  iron  so  far  as  ascertainable,  have 
been  given  under  the  heads  of  Cretaceous  and  Drift.  Should  this  bed  prove 
to  be  extensive,  its  actual  value  for  commercial  purposes  may  vary  greatly 
from  its  intrinsic  value.  It  consists  of  a  loose-textured  hydrated  peroxide, 


PILLMORE  COUNTY.  319 

Lead.    Quicklime.  J 

with  ochery  impurities,  and  bears  a  close  resemblence  to  some  bog-ore  de- 
posits; but  its  occurrence  on  high  land,  instead  of  in  swamps,  necessitates 
some  other  explanation  for  its  existence  than  that  ascribed  to  the  occur- 
rence of  most  bog-ore  deposits.  It  may  have  originated  during  that 
swampy  condition  of  southern  Minnesota  when  the  peat  grew  that  is  em- 
braced in  the  drift  deposits,  as  already  detailed.  It  is  not  probable  that  it 
will  ever  be  found  valuable  for  the  manufacture  of  iron.  Before  the  opening 
up  of  the  vast  and  richer  iron  ore  beds  of  Michigan  and  Missouri,  the  bog- 
ores  were  considerably  used  in  the  production  of  iron,  on  a  small  scale,  in 
several  of  the  western  states,  but  the  small  furnaces  that  smelted  them 
have  all  ceased  operations  many  years  ago.  Another  obstacle  to  the  utili- 
zation of  this  deposit  in  Fillmore  county  will  be  the  lack  of  fuel  in  conven- 
ient and  sufficient  quantities. 

Lead.  While  the  Galena  limestone,  which  is  eminently"  lead-bearing 
at  Dubuque  and  Galena,  passes  in  its  northwestern  trend  across  the  south- 
western portion  of  Fillmore  county,  it  has  not  been  discovered  to  afford  the 
same  amount  of  lead  as  in  Iowa  and  Illinois.  Indeed,  at  points  more  re- 
mote from  the  Mississippi  river,  in  Iowa,  no  remarkable  deposits  of  lead 
have  been  obtained  from  it.  There  is  not  a  total  absence  of  lead  from  its 
layers,  since  a  few  localities  are  known  to  have  afforded  it  in  limited  quan- 
tities. The  same  is  true  of  the  Trenton;  which  seems  to  indicate  that  the 
presence  of  lead  in  the  limestones  of  this  region  does  not  depend  on  the 
kind  or  age  of  the  formation,  but  rather  on  some  later,  superimposed  con- 
ditions that  prevailed  over  the  region,  subjecting  various  formations  to  the 
same  influences. 

Quicklime.  All  the  limestones  of  the  county  are  suitable  for  quicklime, 
but  by  far  the  greater  quantity  is  made  from  the  Galena.  In  *he  townships 
of  Sumner  and  Spring  Valley  all  the  circumstances  necessary  for  the  cheap 
and  rapid  production  of  quicklime  of  the  best  quality  co-exist,  viz.:  a  suit- 
able limestone,  abundant  [exposure,  and  plenty  of  fuel.  The  Galena  there 
forms  some  of  its  characteristic  outcrops,  constituting  the  bluffs  of  the  streams 
continuously  for  many  miles,  and  rising  a  hundred  or  a  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  above  the  valleys.  The  kilns  are  built  at  the  foot  of  the  bluff,  and  the 
stone  is  cheaply  obtained,  without  much  cost  of  transportation.  Wood  is 


320  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Quicklime. 

also  abundant  at  present,  much  of  that  portion  of  the  county  being  covered 
by  a  heavy  forest  growth. 

The  following  list  of  lime-burners  with  their  localities  and  estimated 
production  for  the  year,  will  give  some  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  business  in 
1874. 

Palmer  &  Miller,  Bear  creek,  three  kilns  2,000  bushels. 

N.  E.  Fetterly,  Bear  creek,  three  kilns,  5,000  bushels. 

L.  G.  Odell,  Bear  creek,  three  kilns  (one  draw-kiln)  -        -        5,000  bushels. 

Charles  Gorton,  Bear  creek,  one  kiln,  1,000  bushels. 

Allen  Brothers,  one  kiln,  -        1,000  bushels. 

J.  Finley,  Bear  creek,  one  kiln,   -  2,000  bushels. 

Isaac  Kegley,  Bear  creek,  one  kiln,  600  bushels. 

Lem.  Stout,  Bear  creek,  one  kiln.  2,000  bushels. 

T.  J.  Hammer,  Bear  creek,  one  kiln,  -        -        -        -        2,000  bushels. 

Elder  Cyrus  Young,  Bear  creek,  two  kilns.  Not  in  use. 

Harvey  McQuillan,  Bear  creek,  two  kilns,       -  -                                   Not  in  use. 

Olds  &  Brakey.  sec.  9,  Spring  Valley,  one  kiln,  -  2,000  bushels. 
J.  N.  Cummings,  sec.  11,  Spring  Valley,  one  kiln, 

J.  H.  Hall,  sec.  12,  Spring  Valley,  one  kiln,  3,600  bushels. 

These  all  burn  the  Galena,  and  there  is  no  noteworthy  difference  in 
the  quality  either  of  the  rock  or  of  the  lime  produced.  According  to  the 
testimony  of  several,  however,  there  are  certain  layers  near  the  bottom  of 
the  formation  which  are  not  suitable  for  quicklime.  Some  layers  also  are 
arenaceous,  and  have  to  be  avoided,  but  the  great  mass  of  the  rock  is  ex- 
ceedingly well  adapted  to  making  quicklime. 

The  kilns  used,  are,  for  the  most  part,  of  the  rudest  construction,  present- 
ing no  improvement  over  the  ancient  and  well-known  ''pot-kiln."  They 
have  to  be  emptied  and  refilled  for  every  burning.  Mr.  L.  G.  Odell  has  the 
only  draw-kiln  seen  in  the  county.  In  this  part  of  the  county  mixed  wood 
sells  for  two  dollars  or  two  dollars  and  fifty  cents  per  cord.  The  average 
price  of  lime  is  twenty-five  cents  per  bushel,  but  it  fluctuates  from  twenty 
to  forty.  In  Jfculy,  1875,  it  was  selling  for  twenty  cents;  but  in  September 
it  brought  forty  cents.  The  lime  itself  is  generally  nearly  white  after  be- 
ing burnt,  but  in  some  places  it  has  an  ashen  white  color,  though  on  slack- 
ing it  is  always  white.  It  slacks  with  rapidity,  evolving  considerable  heat. 
It  requires  from  sixty  to  seventy-two  hours  to  burn  a  kiln,  depending  on 
the  size  of  the  kiln  and  somewhat  on  its  shape,  and  consuming  about  ten 
cords  of  dry,  mixed  wood.  When  freshly  and  thoroughly  burnt  one  bushel 
by  measure  weighs  about  seventy-five  pounds,  but  it  not  well  burnt  it  will 
exceed  eighty  pounds.  "  Delivered  at  Spring  Valley  by  weight,  it  is  sold  at 


FILL. MORE  COUNT V.  321 

Blick,  gold  and  copper.j 

t 

the  same  price  as  by  measure  at  the  kiln."  When  shipped  from  Spring 
Valley  it  generally  goes  west,  to  points  along  the  Southern  Minnesota  rail- 
road, and  is  known  as  Spring  Valley  white  lime. 

Throughout  the  county,  where  the  Trenton  limestone  appears,  there 
are  other  lime  kilns  that  supply  the  local  demand.  The  following  were 
noted: 

At  Carimona,  owned  by  William  Benslow.  Sec.  35,  Carimona,  by  Mr.  Rollins. 

At  Forestville,  by  Frank  Turner.  Sec.  25,  Canton,  by  Simon  Houck. 

At  Chatfleld,  by  Dennis  Jacobs. 

The  Shakopee  is  not  used  for  making  lime  in  Fillmore  county,  though 
it  is  extensively  burned  in  the  lower  Minnesota  valley,  at  Mankato  and  at 
Shakopee.  The  St.  Lawrence  limestone  is  somewhat  employed  for  this 
purpose,  and  affords  a  lime  that  is  nearly  white,  and  is  said  to  weigh  eighty 
pounds  per  bushel  of  measure.  At  Lanesboro  this  lime  sells  at  $1.25  per 
barrel,  or  fifty  cents  per  bushel,  wood  costing  five  or  six  dollars  per  cord. 
Mr.  Sherman's  kiln  holds  about  three  hundred  bushels  and  requires  ten  to 
eleven  cords  of  wood  for  thorough  calcination,  burning  about  forty-eight 
hours.  But  little  is  shipped  from  here.  The  lime  is  about  white  and  slacks 
perfectly  white.  The  following  list  embraces  all  known  kilns  that  were 
run  from  the  St.  Lawrence  in  1874. 

At  Lanesboro,  by  B.  Sherman.  At  Rushford,  by  Jos.  Otis. 

At  Lanesboro,  by  Moses  Greer.  At  Rushford,  by  Wm.  Crampton. 

At  Lanesboro,  by  Mr.  Butler. 

Brick.  There  is  no  lack  of  materials  for  making  common  red  brick. 
In  some  places  the  surface  of  the  drift  clay  is  used,  containing  some  fine 
gravel,  and  at  others  the  loess  loam.  Brick-making  machinery  was  met 
with  in  the  survey  of  the  county  at  the  following  points: 

Sec.  20,  Spring  Valley,  J.  W.  Smith.  Chatfleld,  Wm.  Stafford. 

Forestville,  Michael  Shields.  Lanesboro,  W.  H.  Roberts. 

Preston,  Franklin  Coleman.  Rushford,  Ole  Tuff. 

Lanesboro,  Thomas  Dunsmore.  Granger  (formerly),  Mr.  Ferris. 

Gold  and  copper.  In  small  quantities  gold  has  been  washed,  by  rude  meth- 
ods, from  the  drift  at  several  points  in  the  county.  It  was  found  on  Hugh 
Hague's  land  in  gravel,  K  E.  J  sec.  26,  Spring  Valley,  and  at  Yeariton's  saw 
mill,  sec.  31,  Jordan.  There  are  accounts  also  of  fragments  of  native  cop- 
per having  been  found  in  the  drift.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that 
these  discoveries  do  not  indicate  any  valuable  deposit  of  the  kind  in  the 

31 


322  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Building  stone. 

rocks  of  the  localities  where  they  may  be  found.  They  pertain  to  the' drift 
and  have  been  transported  hundreds  ot  miles  along  with  the  other  foreign 
substances  in  which  they  occur,  from  the  northern  part  of  the  state.  Such 
discoveries  have  sometimes  awakened  an  interest  that  has  culminated  in 
stock  companies  formed  for  mining,  and  in  the  wasting  of  thousands  of  dol- 
lars. Similar  small  quantities  of  gold  can  be  got  by  a  minute  washing  of 
the  drift  at  almost  any  place  where  the  drift-sheet  is  attenuated,  or  where 
the  older  glacial  drift  has  been  denuded,  leaving  the  gold,  which  is  inde- 
structible either  by  lapse  of  time  or  by  the  chemistry  of  the  elements,  on 
the  rock  surface  underlying.  Almost  every  geological  report  in  the  country 
makes  mention  of  them,  extending  at  least  through  Ohio,  Illinois,  Indiana, 
Wisconsin  and  Iowa. 

Building  stone.  With  this  necessary  article  Fillmore  county  is  also 
well  supplied,  and  it  has  been  put  to  an  extensive  use.  There  are  hundreds 
of  openings  made  to  supply  a  local  demand,  besides  a  great  many  more 
extensive  quarries  which  are  known  for  a  good  many  miles  around.  A 
great  deal  of  stone  for  building  is  shipped  to  counties  west,  which  are  drift- 
covered  and  without  accessible  building  stone.  Probably  three-fourths  of 
the  building  stone  used  in  the  county  is  derived  from  the  Galena  and  Tren- 
ton, the  other  fourth  being  made  up  from  the  Devonian  and  the  St.  Law- 
rence. The  Trenton  is  most  frequently  employed.  This  is  largely  owing 
to  the  prominent  manner  of  its  outcrops,  as  shown  under  the  head  of 
Drainage  and  of  Surface  Features.  The  Galena  has  been  used  in  the  con- 
struction of  several  school-houses  and  private  residences.  At  Spring  Val- 
ley the  Devonian  is  principally  used;  at  Lanesboro,  Whalan,  Peterson  and 
Rushford,  the  St.  Lawrence.  The  Shakopee  and  Jordan  are  but  rarely 
resorted  to. 

The  beds  of  the  Trenton  are  usually  less  than  six  inches  in  thickness, 
and  they  are  easily  broken  to  any  desired  size.  It  is  a  hard  stone,  not 
easily  cut,  but  can  be  dressed  if  necessary.  It  is  not  injured  by  dissemina- 
ted shale,  as  much  of  the  Trenton  at  points  farther  north,  and  hence  makes 
a  very  durable  material.  The  quarry  ot  Mr.  Joseph  Taylor,  formerly  well 
known,  situated  near  Fountain,  has  been  closed  for  several  years.  At 
Fountain  are  several  buildings  constructed  of  stone  from  this  place. 

Besides  the  quarries  in  the  Trenton  that  have  been  mentioned  in  giv- 


FILLMORE  COUNTY.  328. 

Building  swne.    Sand.] 


ing  the  scientific  geology  of  that  formation,  a  number  were  visited  ; 
no  new  facts  of  interest  were  noted.    Such  were  Ole  Olesoii's,  N.  E,  £  sec.  36, 
Harmony;  Wm.  Wilbright's  and  Martin  Quinn's,  sec.  AS,-,  Fcnrestrville;  ,Geo.; 
Drury's,  sec.  3,  Bristol;  Garrett  Mensing's,  S.  W.  J  sec.  27,  Forestville.     It 
would  be  impossible  and  unnecessary  to  mention  all  the  places  where  this 
limestone  has  been  wrought.    In  traveling  over  the  county-  a.ioiumbei'  of  ' 
stone  houses  for  residence  were  seen,  belonging  to  farmers.    Such  artfQ/ 
O'Hara's,  S.  W.^sec.  18,  Amherst,  from  the  Trenton;  Mr;  Geo.  Park's,  sec.  37. 
Bloomfield,  from  the  Galena  of  Mr.  S.  S.  Belding's  quarry.     Tho  stone  mill' 
at  Preston  is  of  the  Trenton.     Of  the  quarries  in  the>  Devonian  at  Spring 
Valley,  those  of  Mr.  Shumaker  and  of  Mr.  Allen  are  .  'the  mosti  important. 
The  former  furnishes  a  beautiful,  fine-grained  cut-stotae-f  or1  trimmings,  as 
well  as  stone  for  common  walls.    The  latter  supplies  a  dairkea^colJored  amd, 
coarser  stone,  which  has  been  considerably  used.  1wJ  t  noi-tesup  on  off 

From  the  St.  Lawrence  limestone  a  very  fine  building  idtonaje-isioftitaiiBedo 
It  is  a  fortunate  circumstance  that  very  much  of  this  formatidn  is.ia<(regntj 
lar,  and  often  in  heavy  layers.    These  are  also  not  so  firm  afejiba  'resist  <iH©/ 
usual  means  for  quarrying.    When  the  beds  are  brokeoi:ithe«<biocfcs[<ari8s 
found  to  possess  often  a  finely  vesicular  texture.    Their  eflx 
yellow  or  buff,  resembling  that  of  the  "Milwaukee  brick".-  ni 
buildings  at  Lanesboro,  including  the  Lanesboro  Hotel,  the;  ffouiririg-imilt; 
ot  Thompson  and  Williams,  the  Presbyterian  and  Catholic  xJhhtrrehes,  the 
public  school-house,  and  a  number  of  stores,  are  of  the  St.  Liwrenicte^qtiairH 
ried  at  Lanesboro,  and  from  land  owned  by  the  LanesborioicompaliijyihiAti 
Whalan  are  excellent  opportunities  for  observing  this  stone  in  itri'bdigfc  'Ctaii 
dition.     It  has  been  somewhat  wrought  on   Whalan's  blusff.v.\\(Q«ariirids  in 
the  same  are  owned  at  Rushford  by  Wm.  Crampton,  Jos.  OiasprindicHiilawtatl 
Walker.     Mr.  Crampton's  quarry  furnished  the  stone  put  -iaatotlBo.yam'S' 
store,  and  also  that  of  A.  K.  Hanson's.     Mr.  E.  Larson's  was 
Otis's  quarry,  and  that  of  Mr.  Kierland  and  son  from  Mr. 
Amherst  P.  0.  the  Jordan  is  quarried  some  for  foundations,  and  the  Shako- 
pee  at  Chatfield. 

Sand  for  mortar  and  concrete.  Wherever  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  is  ac- 
cessible it  is  employed  for  making  mortar.  It  is  equally  good  for  hard- 
finish,  being,  when  taken  from  some  depth,  purely  white  and  of  very  uni- 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Sand.     Calcareous  tufa. 

form  firmness.  There  are,  however,  some  portions  of  the  county  where  it 
is'much  more  difficult  to  obtain  a  sand  suitable  for  common  mortar.  In 
the  western  part  of  the  county  a  white  sanu,  or  one  nearly  white,  is  ob- 
Mned  from; deposits. referable  to  the  Lower  Cretaceous.  These  have  been 
mentioned  under  the  head  of  Cretaceous.  They  are  found  on  the  land  of 
QoddBMBpieeSffiui  sec.  8,  Bloomfield;  on  sec.  17,  Spring  Valley;  on  Andrew 
M^Nee's  land,  N.  W.  \  sec,  22,  Bloomfield;  and  on  J.  M.  Eexford's,  N.  E.  J 
sec.  36.  Mr.  Temple  delivers  sand  at  Spring  Valley  for  $1.75  per  load  of 
two  tons.  One  team  can  haul  five  such  loads  per  day,  but  generally  hauls 
three;  From  three  fto  five  hundred  dollars  worth  are  taken  from  Mr.  Tem- 
ple's sand  pit  annually.  Besides  these  sources  for  mortar  sand,  the  Jordan 
sandstone  which  is  often  as  incoherent  as  the  St.  Peter,  can  be  used  to  ad- 
vantage, though  it  is  rather  more  apt  to  be  cemented  by  iron.  There  can 
be  no  question  that  the  compact  and  impervious  nature  of  the  green  shales 
of -the  "Hudson  River  have  preserved  the  incoherency  of  the  St.  Peter,  by 
preventing  the  downward  percolation  of  ferriferous  and  calcareous  waters 
which  certainly  would  have  left  their  impurities  in  the  form  of  cement 
among?  ifc$<  beautiful  white  grains. 

I'l^iTke  proximity  and  cheapness  of  lime  and  sand  have  suggested  the 
building  of  'houses  by  mixing  these  substances  in  the  form  of  a  concrete. 
Several  such  are  found  at  Fillmore,  also  in  Jordan  and  at  Rushford;  but 
this  method  ;is  not  general.  The  material  is  cast  in  the  form  of  large  brick, 
having  the  'color  of  common  brown  mortar,  and  these  blocks  are  laid  up 
much  likei  common  brick  walls.  Patent  presses  are  used  to  make  the  con- 
crete blocks,  iri 

ni  -Galcarebus  tufa.  At  Chatfield  there  is  considerable  travertine  in  the 
tohiff&  on  the  north  side  of  the  creek,  and  on  the  limestone  layers,  in  the 
seams, '';It  has  become  crystalline  in  some  cases,  and  lies  in  successive  lam- 
inations that  have  a  color  like  brown  sugar,  and  resembles  the  lamellar 
calcite  of  Houston  county. 

fH  --iff.) 


-•>K    >\    ->|l' 

i     MO)     f 


.!L' 


CHAPTER  VII. 


BY  M.  W.  HARRINGTON.* 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  OLMSTED  COUNTY. 

irfT 

oidmiiX 

mrt't 

Situation  and  area.  This  large  and  wealthy  county  (plate  11)  lies  in 
the  second  tier  of  counties  north  of  Iowa,  and  is  separated  from  the  Missis- 
sippi river  by  only  Winona  county  on  the  east.  Its  form  is  nearly  that  of 
a  rectangle,  with  five  ranges  of  townships  east  and  west  and  four  ranges 
north  and  south.  This  geometrical  figure  is  rendered  irregular  by  Wa- 
basha  county  which  takes  two  townships  from  the  northeast  corner.  This 
irregularity  is  further  increased  by  the  addition  of  an  east  and  west  row 
of  twelve  sections  on  the  western  part  of  the  south  side  of  the  county, 
which  extend  also  half  a  mile  farther  west  than  the  rest  of  the  county. 

The  land  area  of  the  various  townships  is  given  in  the  subjoined  table 
derived  from  the  records  in  the  office  of  the  state  auditor: 


JNAME. 

TOWNSHIP 
N. 

RANGE 
W. 

ACRES  AND 
FRACTIONS. 

Elmira.           .  .               

105 

11 

23,008.69 

Dover                   

106 

11 

23,019.01 

Quincy         

107 

11 

23,038.81 

Orion                                       

105 

12 

22,992.53 

106 

12 

22,983.90 

Viola                                                    

107 

12 

22,977.97 

Pleasant  Grov6                         .    .                

105 

13 

23,020.18 

Marion                                

106 

13 

22.963.10 

107 

13 

23,005.91 

108 

13 

22,810.11 

High  Forest                         

(  104 

14  (6  sections)  ( 

26,804.42 

)  105 
106 

1 

14 

22,973.76 

107 

14 

22,915.45 

Oronoco                         .       ....       

108 

14 

22,968.06 

Rock  Dell                                  • 

I  104 

15  (6  sections)  ) 

26,809.22 

|  105 
106 

15      ( 
15 

23,002.35 

Kalmar                 

107 

15 

22,990.60 

New  Haven  

108 

15 

23,057.89 

*To  the  original  survey  and  report  of  Prof.  Harrington  (fourth  annual  report)  considerable  new  material  has  been 
added. 


THE  GEOLOGY  or  MINNESOTA. 

[Natural  drainage. 

The  area  of  Olmsted  county  embraces  G58.42  square  miles  of  land,  or 
421,391.08  acres;  its  water  area  is  3.94  square  miles,  or  2,520.20  acres;  mak- 
ing a  total  of  662.36  square  miles,  or  423,911.28  acres. 

SURFACE   FEATURES. 

Natural  drainage.  Streams  are  plentiful  and  their  fall  is  moderate. 
The  central,  northern  and  western  parts  of  the  county  are  drained  by  the 
Zumbro  river.  This  stream  runs  north  into  Wabasha  county,  where  it 
turns  east  and  makes  its  way  to  the  Mississippi.  It  comes  into  Rochester 
from  the  southwest,  and  within  the  city  limits  Bear  creek  from  the  south- 

ill   «9f 

east,  Silver  creek  from  the  east  and  Cascade  creek  from  the  west,  empty 
-ai8f- 

into  it.     Near  the  north  line  of  the  county  it  receives  quite  a  stream,  re- 
to 
suiting  from  the  union  of  the  middle  and  north  forks  of  the  Zumbro.     The 

southern  tier  of  townships  are  drained  by  Root  river,  which,  very  sinuous, 
takes  a  generally  east  course  to  the  Mississippi.  This  has  no  affluents  of 
much  size  in  the  county,  except  at  Chatfield  where  a  small  stream  known  as 
Mill  creek  joins  it  from  the  north.  On  the  eastern  border  of  the  county 
some  small  branches  of  the  Whitewater  river  reach  within  the  county. 

There  are  no  lakes  in  this  county,  but  it  contains  {a  few  small  ponds 
which  in  no  sense  deserve  the  name  of  lakes.  Streams  which  sink  into  the 
ground  and  disappear  are  occasionally  met  with.  They  occur  in  Farming- 
ton,  Elmira,  Haverhill  and  Viola  townships,  and  are  especially  frequent 
where  the  sandstones  of  the  Cambrian  have  combined  with  the  magnesian 
limestones  to  produce  a  gorged  and  broken  condition  of  the  strata  in  pre- 
glacial  times,  followed  by  a  thin  spreading  of  till  or  of  loam.  The  same 
conditions  produce  sink-holes  and  subterranean  streams  in  the  area  of  the 
Galena  limestone  wherever  the  drift  is  light  so  as  not  to  have  filled  com- 
pactly and  completely  the  pre-existing  gorges.*  These  phenomena  are 
more  particularly  noted  on  a  subsequent  page  where  these  formations  are 
discussed. 

Living  springs  of  cool,  pure  water,  of  the  best  quality,  are  not  rare. 
They  are  by  far  the  most  common  on  the  south  or  west  sides  of  the  bluffs 
where  the  green  clay  derived  from  the  lower  rocks  of  the  Trenton  period 
comes  to  the  surface.  This  clay  is  impervious  to  water.  The  formations 


•Compare  the  report  on  Fillmore  county. 


1'LATF.    II. 


OLMSTED  COUNTY. 


Water-power.] 


327 


dip  slightly  toward  the  southwest.  The  layer  ol  clay  forms  a  nearly 
level  floor  of  which  the  southern  and  western  sides  are  lower  than  the 
others.  The  water  consequently  appears  at  the  surface  on  these  sides. 
These  springs  are  frequently  of  large  size.  The  phenomenon  of  a  row  ot 
springs  some  distance  up  the  side  of  a  bluft,  while  the  base  of  the  bluff 
furnishes  no  springs,  is  by  no  means  a  rare  one.  Spongy  earth,  and  some- 
times calcareous  tufa,  are  apt  to  collect  about  these  springs.  When  filled 
with  water  the  earth  is  soft  and  very  miry.  In  former  times  where  the 
roads  crossed  such  spots,  bad  mudholes  were  formed.  They  have  now  been 
generally  tapped  and  drained,  though  they  are  still  occasionally  met  with 
on  the  less-traveled  roads. 

Water-power.  Olmsted  county  is  more  than  usually  favored  with  good 
water-power.  This  results  from  the  large  number  of  streams,  the  swift- 
ness of  their  currents  and  the  favorable  nature  of  the  banks  and  bottom. 
The  Zumbro  river,  in  some  of  its  affluents,  has  a  descent  of  about  three 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  within  the  county,  from  Rock  Dell  to  Oronoco,  while 
the  main  stream  descends  about  two  hundred  feet  in  the  same  distance. 
The  Root  river  falls  three  hundred  feet  within  the  county  in  passing  through 
Rock  Dell,  High  Forest,  Pleasant  Grove  and  Orion  townships. 

Water-power  mills  in  Olmsted  county. 


Name  of  mills. 

Owner. 

Location. 

Stream. 

Feet  of 
head. 

°s 
fl§ 

3  -e 
«M 

Capacity 
per  day. 

Rochester  City  mills.  .  . 

Olds  &  Fishback 

Rochester  

Zumbro  .  .  . 

16 

4 

100  bbls. 

Zumbro  mills  

Jno  M  Cole 

Rochester  

Zumbro  and 

Cascade  mills  

Lyman  Tondro 

Rochester  

Bear  cieek. 
Cascade  cr  . 

10 
17 

4 

2 

100  bbls. 
50  bbls. 

Woolen  mills     

Wm  Bartley 

Rochester  . 

Bear  creek 

17 

f  50  horse 
|  power,  only 

Oronoco  mills  

Allis     Gooding 

|  partly  im- 
(.  proved. 

&  Hibbard 

Oronoco  

Zumbro  .... 

15 

7 

150  bbls. 

Middleton's  mill    ...  . 

R  Middleton 

Xalmar  

Zumbro  

6i 

2 

35  bbls. 

Saw  mill 

New  Haven 

Zumbro    ... 

6 

Stewtville 

Chas  Stewart 

High  Forest 

Root 

12 

50  bbls. 

J  Fugle 

Orion 

Root  

8 

50  bbls. 

Custom  mill  

English 

Orion  

Hoot  

small. 

small. 

tjuincy  mills    

Quincy  

Whitewater 

10 

2  or  3 

Saw  mill  

—  Ambler  

New  Haven  .  .  . 

Zumbro  

10 

There  is  quite  a  number  of  unimproved  water-powers  in  the  county; 
some  are  between  Rochester  and  the  north  boundary  of  the  county,  where 
the  difficulties  of  the  banks  prevent  their  ready  improvement.  There  are 


32S  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MLXXKSOTA. 

[Topography, 

said  to  be  two  good  mill  privileges  between  the  Oronoco  mills  and  the 
main  stream;  another  is  at  Genoa,  and  another  at  High  Forest.  The  mills 
at  Chatfield  are  enumerated  in  the  preceding  chapter. 

Topography.  The  surface  is  much  diversified,  and  the  natural  scenery 
very  pleasing  to  the  eye.  The  surface  is  generally  rolling  or  undulating. 
The  contour-lines  of  the  county  plate  express  the  frequency  of  changes  in 
the  elevation  of  the  surface.  Along  the  streams  bluffs  are  found  sometimes 
nearly  two  hundred  feet  high.  These  bluffs  are  usually  steep,  level-topped, 
and  characteristic  of  the  rock-formation  that  makes  them.  They  are  most 
common  in  the  central  and  eastern  parts  of  the  county.  Rochester  lies  in 
a  valley,  with  bluffs  all  around  it,  rising  gently  at  some  distance  on  all  sides 
except  toward  the  west  where  it  climbs  the  bluff.  Dover  Center,  Marion 
and  Chatfield  lie  in  similar  valleys.  Eyota  and  Byron  are  on  elevated  undu- 
lating prairies  nearly  thirteen  hundred  feet  above  the  ocean.  Curious 
isolated  mounds  are  common,  especially  along  the  east  side  of  the  Zumbro  in 
Farmington  and  Haverhill  townships.  They  are  also  found  in  Elmira.  In 
the  western  portion  of  the  county  the  surface  is  nearly  level  but  also  more 
elevated.  Much  of  Rock  Dell  township  is  like  the  prairies  just  south  and 
west  of  it,  but  in  its  northern  part  are  narrow  rocky  gorges  formed  by  the 
south  branch  of  the  Zumbro,  which  gave  name  to  the  town. 

Elevations.  The  following  elevations  are  mostly  on  a  proposed  line  ot 
railroad  from  Wabasha  to  Austin,  from  notes  of  Horace  Horton,  the  sur- 
veyor who  ran  the  line.  They  have  been  referred  to  sea-level  by  com- 
parison with  elevations  determined  at  Plainview,  Brownsdale  and  Austin. 

derations,  from  the  notes  of  Horace  Horton.  C.  E. 

Above  the  Missis-    ,,     . 

sippi  river  at  low    Ff  {*  above 

water  at  Wabasha. 

Head  of  East  Indian  creek,  five  miles  northeast  of  Plainview  (Wabasha  county)      529  1191 

Street  of  Plainview  (Wabasha  county)  .518  1175 

Elgin  (Wabasha  county)  -      385  1047 

Summit  of  Lone  Mound,  sec.  11,  Farmington,  within  10  feet  of  Plainview  level,  513  1175 

Near  center  of  sec.  14,  Haverhill,      -  -      611  1273 

S.  W.  corner  of  sec.  24,  Haverhill  (rock  seen  some  feet  above)  547  1209 

Base  of  Sugar  Loaf,  sees.  31  and  32,  Haverhill,  -      367  1029 

College  street  bridge,  Rochester,  -  317  979 

Surface  of  water  beneath,        -  -      302  964 

S.E.  corner  sec.  10,  High  Forest,  -  644  1306 

Low  water  at  High  Forest  village,      -  -      547  1209 

Sec.  29,  T.  1O4K.,  R.  15  W.,  Mower  county,  i  mile  south  of  John  Rowley's  house,  734  139fi 

Dr.  ThornhilFs  farm,  4  miles  east  of  Brownsdale,  in  Mowercounty,  -      707  1369 

Southern  Minn.  R.  R.  at  Brownsdale  (Mower  county)     -  609  1271 

St.  Paul  and  Milwaukee  R.  R.  track  at  Austin  (Mower  county)      -  -      535  1197 

Pleasant  Grove,  about  644  1306 

Creek  near  the  school-house  in  sec.  15,  Cascade,  about  -      342  1004 

N.  W.  corner  of  sec.  10,  Cascade,    -  477  1139 

(Quarter  stake,  sections  33  and  34,  Oronoco,    -  -      467  1129 

Center  stake,  sec.  21 ,  Oronoco,       -  442  1104 

Surface  of  river  at  Oronoco,     -  -      292  954 


OLMSTED  COUNTY.  329 

F.levations.] 

Elevations  on  the  Winnna  and  St.  Peter  din.tion  of  the  Chicago  and  Northwestern  railway. 

Miles         Feet  above 
from  Winomv.      the  sea. 

St.  diaries.  -        28.35  1,139 

Dover,  32.19  1,138 

Eyota,       -  -        36.87  1,237 

Chatfield  Junction,    -  37.73  1,275 

Plainview  Junction.  -        37.93  1,275 

Chester,  42.74  1,122 

Rochester  -        49.26  991 

Hochseter  and  Northern  Minnesota  Railway  Junction,  50. (U  999 

Olmsted  .                        -        54.22  1,054 

Byron,  58.71  1,250 

Kasson  -        63.87  1,252 

Elevations  on  the  Chatjteld  branch. 

Chatfield  Junction.    -  37.73  1,275 

Summit  grade  -        40.75  1 ,295 

Chatfield  depot,  48.87  976 

Elevations  on  the  Plainrietr  branch. 

Plainview  Junction  -        37.93  1,275 

Doty,  40.00  1,310 

Viola  -        43.00  1,129 

Whitewater  creek.     -  47.00  1,055 

Elgin  -        48.17  1,069 

Plainview.  52.93  1,167 

Elevations  on  the  Rochester  and  Northern  Minnesota  railway. 

Rochester  and  Northern  Minnesota  Junction,                                                 -        50.64  999 

Douglas,  58.35  1,091 

Zumbro  liver,       -  -        60.25  966 

Zumbro  bridge,  60.25  986 

Oronoco,   -  61.72  1.041 

Zumbro  river,  65.20  984 

Zumbro  bridge,    -  -        65.20  993 

Pine  Island,  65.86  998 

Mean  elevation  of  the  county.  Estimates  of  the  average  bights  of  the  town- 
ships of  this  county  are  as  follows:  Quincy,  1150  feet  above  the  sea;  Elmira, 
1175;  Viola,  1225;  Eyota,  1250;  Orion,  1200;  Farmington,  1125;  Haverhill, 
1200;  Marion,  1200;  Pleasant  Grove,  1250;  Oronoco,  1075:  Cascade,  1075; 
Rochester,  1125;  High  Forest,  1275;  New  Haven,  1100;  Kalmar,  1150;  Salem, 
1175;  and  Rock  Dell,  1275.  The  mean  elevation  of  Olmsted  county,  derived 
from  these  figures,  is  approximately  1180  feet  above  the  sea. 

SURFACE  FEATURES  OF  THE  VARIOUS  TOWNS. 

Farmington.  This  was  a  prairie  town  originally.  It  is  quite  broken  in  the  southwestern 
portion,  and  an  isolated  mound,  rising  150  feet  above  the  surrounding  surface,  stands  in  the 
northeastern.  Otherwise  the  surface  is  undulating,  with  fine  loam  soil,  becoming  sandy  near  the 
bluffs. 

Oronoco.  The  bluffs  of  the  Zumbro  and  of  its  western  tributary  crossing  this  township 
give  It  great  diversity  of  surface  characters.  The  bluffs  are  frequently  rocky  and  rise  over  a  hun- 
dred feet  perpendicular.  In  other  places  they  are  covered  with  gravelly  clay  and  gravel,  so  that 
no  rock  is  visible,  or  very  little,  but  the  valley  still  is  deep  and  difficult.  Outside  the  valleys, 
which  are  generally  timbered,  the  undulating  prairies  spread  out  indefinitely. 


3HO  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Surface  features. 

New  Haven.  This  town  is  more  broken  than  Oronoco,  and  more  timbered,  and  from  the 
same  causes. 

Quincy.  This  town  is  almost  entirely  one  of  smooth  undulating  prairie,  there  being  a  rather 
abrupt  ascent  from  the  northeastern  portions  to  the  soutli western,  brought  out  prominently  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  drainage  valleys.  Some  scattered  oaks  and  aspens  are  found  in  the  eastern 
sections  between  the  Whitewater  and  its  northern  branch. 

Viola.  This  is  mainly  a  high  and  undulating  prairie,  its  southern  border  being  about  thir- 
teen hundred  feet  above  the  sea.  Toward  the  north  the  surface  descends  abruptly  to  the  valleys 
as  the  outcroping  rock  changes  from  the  Trenton  limestone  to  the  St.  Peter  sandstone.  Some  of 
the  streams  that  rise  near  the  center  of  this  township  take  their  origin  from  small  elevated 
marshes  that  lie  on  the  high  prairie. 

Haverhill.  This  township  is  similar  to  the  last,  but  its  general  slope  is  in  the  opposite  direc 
tion. 

Cascade.  This  township  has  great  variety  of  surface,  with  considerable  timber  in  the  north- 
western and  southwestern  portions,  but  by  far  the  larger  part  is  naturally  prairie.  Much  of  the 
timber  is  small,  especially  at  some  distance  from  the  streams. 

Kalmar.  About  one-half  of  this  township  was  originally  covered  with  timber,  a  large  tract 
in  the  northwestern  portion  being  very  heavy  and  valuable  for  fuel.  The  bluffs  of  the  river 
which  crosses  it  are  rocky  and  frequently  perpendicular  seventy-five  to  one  hundred  feet. 

Dover.  With  the  exception  of  scattered  thickets  of  small  trees  of  aspen  or  oak  this  town- 
ship is  one  of  prairie.  Most  of  it  is  high,  but  it  has  a  conspicuous  valley  running  east  and  west, 
through  the  center,  occupied  by  the  Whitewater  river.  Some  of  the  highest  land  in  the  county  is 
n  the  southern  part  of  this  township. 

Eyota.  The  most  of  this  township  is  also  high  prairie  like  the  southern  part  of  Dover;  in  its 
western  portion  it  has  a  broad  belt  of  heavy  timber  about  the  southern  tributaries  of  Bear  creek- 
Along  its  southern  boundary  it  is  somewhat  broken  by  the  headwaters  of  some  of  the  branches  of 
Root  river. 

Marion.  A  considerable  portion  of  this  township  is  rolling  and  lightly  timbered  ;  the  up- 
lands are  prairie.  The  valleys  have  a  sandy  soil,  but  the  prairies  have  a  clay  soil. 

Rochester.  Much  of  this  township  is  timbered,  generally  with  scattering  oaks,  sometimes 
with  a  variety  ot  heavy  timber.  The  valleys  are  sandy  and  gravelly,  but  broad  and  generally  tilled. 
The  uplands  are  sometimes  prairie  and  have  a  clayey  soil.  The  bluff-slopes  ate  not  generally 
rocky,  but  are  often  turfed  from  top  to  bottom. 

Salem.  Much  of  this  township  is  covered  with  timber,  which  is  often  rather  brush  than 
trees,  consisting  of  oaks,  hazel  and  aspens.  The  uplands  sometimes  bear  marshes  which  furnish 
source  to  the  branches  of  the  Zumbro. 

Elmira.  This  is  a  town  of  mixed  wood  and  prairie.  Its  eastern  and  southern  portions  are 
more  broken,  and  descend  rather  quickly  to  the  valleys  which  drain  them ;  the  northern  and  west- 
ern portions  are  high  with  scattering  timber.  The  upland  is  set  off  from  the  lower  prairies  by  a 
conspicuous  bench  that  rises  abruptly  about  a  hundred  feet,  its  upper  line  being  about  twelve 
hundred  feet  above  the  sea. 

Orion  has  much  timber  along  the  valley  of  Boot  river.  This  valley  is  about  two  hundred 
feet  below  the  uplands,  and  is  about  a  mile  wide. 

Pleasant  Grove.  The  valley  of  Root  river  is  here  also  about  two  hundred  feet  below  the  up- 
lands, but  it  is  narrower  and  more  precipitous  than  in  Orion.  In  the  center  of  this  township  is  a 
large  area  of  timber. 

High  Forest.  This  is  nearly  all  prairie,  but  has  some  wood  along  the  streams.  The  valley 
of  Root  river  is  less  deep,  but  its  banks  are  sometimes  rocky. 

Rock  Dell.  The  banks  of  the  Zumbro,  in  the  northern  part,  are  steepand  rocky,  but  those  of 
the  Root  river  are  in  the  drift  deposits.  This  town  in  general  is  one  of  high  undulating  prairie, 
with  occasional  small  marshes. 

Timber.  When  first  settled  this  county  had  a  large  amount  ot  native 
heavy  timber,  and  also  much  in  the  condition  of  "openings".  Some  of  it 
has  now  been  cut,  but  it  is  not  probable  that  the  standing  trees  are  less 


OLMSTED    COUNTY.  331 

Trees.] 

numerous  now  than  then.  The  suppression  of  the  prairie  fires,  and  the 
reservation  of  large  areas  for  the  purpose  of  growing  timber,  added  to  the 
trees  that  have  been  artificially  raised  on  the  open  prairies,  have  served 
to  favor  the  forest  growth.  The  brush  and  the  "openings"  have  been 
cleared  off,  but  on  every  prairie  farm  have  been  raised  hundreds  ot  cotton- 
woods  or  poplars,  or  willows,  or  maples,  box-elders  or  elms,  which  have 
probably  more  than  equalled  the  number  of  trees  cut  for  fuel  and  for  farm- 
ing. The  following  trees,  shrubs  and  twining  plants  were  observed  in  the 

survey  of  the  county. 

• 

I.     Trees  of  Olmsted  county. 

Tilia  Americana,  L.    Bass  wood. 

Acer  saccharinum,   Wang.    Sugar  maple. 

Acer  rubrum,  L.    Red  maple. 

Acer  darycarpum,  Ehr.    Soft  maple. 

The  first  two  maples  do  not  usually  attain  any  considerable  size,  while  the  soft  maple,  in  a 
state  of  nature,  becomes  a  large  tree. 

Negundo  aceroides,  Moench.    Box-elder. 

This  tree  is  common  along  streams,  and  is  a  favorite  in  cultivation.  In  transplanting  it  is 
trimmed  up  too  much  to  easily  take  root.  It  is  a  pretty  tree,  of  a  pleasing  form  and  a  full  light- 
green  foliage. 

Fraxinus  Americana,  L.    White  ash. 

Ulmus  f  ulva,  Mich.    Slippery  elm. 

Ulmus  racemosa,  llumias.    Corky,  or  rock,  elm. 

Of  the  latter  elm  several  trees  are  seen  in  the  streets  at  Rochester.  It  is  a  common  species 
in  dry  woodlands. 

Ulmus  Americana,  L.  (pi.  Clayt.),-Willd.    American  elm,  or  white  elm. 

Juglans  nigra,  L.    Black  walnut. 

A  grove  of  these  trees  was  seen  in  Kalmar. 

Juglans  cinerea,  L.    Butternut. 

Carya  amara,  Nutt.    Bitternut,  or  hickory. 

Of  the  hickory  only  very  small  trees  were  seen.  It  is  said  to  be  winter-killed  before  reaching 
a  mature  size  ;  further  it  is  extensively  cut  when  small  for  round  barrel-hoops  for  the  large  export 
of  Minnesota  flour. 

Quercus  macrocarpa,  Michx.    Bur  oak. 

Is  very  abundant.  On  prairies  it  is  low,  3-8  feet  high,  forming  extensive  thickets  and  fruit- 
ing abundantly.  In  more  favorable  localities  protected  from  fire  it  becomes  a  large  tree. 

Quercus  alba,  L.    White  oak. 

Is  hard  to  distinguish  at  a  distance  from  the  last.  Undoubted  specimens  were  seen  near 
High  Forest. 

Quercus  coccinea,  Wang.,  var.  tinctoria,  Gray.    Black  oak. 

Like  all  the  species  of  this  group  of  oaks,  this  tree  is  hard  to  identify.  It  is  very  common, 
but  its  largest  specimens  are  disappearing  with  the  advent  of  civilization.  It  is  frequently  seen 
dead  or  dying  without  apparent  cause. 

Betula  papyracea,  Ait.  Paper  birch.   Small,  along  streams  in  the  western  part  of  the  county 

Populus  tremuloides,  Michx.  American  aspen.  Very  common,  usually  less  than  six  inches 
in  diameter. 

Populus  grandidentata,  Michx.    Great-toothed  aspen. 

Populus  monilifera,  Ait.    Cottonwood.    A  great  favorite  in  cultivation. 

Populus  balsamifera,  L.    Balm  of  Gilead.  • 

Populus  alba,  L.    Silver  poplar. 


332  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Shrubs.     Vines. 

Populus  dilatata,  Ait.  Lombardy  poplar.  The  last  three  are  introduced  and  very  common 
in  cultivation. 

Salix sp?    Willows.    Several  species  were  seen,  some  of  them  becoming  large  trees. 

Finns  Strobus,  L.     White  pine.    A  few  straggling  specimens  appear  about  the  river  bluffs. 

Kobinia  Pseud  acacia,  L.  Commonly  cultivated.  Several  species  of  pine,  spruce  and  a 
larch  are  also  cultivated. 

II.  Shrubs  of  Olmsted  county. 

Xanthoxylum  Americanum,  Mill.    Frickly  ash. 
Rhus  glabra,  L.    Smooth  sumac. 
B.  Toxicodendron,  L.    Poison  ivy. 
Amorpha  fruticosa,  L.    False  indigo. 

A.  canescens,  Kutt.    Lead  plant. 

Prunus  Americana,  Marshall.    Wild  plum.    Apparently  several  varieties,  some  of  them 
producing  the  greatest  abundance  of  pleasant  fruit. 
P.  Pennsylvanica,  L.    Wild  red  cherry. 
P.  Virginiana,  L.    Choke  cherry. 
P.  serotina,  Ehr.     Wild  black  cherry. 
Spirsea  opulifolia,  L.    Nine-bark. 
Bosa  blanda.  Ait.     Wild  rose. 
Bubus  strigosus,  Michx.    Wild  red  raspberry. 

B.  occidentalis,  L.    Wild  black  raspberry.  Flavor  of  the  fruit  is  said  to  be  remarkably  good. 

B.  villosus,  Ait.    Common  blackbeny.    Not  common. 
Cratsegus  tomentosa,  L.,  var.  pyrifolia,  Gray.    Black  thorn. 
Cratsegus  tomentosa,  L.,  var.  punctata,  Gray.    Black  thorn. 
Pirus  arbutifolia,  L.    Choke  cherry. 

P.  Americana,  DC.  American  mountain-ash.  Cultivated. 
P.  aucuparia,  Gcert.  European  mountain-ash.  Cultivated. 
Cornus  stolonifera,  Michx.  Bed-osier  dogwood. 

C.  paniculata,  liHer.    Panicled  cornel. 
Symphoricarpus  occidentalis,  It.  Br.     Wolf-berry. 
Viburnum  Lentago,  L.    Sheep-berry.     Wild  haw. 

V.  Opulus,  L.    Cranberry-tree.    Is  frequently  cultivated. 
Corylus  Americana,  Walt.    Hazel.     Abundant  on  prairies. 
Betula  pumila,  L.    Low  birch.    Cold  bogs. 
Alnus  incana,  Willd.    Speckled  alder.    Along  streams. 

Juniperus  Sabina,  L.,  var.  procumbens,  Pursh.  Juniper.  Seen  only  on  a  rocky  bank  on 
Boot  river,  in  sec.  35,  Bock  Dell. 

III.  Vines  in  Olmsted  county. 

Clematis  Virginiana,  L.    Virgin's-bower. 
Vitis  cordifolia,  Michx.    Frost  grape. 
Ampelopsis  quinquefolia,  Michx.    Virginia  creeper. 

Common  wild,  and  a  favorite  in  cultivation.  It  is  often  erroneously  called  ir.y,  and  is  fre- 
quently known  as  woodbine. 

Celastrus  scandens,  L.    Climbing  bitter-sweet. 
Humulus  Lupulus,  L.    Hop.    Wild  and  in  cultivation. 

THE   GEOLOGICAL   STRUCTURE   OF   OLMSTED   COUNTY. 

The  outcrops  of  rock  are  numerous  throughout  the  county,  and  are 
specially  frequent  along  the  tops  of  the  bluffs  that  line  the  deeply  eroded 
valleys  that  prevail  over  several  counties  in  this  part  of  the  state.  This 
system  of  deep  valleys  tributary  to  the  great  Mississippi  toward  the  east, 


OLMSTEL)   COUNTY.  333 

Geological  structure. 

ceases  rather  suddenly  in  Olmsted  county.  The  streams  and  all  ravines 
rise,  in  the  western  part  of  this  county,  to  near  the  surface  of  the  surround- 
ing country,  and  flow  upon  the  drift-sheet  which  grows  deeper  and  deeper 
as  one  passes  further  westward.  Tliis  material  is  rather  thin  in  Olmsted 
county,  except  in  the  southwest  corner  where  it  is  thick  enough  to  conceal 
the  rock  features  entirely.  Eastward  it  appears  only  in  thin  outlines,  mark- 
ing the  ragged  edge  of  deposition,  or  in  patches  and  masses  which  are  rem- 
nants left  by  subaqueous  erosion.  In  order  to  see  to  the  best  advantage, 
the  changes  either  in  the  drift,  the  features  of  erosion,  or  the  stratification 
of  the  rocks,  one  must  cross  the  county  obliquely.  The  drift  is  lightest, 
generally  speaking,  in  the  northeastern  corner,  and  thickest  in  the  south- 
western corner.  On  the  other  hand  the  southeastern  and  northwestern  cor- 
ners are  much  alike  in  the  very  features  in  which  the  other  two  corners 
differ.  In  a  rough  way  the  lines  of  change  cross  the  county  diagonally  in 
a  southeasterly  and  northwesterly  direction.  This  is  due  to  two  facts 
which  may  have  some  relation  to  each  other.  In  the  first  place  the  great 
river  in  the  vicinity  of  the  county  runs  in  a  generally  southeast  direction. 
The  erosion-valleys  extending  from  it  would  tend  to  take  a  direction  per- 
pendicular to  it,  and  the  lines  of  equal  depths  of  erosion  would  tend  to  be 
parallel  to  it;  again  the  dip  of  the  rocks  of  this  county  is  slight  toward  the 
southwest;  hence  the  edges  of  the  strata  as  presented  on  the  surface  would 
tend  to  be  in  lines  perpendicular  to  this  direction. 

There  are  no  signs  of  noteworthy  upheaval,  depression  or  other  changes, 
in  the  relations  of  the  strata  to  each  other  in  this  county,  as  in  the  whole 
of  this  part  of  the  state  the  strata  are  in  general  conformable.*  The  pecu- 
liar structure  of  the  bluffs  enables  one  to  trace  some  of  the  strata  at  a  dis- 
tance. As  far  as  the  eye  can  follow  them  their  planes  occupy  the  same 
position  with  reference  to  the  horizon. 

The  strata  do  not  lie  in  a  horizontal  plane,  but  they  dip  slightly  to- 
ward the  southwest — perhaps  at  the  rate  of  ten  feet  to  the  mile. 

The  stratigraphy  of  this  fine  county  is  easy  to  read  in  most  cases.  The 
form  of  the  bluffs,  the  line  of  springs  marking  a  definite  point  in  the  rocks 
of  the  Trenton  period,  the  varying  solubility  of  the  rock  and  the  conse- 
quent occurrence  of  sink-holes  and  caves  in/>neTormation  and  not  in  an- 

*See,  however,  the  report  on  Winona  county,  p.  250. 


334  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[St-  Lawrence  limestone. 

other,  the  notably  distinct  lithological  characters  of  some  of  the  forma- 
tions, and  the  gradual  and  regular  dip  of  the  strata,  when  taken  with 
the  erosion,  enable  one  to  decide  with  certainty  the  rock  over  which 
he  is  standing,  even  when  it  is  hidden  from  view.  All  these  enable  one  to 
read  the  stratigraphical  enigma  of  the  county  with  little  trouble.  In  this 
study  the  intimate  knowledge  of  the  county  possessed  by  Mr.  W.  D.  Hurl- 
but  aided  greatly,  as  he  cheerfully  rendered  all  the  assistance  in  his  power. 
Many  of  the  details  of  the  map  illustrating  this  county  were  supplied  by 
him. 

Olmsted  county  furnishes  an  excellent  field  for  teaching  stratigraphy 
to  a  class  of  students.  The  strata  are  interesting.  The  characters  men- 
tioned above  make  the  reading  of  them,  under  their  varied  degrees  of  ex- 
posure and  erosion,  easy  and  instructive.  For  instrution  in  geological  field- 
work  no  district  could  be  better  adapted. 

The  formations  found  in  the  county  are  the  following,  as  known  in 
geological  nomenclature. 

g  (  Hudson  Tlivei  group.  .Shales,  shaly  sandstones  and  impure  limestones,  the  prob- 
able equivalent  of  the  Maquoketa  shaks  of  Iowa.    Seen..  15ft. 

f  1.  Dolomitic  limestones  of  the  Galena  formation 40-50  ft. 

'2.  Calcareous  strata,  less  dolomitic  and  more  argillaceous, 

Trenton  group <         sometimes  designated  Upper  Trenton 100  ft. 

3.  Green  shales  with  limestone  strata 40  ft. 

[  4.  Limestone.    Trenton 15  20  ft. 

I  Sandstone— St.  Peter about  110ft- 

„     ,   .           j  Dolomitic  limestone— Shakopee 30-40  ft. 

m'  '•  ]  Sandstone— Jordan 20ft. 

[  Dolomitic  limestone — St.  Lawrence about  200  ft. 

Perhaps  it  would  be  more  in  keeping  with  the  actual  state  of  our 
knowledge  to  include  the  Lower  Silurian  strata  all  under  one  designation— 
the  Trenton  period — than  to  attempt  to  express  the  parallelisms  between  its 
parts  and  any  of  the  New  York  members  of  that  period,  since  there  is  some 
reason  to  include  not  only  the  Hudson  River  and  Trenton  epochs  but  also 
the  Utica  slate  and  the  Black  River  limestone,  among  our  strata. 

The  St.  Lawrence  limestone.  The  actually  known  area  in  which  this 
limestone  forms  the  surface  in  Olmsted  county  is  small,  and  on  the  plate 
representing  the  geology  of  the  county  it  has  been  designated  by  horizon- 
tal purple  bars.  It  is  found  in  the  town  of  Oronoco,  and  is  abundantly 
exposed  along  the  banks  of  the  Zumbro  and  its  north-middle  branch.  In 
its  lithological  characters  it  does  not  differ  essentially  from  the  descriptions 


OLMSTED  COUNTY.  335 

Jordan  s»ndstone.] 

that  have  been  given  of  it  in  reports  on  Winona  and  Fillmore  counties. 
Its  beds  are  quite  irregular  in  some  places,  and  show  much  chert  and  other 
siliceous  aggregations.  It  is  sometimes  compact  and  finely  granular,  but 
is  more  frequently  vesicular  and  with  sparry  cavities.  The  following  sec- 
tion was  taken  at  Oronoco,  at  the  lime-kiln  of  James  Barnett,  just  northeast 
of  the  village. 

Section  at  Oronoco,  in  descending  order. 

"  Calciferous  sandstone,  much  broken  in  thin  layers,  buff 14  ft. 

Compact,  little  broken  calciferous  sandstone,  light  buff  2  ft. 

Sandstone  (mostly  saccharine)  in  layers 4  ft.  3  in 

Aluminous  limestone,  in  thin  layers,  light  buff 1  ft.  7  in.' 

Dark  sandstone  with  numerous  blue  spots 1  ft.  8  in. 

Arenaceous  vesicular  dolomite 3  ft.  6  in. 

Like  the  second  above 4  ft. 

Like  the  second  above,  but  more  irregularly  bedded 1  ft. 

Vesicular,  sparry,  irregularly  bedded  dolomite    4  ft. 

Total,  as  far  as  seen 36  ft. 

In  the  above  section  no  fossils  could  be  found.    The  lowest  layer  is  employed  for  making 
lime.    The  lime  is  light  buff,  slow,  and  contains  considerable  cement. 

The  Jordan  sandstone.  This  sandstone,  which  was  identified  in  1873  as 
a  distinct  stratunr  in  the  Cambrian  formations,  separating  the  limestone 
that  Dr.  D.  D.  Owen  designated  the  Lower  Magnesian  into  two  important 
and  persistent  members,  has  a  thickness  of  about  twenty  feet  in  Olmsted 
county.  It  can  be  seen  at  the  mill-dam  at  Quincy  on  the  Whitewater 
below  the  Shakopee,  with  an  exposed  thickness  of  ten  feet.  It  is  here  a  firm 
sandrock  or  granular  quartzyte.  West  of  Oronoco  it  is  again  visible  in 
some  of  the  bluffs  and  mounds  that  rise  above  the  Zumbro  valley  and  reach 
a  hight  of  about  1100  feet  above  the  ocean.  About  two  and  a  half  mile 
west  of  Oronoco  a  slight  excavation  has  been  made  in  this  rock  tor  its  sup- 
posed utility  for  building.  It  was  done  by  Mr.  Robinson;  but  the  rock  was 
found  to  be  rather  poor,  some  of  it  being  very  fine-grained,  and  susceptible 
of  being  carved  into  delicate  forms.  The  most  valuable  result  of  the  work 
was  the  demonstration  of  the  geological  horizon  hereabouts.  The  Shakopee 
and  Jordan  cause  the  undulating  country  just  north  and  west  of  Oronoco 
The  St.  Lawrence  is  seen  at  Oronoco,  rising  about  twenty  feet  above  the 
main  part  of  the  village,  its  upper  line  of  outcrop  running  somewhat  above 
the  dam.  About  a  quarter  of  a  mile  southwest  of  Robinson's  the  Shakopee 
and  Jordan  combine  to  form  a  couple  of  conspicuous  mounds  in  the  river 
valley,  in  the  same  manner  precisely  as  the  St.  Peter  and  Trenton  combine 


:;:;(•,  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

I  Shakopee  limestone . 

in  so  many  cases,  except  that  in  this  instance  the  effect  is  somewhat  in- 
creased by  the  direct  action  of  the  Zumbro's  waters. 

The.  Slml-opev  linn^fone.  The  area  of  this  formation  in  the  county  is  as 
follows:  It  follows  the  larger  streams,  beginning  on  them  when  well  in 
the  county,  and  broadening  out  until  it  leaves  the  county  with  them.  It 
appears  in  the  beds  of  the  branches  of  the  Zumbro  far  up  in  Rochester, 
Marion.  Haverhill  and  Cascade  townships.  Rochester  lies  on  a  floor  formed 
by  the  upper  surface  of  this  formation.  The  valley  of  Rochester  city  is 
entirely  shut  in  by  bluffs,  except  where  the  Zumbro  passes  out  to  the  north 
and  along  a  geological  valley,  now  dry,  to  the  northwest.  This  valley  of 
Rochester- city  is  somewhat  crab-shaped,  and  is  formed  by  the  meeting  of 
the  various  streams  which  make  up  this  branch  of  the  Zumbro.  Cascade 
township  is  about  half  occupied  by  the  Shakopee,  the  remaining  surface 
being  occupied  by  spurs  and  islands  of  the  formations  above,  one  of  these 
islands  being  quite  large.  Oronoco  township  is  mainly  underlain  by  this 
limestone,  closely  associated  along  the  river  valleys  with  the  Jordan  sand- 
stone and  the  St.  Lawrence.  Farmington  has  a  Shakopee  floor,  except  the 
southern  edge  and  some  outliers  of  Trenton  and  St.  Peter.  In  New  Haven  the 
middle  fork  of  the  Zumbro  soon  rises  to  the  Trenton,  while  the  north  fork- 
lies  on  the  Shakopee  or  Jordan,  until  it  passes  into  the  next  county  west. 
A  large  portion  of  Quincy  and  a  little  of  the  northeast  of  Viola  are  on  the 
Cambrian.  An  arm  of  the  same  appears  at  the  surface  in  the  bed  of  the 
river,  passing  nearly  through  Dover  from  east  to  west.  Elmira  is  also 
floored  with  the  Cambrian  for  the  most  part,  as  is  a  small  portion  of  Orion. 
The  village  of  Dover  lies  in  a  Cambrian  valley,  something  like  that  of 
Rochester  city.  The  same  is  true  of  Chatfield.  Something  more  than  20 
per  cent,  of  the  county  has  a  floor  of  these  alternating  sandstones  and  dol- 
omites. 

Illustrative  of  the  lithological  characters  of  this  limestone  the  following 
section  may  be  taken.  It  occurs  at  Quiucy:  The  same  broken  and  con- 
fused stratification  accompanies  the  Shakopee  throughout  the  county,  and 
may  be  seen  in  some  quarries  near  Rochester.* 

Descending  section  at  Quincy,  Olmsted  county. 

No.  1.  Dolomitic  limestone;  quite  arenaceous,  falling  out  in  huge  masses  which  are  rough, 
distorted  in  their  crude  bedding,  and  unmanageable  as  a  quarry  stone,  showing  much  calc-spar. 

*Sec  also  the  description  of  the  Shakopee  in  Eice  and  Dakota  counties. 


OLMSTED  COUNTY.  3§7 

St.  Peler  sandstone.] 

Limestone  and  sandstone  are  minified  with  occasional  strips  of  light-green  shale.  In  general  the 
face  presents  the  appearance  of  an  alternation  of  horizontal  layers  of  thin  and  more  shaly  beds, 
with  heavy,  coarse  and  rough  limestone  beds.  Some  green-shale  layers  alternate  with  dark, 
nmber-colored  (ochreous)  shale,  neither  being  more  than  two  inches  thick.  They  are  tortuous  and 
not  continuous.  This  phase  appears  like  the  tops  of  the  bluffs  at  Winona.  but  is  at  a  considerably 

higher  horizon 30  ft. 

No.  2.     Persistent  white  sandstone  (Jordan)  seen 10  ft. 

Total  exposure •  :  40  ft. 

This  rock,  in  connection  with  the  underlying  Jordan,  produces  charac- 
teristic surface  features.  When  worn  deeply  into  by  erosion  it  presents  bold 
cliffs  and  craggy,  rounded,  hills.  When  not  covered  thickly  by  drift,  or  by 
the  loess  loam,  it  makes  a  poor  surface  for  agriculture,  as  may  be  seen  in 
some  parts  of  Oronoco.  Its  area  is  nearly  barren,  or  covered  with  scant 
grass,  with  hazel  and  scrub  oak  (in  this  case  a  dwarfed  growth  of  Quercus 
macrocarpa),  or  with  small  paper  birch,  and  other  wood-growth  not  large 
enough  to  be  of  importance  economically.  When  this  floor  is  covered  by 
drift,  as  in  the  beautiful  prairie  township  of  Farmington,  the  soil  may  be 
unsurpassed.  The  most  of  this  township  is  devoted  to  wheat,  and  at  the 
proper  season  it  seems  to  be  one  continuous  wheatfield. 

This  rock  does  not  furnish  much  good  building  material  in  this  county. 
It  is  not  of  even  bedding  and  homogeneous  texture  generally.  Pieces  are 
sometimes  employed  at  Rochester  for  window-caps  and  water-tables.  These 
pieces  are  found  only  in  the  uppermost  layers.  No  general  use  is  made 
of  them. 

The  St.  Peter  sandstone.  The  area  of  this  rock  is  difficult  to  represent  on 
a  map.  It  is  so  friable  that  it  will  not  endure  erosion  when  left  to  itself. 
It  is  only  where  it  is  capped  by  the  lower  layers  of  the  Trenton  that  it 
successfully  resists  the  attacks  of  water.  By  itself,  uncovered  by  other 
formations,  it  occupies  but  little  space.  It  juts  out  beneath  the  cap  of  lime- 
stone only  a  few  feet  or  rods.  From  a  projecting  spur  of  limestone  it  may 
extend  further,  as  is  illustrated  in  the  city  of  Rochester.  A  spur  of  Trenton 
comes  in  from  the  west,  and  ends  "near  the  city  limits.  The  sandstone, 
however,  can  be  struck  in'sinking  wells  almost  anywhere  in  the  western 
portion  of  the  city.  Occasionally,  where  erosion  was  incomplete,  an  outlier 
of  crumbling  sandstone  can  be  seen  not  capped  by  limestone.  Such  out- 
liers may  be  found  in  the  southwestern'part  of  Farmington,  and  in  other 
22 


338  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[St.  Peter  sandstons. 

counties.*  Such  outliers  are  not  common,  and  are  generally  small.  Streams 
of  considerable  size  usually  leap  from  the  Trenton  to  the  Shakopee  in 
very  short  intervals,  the  intervening  St.  Peter  sandstone  having  been  washed 
completely  away  at  an  early  period.  Sometimes,  however,  streams  of  small 
size  remain  in  a  bed  of  St.  Peter  sandstone;  in  which  case  the  vally  is 
sandy,  covered  with  small  oaks  and  worth  little  for  agriculture.  This  is 
seen  in  the  valley  of  Bear  creek  and  its  branches. 

The  surf  ace  features  caused  by  the  presence  of  this  sandstone  are  inter- 
esting, and  have  already  been  referred  to  in  reports  on  other  counties.  As 
the  incoherency  of  this  rock  deprives  it  of  the  power  of  resisting  erosive 
forces,  it  is  usually  carried  away  cleanly  wherever  exposed.  The  conse- 
quence is  a  precipitous  descent  from  the  Trenton  to  the  Shakopee.  This 
appears  in  lines  of  remarkable,  level,  bluffs.  The  hight  of  these  bluffs  is 
usually  the  thickness  of  the  formation,  with  fifteen  or  more  feet  of  lime- 
stone on  the  top.  These  bluffs  are  especially  noticeable  around  Rochester. 
To  the  east  their  top  is  reached  by  a  rugged  ascent,  to  the  west  by  a  gradual 
slope  of  the  surface.  The  erosive  forces  have  left  many  small  and  isolated 
bluffs,  which  can  be  properly  described  under  this  head,  though  the  lower 
layers  of  Trenton  limestone  assist  in  their  formation.  They  appear  as  rug- 
ged mounds  rising  from  the  Shakopee  floor,  and  form  a  striking  feature  in 
the  aspect  of  the  neighborhood.  They  are  most  abundant  in  southwest 
Farmington  and  in  Elmira.  A  few  are  seen  along  the  railroad,  just  east 
of  Rochester.  Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  is  "Sugar-loaf  mound,"  about 
two  miles  east  of  the  city  and  close  to  the  railroad.  Its  shape  and  relative 
proportions  are  those  of  a  sugar-loaf.  Another  remarkable  one  is  "  Lone 
mound",  of  sec.  11,  Farmington.  It  is  about  three  miles  north  from  the 
line  of  Trenton  bluffs.  Two  or  three  miles  northwest  are  two  similar 
mounds,  called"  Twin  mounds".  They  are  in  Wabasha  county,  but  have 
no  limestone  capping. 

The  thickness  of  the  St.  Peter  was  ascertained  with  an  aneroid  barom- 
eter, near  Rochester.  The  upper  layers  of  the  Shakopee  were  found  on 
Bear  creek,  near  the  woolen  mills.  The  upper  surface  of  the  St.  Peter  was 
ascertained  as  carefully  as  might  be  near  Whitcomb's  quarry,  and  near 
Jenkins'  quarry.  Three  comparisons  were  made.  The  proper  allowance 

*dce  reports  of  Wabasha  and  Dakota  counties;  also  p.  231, 


OLMSTED  COUNTY.  339 

Trenton  period.] 

having  been  made  for  dip  and  atmospheric  change,  the  value  of  111  feet 
was  obtained  for  the  thickness  of  this  formation. 

The  lithological  character  of  the  St.  Peter  is  uniform  and  simple.  It 
is  a  rather  coarse,  friable  sandstone,  pure  white  except  where  contam- 
inated by  foreign  substances  or  percolations  from  the  formation  above. 
It  contains  no  fossils  so  far  as  could  be  seen  in  this  county. 

This  formation  is  useful  in  several  ways.  When  with  a  tight,  magne- 
sian  floor,  it  holds  water,  and  furnishes  a  good  supply  to  wells.  It  is  some- 
times excavated  where  it  comes  out  on  the  face  of  a  bluff.  Excellent 
cellars,  dry  and  of  uniform  temperature,  are  thus  formed,  which  are  used 
especially  for  the  preservation  of  vegetables.  In  the  rear  of  the  second 
Insane  Asylum  at  Rochester  is  a  fine  root-cellar  in  the  St.  Peter  sandstone. 
Mr.  W.  D.  Hurlbut,  of  the  same  place,  has  an  extensive  silo  embracing  over 
150  feet  of  chambers,  wholly  excavated  in  this  rock.  It  supplies  an  inex- 
haustible amount  of  pure  white  sand,  round-angular,  and  excellent  for 
mortar  or  glass-making. 

The  rocks  of  the  Trenton  period.  The  highest  rocks,  stratigraphically 
considered,  belonging  to  this  series  are  found  at  High  Forest,  and  at  two 
miles  west  of  High  Forest.  These  are  shaly,  both  aluminous  and  arena- 
ceous, sometimes  indurated  and  bedded  and  sometimes  easily  crumbling. 
On  sec.  35,  Rock  Dell,  they  appear  along  Root  river,  having  a  light  buff  color, 
breaking  like  a  hard  shale,  sometimes  arenaceous,  even  so  much  so  as  to 
become  a  coarsely  arenaceous  white  sandstone,  and  at  other  times  some- 
what calcareous,  with  a  very  fine  grit,  worthless  for  lime  and  for  all  other 
uses.  It  was  tested  for  quick-lime  by  Mr.  Brewer  some  years  ago.  In  the 
winter  it  is  cracked  to  pieces  by  frost;  bedding  never  more  than  four  inches 
thick,  some  of  it  very  thin  and  clayey.  The  total  thickness  seen  here  is 
about  ten  feet,  but  at  High  Forest,  at  the  quarry  of  Russell  Williams,  this 
shale  is  seen  overlying  a  body  of  limerock  which  at  the  village  rises  into  per- 
pendicular bluffs  twenty-five  to  forty  feet  high,  and  is  extensively  quarried 
for  building  purposes.  In  this  shale  no  fossils  have  been  found  at  High 
Forest,  except  an  indistinct  valve  of  a  small  brachiopod  like  Lc[)1(t')iasericea, 
but  reminding  one  of  the  Spirifer  family  by  its  eared  extremities  and  its 
1  leaked  hinge-line.  The  shale  here  so  far  as  seen  amounts  to  fifteen  feet, 
contains  no  lw<h  of  white  sandstone,  but  is  gritty  and  even  arenaceous.  If 


340  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

rOtlena  Hme«tone. 

is  mostly  at  this  point  a  soft,  clayey  shale,  with  concretions  and  harder 
laminated  patches  which  are  probably  more  calcareous,  showing,  parallel 
with  the  curving  and  wavy  laminae,  rusty  lines  that  are  due  to  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  irony  layers,  or  to  the  stoppage  of  iron  in  ferriferous  water 
that  trickles  through  the  rock.  These  concretions  appear  also  in  the  lime- 
stone on  old  surfaces,  though  not  distinguishable  on  freshly  broken  sur- 
faces.* 

The  underlying  limestone,  which  probably  represents  the  strata  that 
have  been  well  known  as  Galena  limestone,  has  an  exposed  thickness  in  the 
vicinity  of  High  Forest  amounting  perhaps  to  forty  feet.  This  is  heavily 
bedded,  very  firm  and  of  a  buff  color,  with  cloudings  of  gray,  and  even 
of  blue  on  some  of  the  deeply  quarried  beds,  and  a  magnesian  aspect.  It 
contains  almost  no  fossils  besides  crinoidal  stems,  but  shows  rarely  impres- 
sions of  a  large  Orthoceras;  at  other  places  it  is  non-fossiliferous,  as  at  Gar- 
rick's  quarry. 

The  same  lime-rock  appears  more  abundantly  in  the  bluffs  at  Stewart- 
ville.  In  the  loose  materials  along  the  south  bank  of  the  stream,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Stewart's  mill,  are  found  numerous  specimens  of  Maclurea,  of 
which  there  seem  to  be  two  species,  one  of  which  is  probably  that  of  pro- 
fessor James  Hall,  M.  Bigsbyi,-]-  although  in  a  somewhat  higher  horizon  than 
the  "  buff  limestone"  of  Mineral  Point,  in  which  that  species  has  been  found. 
These  are  the  same  as  found  in  the  Galena  limestone  at  Lime  City,  Fill- 
more  county.  This  limestone  underlies  Rock  Dell  and  portions  of  Salem, 
Rochester,  High  Forest  and  Pleasant  Grove.  It  extends  into  Marion  and 
Orion,  and  even  into  Eyota,  and  westward  into  Kalmar.  It  may  be  seen  in 
Garrick's  quarry,  sec.  18,  Rochester.  Its  lower  and  upper  edges  cannot  be 
accurately  traced. 

In  lithological  character,  this  rock  is  a  heavily  bedded,  buff  dolomite, 
fine  grained,  or  coarse  and  porous.  It  contains  often  small  pieces  of  iron 
pyrites,  which,  by  weathering,  give  it  ferruginous  stains.  Lead  has  not 
been  found  in  place  in  the  rock,  but  farmers  sometimes  find  it  isolated  on 
the  surface,  evidently  left  behind  when  the  rest  of  the  rock  material  was 
weathered  away.  It  often  contains  crystals  of  spar;  sometimes  irregular 

*83»  Mower  county  report  for  further  concerning  this  shale. 

tKeport  of  the  superintendent  of  the  \Viscon«in  geological  survey,  Jan.  1,  1861. 


OLMSTED   COUNTY.  34 \ 

Galena  limestone.] 

cavities  are  found.  Under  the  influence  of  the  weather  the  rock  is  seen  to 
vary  in  solubility.  The  result  is  frequently  sink-holes  of  varying  dimen- 
sions. Such  holes,  a  few  feet  deep,  are  common  on  the  bluffs  of  this  form- 
ation. Another  result  of  this  unequal  weathering  is  the  craggy  appear- 
ance of  the  bluffs  formed  by  the  Galena. 

This  limestone  is  well  displayed  in  this  county  at  Thomas  Garrick's 
quarry,  sec.  18,  Rochester  township.  The  floor  of  this  quarry  is  about 
thirty  feet  above  the  Trenton.  To  the  top  of  the  quarry  is  about  thirty- 
five  feet.  The  rock  is  a  sparry,  magnesian  and  more  or  less  arenaceous 
limestone.  It  is  in  beds  one  to  three  feet  thick,  separated  by  very  thin 
layers  of  light  blue  shale.  The  beds  are  massive  and  yellowish,  somewhat 
stained  with  iron  arising  from  the  decay  of  iron* pyrites.  The  upper  por- 
tions are  most  arenaceous  and  fossiliferous.  In  the  crevices  is  found  abun- 
dance of  satin  spar,  and  in  the  largest  ones  stalactites  may  be  found. 

R.  Williams's  quarry,  on  the  north  bank  of  Root  river,  sec.  31,  High 
Forest,  is  in  this  formation.  This  rock  is  exposed  for  twenty-five  feet,  and 
is  dolomitic,  more  or  less  concretionary,  with  small,  spar-lined  cavities. 
It  is  sparingly  fossiliferous.  The  upper  six  feet  are  much  broken  up.  The 
remainder  is  compact  and  unevenly  bedded.  The  concretionary  structure 
is  not  visible  on  fresh  surfaces.  It  is  brought  out  by  weathering  and  espe- 
cially by  burning,  and  then  appears  in  the  form  of  fine  rusty  lines. 

On  the  left  bank  of  the  same  stream,  about  one  mile  west  of  Williams's 
quarry,  is  an  exposure  of  yellow'  thin-bedded,  broken,  uneven,  dolomitic 
limestone,  of  which  only  eight  or  ten  feet  are  visible. 

The  same  rock  is  well  exposed  in  the  ravines  of  Salem  and  Rock  Dell, 
where  it  is  quarried  to  some  extent  for  building. 

As  to  economical  value,  this  formation  produces  one  of  the  best  building 
stones  found  in  the  state.  It  is  much  used  in  Rochester,  but  has  been 
mostly  derived  from  Mantorville,  in  Dodge  county.  It  will  be  further  de- 
scribed in  the  report  of  that  county.  At  Russell  Williams's  quarry  near 
High  Forest  it  is  burned  for  lime. 

Below  these  magnesian  strata  there  is  an  interval  occupied  with  more 
or  less  shale,  or  with  alternations  of  shale  with  limestone.  At  the  same 
time  the  limestone  loses  its  distinctive  lithological  characters,  and  its  mag- 


342  TIIK  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Upper  Trenton  and  green  shales. 

• 

nesian  composition,  and  becomes  more  nearly  a  pure  limestone.  It  is  more 
compact,  but  also  is  sometimes  arenaceous,  particularly  near  the  bottom. 
These  beds  appear  in  the  banks  of  Root  river  in  Pleasant  Grove.  They  are 
observed  on  sees.  8  and  16.  They  are  cut  by  the  railroad  grade  in  the  north 
part  of  Orion  township.  They  consist,  in  general,  of  the  following  rocks,  in 
descending  order,  seen  in  Pleasant  Grove. 

Section  on  sec.  16,  Pleasant  Gron . 

1.  Perpendicular   escarpment,  showing  generally  a  thin-bedded  and  often  shaly 
rock,  the  thin  shale  partitions  being  as  thick  as  one-half  or  one  and  a  half  inch 37  ft. 

2.  The  descent  then  is  irregular  over  beds  of  argillaceous  limestone  and  shale,  mostly 
hid  from  view.    Some  of  these  shale  beds  are  six  and  eight  inches  thick,  and  from  them, 
where  enabling  under  the  weather,  fragments  of  fossils  fall  out,  such  as  Chcrtetes,  Pleuro- 
tomaria  and  Ortliis.    The  limestone  weathers  rough  and  thin-bedded,  and  shows  lieceptacu- 
lites.    This  interval  includes  about 47J  ft. 

3.  Then  there  is  a  broad  shoulder  making  a  talus  and  including  a  heavy  bed  of  green 
shale  which  overlies,  as  disclosed  further  down  the  river,  the  limestones  of  the  "Lower 
Trenton"  as  seen  at  Rochester 42  ft. 

The  rock-cuts  along  the  railroad  north  of  Chatfield  are  in  sec.  35, 
Eyota.  They  are  included  in  the  foregoing  section  of  the  Trenton  rocks, 
and  consist  of  alternations  of  limerock  and  shale  each  about  eighteen 
inches  in  thickness,  the  rock  predominating;  the  whole  thickness  being 
about  twenty  feet.  There  is  considerable  drift  in  this  region,  but  below 
this  point  the  valley  widens  out  more,  so  that  it  soon  shows  the  outlines 
and  width  characteristic  of  valleys  cut  in  the  St.  Peter  sandstone,  though 
there  is  no  sandstone  exposure  till  within  about  a  mile  of  Chatfield  depot. 
This  depot  is  above  the  Shakopee  but  near  its  upper  limit. 

The  heavy  mass  of  green  shales  (No.  3  of  the  foregoing  section)  is  a 
familiar  feature  to  the  geologist  who  examines  Olmsted  county,  on  account 
of  the  effect  it  has  on  the  topography  of  the  county,  in  preserving  the  un- 
derlying limestone  beds  from  solution  and  removal  by  percolating  waters. 
It  may  generally  be  seen  near  the  brow  of  the  bench  which  marks  the  out- 
running strike  of  the  Trenton,  just  before  the  general  surface  drops  down  to 
the  floor  of  the  Shakopee.  It  contains  numerous  fossils,  mainly  brachi- 
opods  and  small  gasteropods,  and  an  occasional  coral.  The  coral  Chii'Mrs 
is  abundant  at  most  of  the  outcrops.  Its  thickness  seems  to  reach  at  least 
forty  feet,  but  generally  not  more  than  six  to  ten  feet  can  be  seen  at  any 
one  place.  In  this  shaly  horizon  are  embraced  thin  lenticular  sheets  of  pure 


OLMSTEI)   COUNTY.  343 

Trenton  limestone.] 

limestone  that  are  eminently  fossiliferous,  their  upper  and  lower  surfaces 
being  frequently  studded  with  brachiopods  and  gasteropods,  as  well  as 
encrusted  with  bryozoans,  which  stand  out  in  relief,  *with  only  partial  or 
slight  attachment  to  the  calcareous  mass. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  clay  derived  from  the  green  shales  would 
would  make  good  brick  or  pottery.  The  grain  is  very  fine,  but  the  pres- 
ence of  small  calcareous  fossils  injures  it  for  these  purposes.  A  pottery 
factory,  in  which  this  clay  was  employed,  started  some  years  ago,  had 
to  be  abandoned  on  this  account. 

The  limestone  strata  which  have  been  known  distinctively  as  the  Tren- 
ton, or  "Lower  Trenton",  have  a  thickness  of  about  twenty  feet  in  Olmsted 
county,  and  lie  at  the  base  of  the  Trenton  group  here  described.  The  up- 
permost layers  of  this  limestone  are  frequently  interbedded  with  the  green 
shale  above,  so'  that  the  transition  from  one  to  the  other  is  similar  to  that 
from  the  Galena  to  the  shales  overlying.  In  Olmsted  county  this  limestone 
is  compact,  heavy,  very  firm,  resonant  when  struck  with  a  hammer,  frac- 
turing conchoidally,  fossiliferous,  and  in  beds  from  four  to  six  inches.  Its 
color  when  weathered  is  drab,  but  when  deeply  quarried  it  is  blue.  It  con- 
tains many  large  cephalopocls,  numerous  crinoidal  stems,  remains  of  tri- 
lobites  (hotel us  and  Cali/mene),  and  many  brachiopods,  including  Lingula 
Elderi,  Whit, 

This  rock  is  much  quarried,  particularly  in  the  vicinity  of  Kochester, 
where  many  foundations  and  several  stone  buildings  have  been  constructed 
from  the  Trenton  quarries  near  by.  The  quarry  of  W.  Jenkins  just  with- 
in the  city  limits  has  furnished  a  large  amount  of  this  stone. 

The  Drift.  This  covers  much  of  the  county.  It  thins  out  toward  the 
northeast.  It  is  of  considerable  thickness  in  the  southwest.  Its  edge  is 
ragged,  but  its  irregularities  do  not  conform  with  the  present  drainage 
system.  It  consists  of  a  stony  blue  clay,  washed  or  yellow  clay,  stratified 
gravel  and  sand  and  boulders. 

The  blue,  clay  is  by  no  means  continuous.  It  is  found  in  limited  areas 
and  bands  in  various  parts  of  the  county,  and  quite  generally  in  the  west- 
ern portions.  Sometimes  it  forms  distinct  ridges,  as  in  western  Rochester 
city,  and  in  the  valley  directly  east  of  Rochester.  The  washed  clay,  as  its 


344  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


name  indicates,  has  been  worked  over  by  water  since  its  deposition  in  the 
drift.  It  occupies  low  pond-like  spots,  or  abuts  on  thej)luffs.  It  is  usually 
of  a  uniform  reddish-yellow  color  and  quite  arenaceous.  Sometimes  it  is 
in  colored  layers  of  red,  yellow  and  green.  •  In  this  case  its  derivation  is 
probably  from  the  green  shale  of  the  Trenton  as  well  as  from  the  drift. 
The  washed  clay  is  used  for  brick. 

The  exposures  of  sand  and  gravel  are  not  extensive  in  the  parts  of 
the  county  examined  by  me.  Where  seen  they  exhibit  the  usual  char- 
acters. The  boulders  are  entirely  absent  in  most  parts  of  the  county.  In 
many  scattered  localities,  again,  they  are  abundant;  and  in  the  southwest 
corner  of  the  county  they  are  often  found  of  great  size. 

About  a  mile  and  a  half  northeast  from  Marion  are  scattered  boulders 
of  siliceous  iron  ore,  having  the  characters  of  the  iron  ores  seen  in  the 
Mesabi  iron  range,  and  similar  to  some  siliceous  iron  seen  in  the  Black  hills.* 
These  pieces  are  not  frequent.  They  lie  on  the  brows  of  the  Trenton  ter- 
race, and  are  associated  with  other  drift  boulders.  Some  of  them  show 
really  very  little  iron,  but  partake  more  of  the  nature  of  the  non-ferrugi- 
nous quartzyte  of  the  Potsdam,  though  still  of  a  reddish  color.  There  is 
not  that  topographic  surface  here  that  indicates  the  immediate  presence 
of  the  formation  in  outcrop,  but  these  pieces  are  on  the  Trenton  and 
among  the  drift,  which  rather  shows  that  they  have  come  with  other 
drift  from  some  point  farther  north. 

In  the  museum  of  the  University  is  a  magnetic  boulder  of  siliceous 
iron  ore,  known  as  lodestone,  presented  in  1875  by  James  Hinton,  said  to 
have  been  found  in  the  neighborhood  of  Quincy,  Olmsted  county.  Be- 
tween St.  Charles  and  Quincy  are  many  evidences  of  northern  drift  in  the 
form  of  hornblendic  and  granitic  boulders.  They  are  often  met  in  wells 
and  cellars,  though  the  country  £here  is  covered  with  a  loam-soil  of  a  black 
color. 

The  following  table  of  wells  will  be  useful  for  an  analysis  of  the  drift. 
The  facts  were  furnished  by  0.  Sprague,  practical  well-digger: 


•Hepoi  t  of  it  i  cconnoissmiue  of  the  Black  hills,  Ludlow,  1874,  pp.  to,  it. 


Wells  , 


OLMSTED  COUNTY. 


340 


Wells  in  Olmsted  county. 


Local  ion  ; 
section  and  township. 

Owner. 

i 

ii 

£ 

>!>!> 

!<• 

M 
1 

E 

et. 

~r. 
I 

Water 

Remarks. 

35,  Farmington  — 
85,  Farraington..  .  . 
36,  Farmington  — 
25,  Farmington...  . 

30,  Haverhill  
9,  Haverhill  
32    Haverhill 

C.  E.  Stacy  

•2-2 
•20 
U 
44 

25 
40 
25 
12 
25 

31 
24 

10 
50 

:: 

53 

41 
11 
44 

35 

'.id 
2o 
12 
2.~i 
40 
SO 
27 
2o 
25 
7:', 
32 
01 
21 
(10 
30 
20 
2.-, 
3(1 
3(1 
40 
IS 
<I4 

good, 
good, 
good, 
good. 

soft, 
good, 
good, 
plenty, 
good, 
good, 
soft, 
good, 
good, 
good, 
good, 
good, 
good, 
good, 
good, 
plenty, 
plenty, 
plenty, 
plenty, 
plenty, 
plenty, 
plenty, 
plenty. 

5  feet  black  soil;  then  reached  clay. 
Yellow  clay  and  blue  rock. 
Blue  clay. 
14  feet  black  heavy  soil;  remainder  blue 
clay. 
25  feet  sand;  10  feet  hard  sand-rock. 
Red,  hard  drift. 
4-5  feet  soil,  then  sand. 
Red.  hard  drift. 
Sand  all  the  way. 
Sand  all  the  way. 
White,  hard  rock. 
Sand. 
Sand. 
Sand,  foot  of  bluff. 
Red,  hard  drift;  white  limestone. 
Twenty  feet  blue  clay. 
Forty-eight  feet  blue  clay. 
Fifteen  feet  blue  clay. 
Sandy,  red  clay. 
Twenty-five  feet  blue  clay. 
Sand. 
Sand. 
Red,  sandy  clay. 
Red,  sandy  clay. 
Sand. 
Sand. 

W.  H.  White. 

K.  Raymond  
W.  Searls  

J.  P.  Simonds  .... 

P.  H.  McGovern... 
J.  E.  Brown  
B.  F.  Bulen  
Z.  Holt  

11,  Haverhill.. 

14,  Salem  

14    Salem 

J.  D  Fuller 

JO 

26.  Salem  

J.  P.  Fosdick  

so 

27 

6 

21,  Salem  

Ole  Severson  

16    Salem 

C.  Peterson 

26 

16,  Salem    .      ... 

Nils  Jacobsori  
T.  Thorhnson.  . 

2o 
57 
go 

16 

16,  Salem  

28    Salem                 1 

30,  Pleasant  Grove 
29,  Pleasant  Grove 
25,  Pleasant  Grove 
1  1    Cascade 

Fred  Sibeck  
J.  Collins  

61 
21 

L>.  W  Hymes 

20 
SO 
2-j 
2.3 
30 
.iO 
4d 

40 

T.  C.  Cumings..  . 
J.  11.  Hodgman.. 
E.  Babcock  
P.  Boardman.  ..  . 
J.  Gardner  
I   M.  Westfall. 

1  7  ,  Cascade  

1  7    Cascade 

15    Cascade 

15,  Cascade  
15,  Rochester  
2,  Rochester  
5,  Viola  

W.L.  Brackenridge 
D.  1>.  Whipple.... 

18 
44 

50 

Cedar  logs  at  considerable  depths  in  the  drift  are  found  but  rarely. 
Mr.  Sprague  says  they  are  always  under  the  blue  clay.  Rotten  wood  is 
occasionally  found  in  the  blue  clay. 

It  is  a  striking  fact,  often  mentioned,  that  water  is  often  found  on  the 
bluffs  at  a  much  less  depth  than  at  their  base.  The  geological  formation 
satisfactorily  accounts  for  this. 

MATERIAL  RESOURCES. 

The  soil  of  Olmsted  county  is  and  will  always  remain  its  chief  source 
of  material  wealth.  It  has  great  variety.  It  is  arenaceous  in  some  of  the 
valleys,  and  produces  and  ripens  crops  quickly,  but  it  is  more  clayey  on 
the  uplands,  and  generally  blackened  by  charred  grasses  and  other  vege- 
tation— the  residue  of  the  prairie  fires  that  formerly  raged  annually  over 
the  most  of  the  county. 

Brick  of  a  red  color  are  made  at  many  places  in  the  county,  in  all 
cases  from  the  washed  clay,  which  is  the  same  as  the  loess  loam.  It  is  in 


346  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Brick.    Gold. 

deposits  from  two  to  ten  or  twelve  feet  thick.  Although  this  material  is 
sandy,  more  sand  is  usually  put  in  in  making  the  brick.  The  brick  are  con- 
sequently tender  and  of  poor  quality.  They  vitrify  but  little  when  burned. 

Gold  has  been  found  in  the  drift  along  the  Zumbro  from  Rochester  and 
Oronoco  down  to  the  Wabasha  border  and  beyond.  It  is  found  only  on  the 
Cambrian  limestones.  Murchison  calls  attention  to  this  fact  as  generally 
true.  It  is  found  in  the  drift  about  the  stream,  but  mostly  in  the  bed  of 
the  stream,  or  in  material  worked  over  by  it  at  a  comparatively  recent 
date.  In  the  same  alluvial  material  is  found  a  small  amount  of  black  mag- 
netic sand,  of  a  specific  gravity  approaching  that  of  gold.  When  the  gold 
is  obtained  by  washing,  after  all  the  other  materials  are  washed  away  this 
heavy  black  sand  remains,  and  the  minute  fragments  of  gold  are  picked  out 
from  it.  It  is  therefore  here  called  the  "mother  of  gold,"  and  the  two  are 
thought  to  be  always  together,  a  conclusion  which  need  not  necesarily 
follow. 

The  gold  is  in  minute,  angular  fragments.  The  quantity  is  so  small 
that  it  does  not  pay  to  work  it  by  the  ordinary  method  of  hand-washing. 
Washing  on  a  more  extensive  scale  might  be  made  to  pay.  It  has  been 
tried  two  or  three  times,  but  never  under  favorable  circumstances,  or  for 
periods  of  much  length. 

It  may  be  worth  while  just  here  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  gold 
is  frequently  found  under  these  circumstances.  It  has  been  found  over  ex- 
tensive regions  in  Canada  where  attempts  at  obtaining  it  on  a  large  scale 
have  always  failed  to  pay.  It  occurs  thus  in  Vermont,  Ohio,  Indiana.  Wis- 
consin, Iowa,  and  has  been  reported  in  other  counties  in  Minnesota,  viz. : 
Fillmore,  Wabasha  and  Scott. 


I 'L  AT}':  12 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MOWER  COUNTY. 


BY  N.  H.  WINCHELL. 

Situation  and  area.  This  county,  which  borders  on  the  state  of  Iowa, 
opposite  Mitchell  county,  is  bounded  west  by  Freeborn  county,  and  north 
by  Dodge  and  Olmsted  counties,  and  has  an  area  of  711.18  square  miles, 
or  455,155.75  acres.  Of  this  area  1,352.65  acres  are  water,  and  453,803.10 
are  land.  It  is  represented  by  plate  12. 

SURFACE  FEATURES. 

Natural  ilnthwye.  The  western  line  of  towns  is  crossed  in  a  due  south- 
erly direction  by  Cedar  river.  From  the  west  this  stream  receives  Wood- 
bury,  Orchard  and  Turtle  creeks.  Its  eastern  tributaries  are  Roberts,  Dob- 
bin's, Rose,  arid  Otter  creeks.  Thus  the  whole  western  half  of  the  county  is 
drained  into  the  Mississippi  through  Iowa.  The  southeastern  portion  is 
also  drained  toward  the  south  through  the  sources  of  the  Little  Cedar,  the 
Wapsipinicon  and  the  Upper  Iowa  rivers.  The  northwestern  portion  of 
the  county  is  drained  by  the  headwaters  of  the  Root  river  toward  the  north 
and  east.  This  river  flows  eastward  through  Fill  more  and  Houston  coun- 
ties into  the  Mississippi  near  La  Crescent.  The  divide  between  streams 
running  north  and  those  running  south  crosses  Mower  county  from  S.  E.  to 
N.  W.,  nearly  through  the  center,  and  includes  some  of  the  highest  land  in 
that  portion  of  the  state.  The  highest  point  in  the  county,  on  the  South- 
ern Minnesota  R,  R.,  is  at  Dexter  station,  in  sec.  13,  town  103  N.,  range  16  W., 
7sf>  feet  above  the  Mississippi  at  La  Crosse,  or  1,412  feet  above  tide  water. 

These  streams  are  all  small,  and  some  of  them  become  nearly  dry 
during  the  summei'.  Some  of  them  furnish  water-power  at  a  number  of 


348  THE  GEOLOGV  OF  .MINNESOTA. 

1  W;iter-power.     Topography. 

places.  This  has  been  improved  on  the  Upper  Iowa  at  Le  Roy,  and  on  the 
Cedar  at  Ramsey,  Austin  and  at  several  places  below  Austin,  in  the  con- 
struction of  flouring  mills. 

Water-power  and  water-power  mills  in  Mower  county. 

At  Lansing  on  the  Cedar  is  the  Lansing  mill,  owned  by  Alderson  and  company;  head  ten 
feet;  thirty  horse-power;  one  "American  turbine"'  wheel  of  forty-two  inches;  five  sets  of  rollers 
(Noyes);  capacity,  seventy-five  barrels  per  day. 

At  Ramsey  is  Matthew  Gregson's  mill,  which  has  a  head  of  water  of  nine  feet;  one  forty- 
two-inch  Leffel  wheel,  with  twer.ty-five  horse-power;  one  other  wheel  for  machinery,  giving 
thirty  horse-power;  three  n.n  of  stone;  capacity  fifty  barrels. 

At  Austin  is  Warner's  mill  (now  owned  by  C.  Alderson),  situated  on  Dobbin's  creek,  with 
dixteeu  feet  head;  two  Huston  wheels  (17  and  15  inches);  fifteen  horse-power,  more  or  less,  for 
each  wheel;  one  pair  of  millstones;  five  sets  of  rollers,  of  Cosgrove's  patent;  capacity  forty  bar- 
rels. The  full  capacity  of  this  stream  is  about  twenty-five  horse-power. 

At  Austin  on  the  Cedar  is  the  Engh  roller  mill,  owned  by  Job  Engle;  has  eleven  feet  head; 
two  Huston  wheels  (45-inch  and  27-inch),  giving  respectively  forty  and  fourteen  horse-power; 
eleven  sets  of  single  (Noyes)  rollers  :  capacity  125  ban  els. 

Two  miles  below  Austin  on  the  Cedar  is  Jonathan  Gregson's  mill,  with  thirteen  feet  head ;  it 
has  one  Leffel  wheel  of  forty-two  inches,  and  one  '-American  turbine"  of  forty-two  inches,  mak- 
ing together  100  horse  power ;  eight  sets  of  rollers  (Case's  patent);  two  buhrs;  capacity  125  bar- 
rels. This  power  is  not  all  employed. 

Five  miles  below  Austin  is  \V.  II.  Officer's  mill;  this  has  eight  feetTiead,'one  "American 
turbine"  and  one  Leffel  wheel,  each  being  forty-eight  inches  in  diameter;  sixty  horse-power;  two 
sets  of  rollers  (Noyes).  and  three  run  of  stone. 

At  seven  miles  below  Austin  on  the  Cedar  is  the  old  site  known  as  Tiff's  mitt,  now  owned 
by  Alderson  and  company.  This  has  not  been  employed  for  twenty  years,  and  a  part  of  the  dam 
is  gone;  but  there  is  here  available  over  100  horse-power. 

There  is  another  available  privilege  near  the  mouth  of  Rose  creek,  amounting  to  ten  horse- 
power, not  now  used. 

At  Le  Roy,  on  the  Upper  Iowa  river,  is  Isaac  II.  Thompson's  mill ;  this  has  ten  and  a  half 
feet  head  ;  one  forty-eight  inch  Leffel  wheel;  three  run  of  stone  (one  for  feed);  capacity  twenty- 
four  barrels. 

Topography.  This  county  is  one  of  high  prairie.  Its  surface  is  smooth, 
and  gently  undulating.  The  broad  valleys  of  the  small  streams  that  appear 
in  the  eastern  and  western  portions  are  basin-shaped  in  cross-section,  though 
they  sink,  in  the  towns  of  Frankford  and  Racine,  from  fifty  to  seventy-five 
feet  below  the  general  level.  The  summit  of  the  principal  N.  W.  and  S.  E. 
watershed  is  formed  by  the  Lower  Devonian  strata.  Toward  the  east  from 
this  summit,  particularly  toward  the  northeast,  the  view  over  the  valleys 
of  Deer  and  Bear  creeks,  introduces  a  decided  change  in  the  landscape  as  it 
first  appears  before  the  traveler.  The  expanse  is  broad,  low,  and  wooded 
more  or  less.  A  similar  change  is  introduced  in  the  southeast,  'where  the 
Upper  Iowa  river  passes  through  the  township  of  Le  Roy.  The  western 


MOWER  COUNTY.  349 

Elevation1 .] 

portion  of  the  county  is  considerably  lower  than  the  central  and  eastern. 
This  is  owing  to  the  valley  of  the  Cedar,  the  effect  of  which  is  felt'over  a 
wide  belt,  in  depressing  the  general  level.  The  southern  townships  of  Lyle, 
Nevada  and  Adams  may  be  characterized  as  flat.  The  same  is  true  of  much 
of  Marshall,  Windom  and  Austin.  There  are  extensive  tracts  of  pi'airie  in 
the  central  and  eastern  townships  that  are  still  in  their  pristine  condition. 
Elevations.  The  following  points  of  elevation  above  the  ocean  will  give 
the  average  altitude  along  the  railroad  lines,  and  this  can  not  vary  much 
from  the  actual  average  for  the  county,  since  the  roads  easily  follow  the 
undulations  of  the  prairies  with  very  little  of  either  cutting  or  filling. 

Elevation*  on  tlie  Southern  Minnesota  division  of  the  Chicago,  Mihcaukee  and  St.  Paul  railway. 

Miles  from    Feet  above 
La  Crosse.      the  0ea. 

Spring  Valley  (Fillmore  county),  73.6  1266 

Summit  (grade),  80.1  1358 

Grand  Meadow,  83.0  1338 

Depression  (grade),  85.2  1317 

Dexter,  89.8  1412 

Brownsdale,  98.0  1271 

Cedar  river  (water),   -  K>2.9  1192 

Ramsey  (crossing  of  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul  railway),  -  103.1  1214 

Depression  ( grade  on  bridge  at  Turtle  creek),        -  107.7  1197 

Oakland  (Freeborn  county)  109.9  1265 

Elevations  on  the  Iowa  and  Minnesota  division  of  tlie  Chiaiyo,  Mihcaukee  and  St.  Paul  railway. 

Miles  from     Feet  above 
St.  Paul.         the  sea. 

Madison,  90.2  1250 

Lansing,  -  93.8  1224 

Ramsey  (crossing  of  the  Southern  Minnesota  railway  i,  96.3  1215 

Cedar  river  (water),  96.7  1185 

Cedar  river  (grade),  96.7  1200 

Wolf  creek  (bridge),  97.7  1203 

Austin,  99.3  1197 

Dobbin's  creek  (water),  99.6  1175 

Dobbin's  creek  (grade),  99.6  1194 

Austin  Junction,       -  99.8  1194 

Rose  creek  (bottom),  107.3  1222 

Rose  creek  (grade),  107.3  1236 

Rose  Creek  station,  107.7  1245 

Summit  (grade,  cutting  7  feet),  111.1  1301 

Little  Cedar  river  (water),  111.9  1252 

Little  Cedar  river  (grade),  111.9  1272 

Creek  bottom,     -  113.8  1259 

Creek  crossing  (grade),  113.8  1274 

Adams,    -  114.1  1276 

Summit  (grade,  cutting  2  feet),  117.0  1343 

Taopi,  117.9  1336 

Creek  bottom,  122.7  1270 

Crossing  of  creek  (grade),  122.7  1285 

Creek  bottom,  123.2  1268 


350  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Elevations.    Soil  and  timber. 

Miles  from    Feet  above 
St.  Paul.       the  sea. 

Crossing  of  creek  (grade)  123.2  1285 

Summit  (grade,  cutting  5  feet),  124.0  1300 

Le  Roy,    •  125.4  1280 

State  line  (natural  surface  and  grade),  -                                                           126.0  1263 

Elevations  on  the  Austin  and  Mason  City  branch  of  the  C/iim'j'j,  Milu- "</,*«  nnd  St.  Paul  rail/ray. 

Austin  Junction,  99.8  1194 

Rose  creek  (water).  103.1  1165 

Rose  creek  (grade),  103.1  1185 

Summit  (grade),  104.6  1212 

Depression  (grade)  109.3  1185 

Lyle,  110.5  1199 

At  state  line  (grade),  110.9  1186 

Mean  elevation  of  the  county.  Estimates  of  the  average  hight  of  the 
townships  of  this  county  are  as  follows:  Racine,  1,300  feet  above  the  sea; 
Franklin,  1,320;  Bennington,  1,325;  Le  Roy,  1,300;  Pleasant  Valley,  1,350; 
Grand  Meadow,  1,360;  Clayton,  1,360;  Lodi,  1,325;  Sargent,  1,360;  Dexter, 
1,360  ;  Marshall,  1,330 ;  Adams,  1,275  ;  Waltham,  1,340  ;  Red  Rock,  1,270; 
Windom,  1,240;  Nevada,  1,230;  Udolpho,  1,260;  Lansing,  1,225;  Austin, 
1,200;  Lyle,  1,190.  The  mean  elevation  of  Mower  county  is  approximately 

I 

1,300  feet  above  the  sea. 

Soil  and  timber.  The  county  is  distinctively  one  of  prairie,  yet  it  has 
considerable  timber  along  the  streams.  This  is  particularly  the  case  along 
the  Upper  Iowa  river  in  the  southeastern  part  of  the  county  along  the 
eastern  tributaries  of  the  Root  in  Frankford,  and  along  the  Cedar  crossing 
the  whole  width  of  the  county.  There  is  also  an  important  tract  of  timber 
in  Nevada  township. 

The  soil  of  Mower  county  is  everywhere  dependent  on  the  nature 
of  the  drift.  The  underlying  rock  has  affected  it  only  so  far  as  it  may 
have  mingled  with  the  general  mass.  It  is  hence  primarily  a  gravelly  clay, 
that  being  the  character  of  the  subsoil  throughout  the  county.  This  gravelly 
clay,  however,  is  not  now  prominently  displayed  as  the  immediate  soil  of  the 
surface.  Indeed,  the  farmer  in  plowing  rarely  penetrates  to  it.  It  lies  below 
a  rich  loam  usually  at  depths  varying  from  zero  to  two  or  three  feet,  or  even 
more.  The  surface  soil  itself,  which  has  resulted  from  it  through  the  agency 
of  theforces  of  the  atmosphere  and  of  vegetation,  is  of  a  dark  color,  and  in 
general  may  be  designated  a  clayey  loam,  or  a  sandy  loam,  depending  on  the 
nature  and  completeness  of  the  local  dm  mage.  In  low  grounds  this  loam 
is  thick  and  of  a  dark  color.  It  is  also  apt  to  be  more  clayey  in  low  ground 


MOWER  COUNTY.  351 

Trees  and  shiubs.J 

than  it  is  on  the  hillsides  or  slopes  adjoining,  and  on  high  hills  or  steep 
slopes  it  is  thin  or  wanting,  the  wash  of  the  surface  having  carried  it  into 
the  valleys.  Along  streams  it  often  consists  of  an  arenaceous  loam  vari- 
ously mingled  with  the  detritus  of  the  flood-plain. 

The  soil  of  the  county  is  everywhere  characterized  by  the  strength  and 
fertility  that  the  drift  soils  of  the  Northwest  are  noted  for.  They  are  the 
most  reliable  soils,  for  all  the  purposes  of  the  farmer,  that  are  known. 
The  states  that  are  regularly  and  deeply  buried  in  drift  deposits  are  known 
as  the  best  farming  states  of  the  union.  Certain  rock  soils,  endowed  with 
unusual  special  qualities,  may  excel  in  the  production  of  certain  crops, 
especially  in  favorable  seasons,  but  for  general  tillage  they  cannot  compete 
with  the  homogeneous  drift  soils,  through  which  are  disseminated  the  good 
qualities  of  the  various  rocks  concerned  in  their  production,  in  the  propor- 
tions that  make  stability  and  diversity  equally  certain. 

In  the  examination  of  the  county  the  native  varieties  of  trees  and 
shrubs  were  noted,  and  the  following  list  comprises  the  species  that  were 
seen.  In  respect  to  the  trees  it  is  probably  nearly  complete  for  the  county, 
but  there  are  doubtless  other  species  of  shrubs. 

Trees  and  shrubs  of  Mower  county. 

Quercus  macrocarpa,  M>chx.  Bur  oak. 

(^uercus  coccinea,  Wang.,  var.  tinctoria,  Gray.  Black  oak. 

Populus  tremuloides,  Michx.    Aspen. 

Ulmus  Americana,  L.  (pi.  Clayt.),  Willd.    American  elm. 

Salix V    Different  species. 

Coryltis  Americana,  Walt.     Ilazelnut. 
Bhus  glabra,'  L.    Sumac. 
Ostrya  Virginica,  Willd.    Ironwood. 
Tilia  Americana,'£.  i  Bass. 
[Sambucus  Canadensis,  L.    Elder. 
Symphoricarpus  occidentalis,  K.  Br.     Wolf  berry. 
Kibes  Cynosbati,  L.    Prickly  gooseberry. 
Cornus  (sp.  V)    Cornel. 
Pirus  coronaria,  L.    American  crab-apple. 
Cornus  stolonifera,  Michx.    Bed-osier  dogwood. 
Alnus  incana,  Willd.  f  Alder. 
Populus  monilifera,  Ait.    Cottonwood. 
Cratiegus  coccinea,  L.  J.  Thorn. 
Primus  Americana,  Marshall.    Wild  plum. 
rrunus>erotina,^'/u\     Black  cherry. 
Vitis  cordifolia,  'Michx.    Frost  grape. 
Celastrus  scandens,  L.    Climbing  bitter-sweet. 
Kibes  floridum,  L,    Black  currant. 
Bosa  blanda,  Ait.    Wild  rose. 
Cratasgus  Crus-galli,  L.    Cockspur  thorn. 


352  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


Fraxinus  Americana,  L.     White  ash. 

Carya  alba,  Nutt.  Shag-bark  hickory.  At  Lansing,  and  in  the  valley  of  the  Cedar,  one  foot 
in  diameter. 

Acer  saccharinum,  Wang.    Sugar  maple. 

Carya  amira,  Null.     Bitternut. 

Finns  strobus,  L.  White  pine.  Along  the  rocky  banks  of  the  streams  in  the  eastern  part  of 
the  county. 

Ulmus  fulva,  Mich.    Slippery  elm. 

Fraxinus  sambucifolia,  Lam.    Black  ash. 

Viburnum  Opulus,  L.     High-bush  cranberry. 

Rubus  villosus,  Ait.    High  blackberry. 

Juniperus  Virginiana,  L.    Red  cedar. 

THE    GEOLOGICAL    STRUCTURE. 

Of  the  older  rocks  the  lower  portion  of  the  Devonian  and  the  upper 
portion  of  the  Lower  Silurian  are  found  within  the  county,  dipping  toward 
the  southwest.  The  western  portion  of  the  county  is  known  to  be  imme- 
diately underlain  by  the  Lower  Cretaceous,  without  ascertainable  eastern 
limits.  The  underlying  rock  is  nearly  everywhere  hid  by  the  drift,  and 
for  that  reason  the  actual  position  of  the  boundaries  of  the  formations 
is  unknown.  It  is  possible,  indeed  probable,  that  the  Cretaceous  area 
extends  farther  east  through  the  northern  part  of  the  county,  since  traces 
of  it  are  found  in  the  northern  part  of  Fillmore  county.  The  central  and 
northwestern  parts  of  the  county  are  underlain  by  the  argillaceous  sand- 
stone, and  associated  shales,  which  are  seen  at  Austin.  In  Pleasant  Valley 
and  Racine  townships  u  limestone  which  is  the  extension  of  the  Galena  and 
Upper  Trenton  is  found.  This  lies  below  the  Austin  rock.  The  Devonian 
limestones,  which  overlie  the  Austin  rock,  occupy  the  southern  and  south- 
eastern townships,  and  the  western  portions  of  Lyle  and  Austin,  on  the 
west  side  of  the  Cedar  river.  The  stratigraphy  of  the  formations  is  as  fol- 
lows, in  descending  order.  Nothing  is  known  of  their  thickness,  except 
what  can  be  learned  from  a  study  of  their  outcrops  in  other  counties. 
There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  they  vary  much  in  that  respect  from  the 
descriptions  that  have  been  given  already  of  them  in  Fillmore  and  Olm- 
sted  counties. 

L  1.  Blue  clay. 
Cretaceous.  •?  2.   White  sandstone. 

(  3.   Pebbly  conglomerate. 

C  4.  Limestone,  fine  grained,  dolomitic. 
Devonian.    •<  5.   Limestone,  coarse  grained,  dolomitic. 
( 6.  Argillaceous  sandstone. 

7.  Calcareous  shale. 

8.  Limestone,  dolomitic,  with  shale  beds. 


MOWEE  COUNTY.  353 

Cretaceous  strata -J 

The  Cretin-con*.  The  principal  exposures  of  the  Cretaceous  are  found  in 
the  valley  of  the  Cedar  river,  and  in  the  vicinity  of  Austin.  These  less  in- 
durated strata  overlie  unconformably,  with  an  immense  lapse  of  intervening 
time  not  here  represented  by  any  rocks,  the  older  rocks  of  the  Silurian. 
They  have  been  broken  up  by  the  glacial  forces,  and  their  materials  have 
been  forced  into  the  pre-existing  cavities  and  channels  of  the  older  strata. 
They  also  lie  undisturbed  in  some  of  these  old  cavities.  Similar  apppear- 
ances  have  been  noted  in  Iowa  by  Profs.  Hall  and  Whitney  and  by  W.  H. 
Ban-is.*  but  in  that  state  they  seem  not  to  have  been  referred  to  the  agency 
of  the  Cretaceous  ocean. 

With  respect  to  the  clay,  which  is  probably  the  uppermost  of  the  Cre- 
taceous deposits  in  the  county,  it  is  frequently  seen  at  Austin,  and  at  points 
below  Austin,  in  the  quarries  that  are  opened  in  the  Silurian  rocks.  A 
quarry  in  the  left  bank  of  Dobbin's  creek,  just  below  the  mill  of  Mr.  C- 
Alderson,  opened  in  the  Austin  rock,  shows  the  beds  everywhere  greatly 
broken.  Throughout,  the  partings  and  all  the  interstices  are  closely  filled 
with  this  greenish  clay.  The  clay  here  very  rarely  has  any  distinct  bed- 
ding. It  varies  from  green  to  reddish,  or  buff',  and  is  accompanied  also  with 
considerable  clean  white  sand.  These  are  both  lodged  in  the  cavities  of 
the  rock  in  such  a  manner  that  they  seem  to  have  been  jammed  into  them. 
They  pertain  to  no  particular  horizon,  and  show  no  definite  arrangement. 
They  are  disposed  everywhere,  from  the  top  to  the  bottom  of  the  bluff, 
though  the  sand  seems  to  be  more  abundant  near  the  bottom. 

At  a  quarry  of  Mr.  Alderson's,  near  Austin,  the  rock  was  overlain  by 
the  following 

Cretaceous  clays. 

1.  Black  sandy  loam  and  soil,  2  to  4  feet. 

2.  Band  of  red  and  variegated  compact  clay.  -         6  in.  to  4  feet. 

3.  Yellow  ocherous  band  of  clay  6  in.  to  4  feet. 

The  superposition  of  these  bands  of  clay  is  not  so  regular  as  indicated 
by  the  foregoing  section.  Occasionally  number  3  is  broken  through,  or  is 
wanting,  and  number  2  lies  on  the  rock,  or  passes  down  into  its  crevices; 
yet  number  3  is  generally  the  first  over  the  rock.  They  vary  in  thickness 
and  swell  out  in  shapeless  masses,  and  become  very  hard  when  dry.  Such 
hard  masses  are  seen  sometimes  to  embrace  bits  of  angular  earthy  rock, 

•See  the  second  annual  report,  and  the  report  on  Blue  Earth  county;  also,  Geology  of  Iowa,  Vol    I    pp  84  and  130; 
also,  Proceedings  of  the  Davenport  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  Vol.  II.,  p.  264. 

23 


:!.VJ  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Cretaceous  strata 

much  like  ocher,  varying  in  color,  from  u  dark  burnt-umber  color  to  a 
lighter  shade,  even  to  buff',  and  appearing  when  of  a  light  color  much  like 
the  mass  of  number  3.  They  can  bo  scratched  easily  with  a  knife,  and 
however  black  they  may  be,  they  give  a  red  Im-matitic  streak.  When  they 
are  faded  the  streak  also  fades  into  a  brown  or  yellowish-brown  like  limo- 
nite.  Intermingled  very  irregularly  with  number  '2.  and  sometimes  also 
with  number  8,  are  masses  of  greenish  clay  which  has  in  ev-ery  other  re- 
spect the  same  outward  characters  as  number  2.  There  are  here  also  large, 
crystalline,  detached  masses  of  apparently  a  siliceous  limestone  which  is 
very  hard  and  close-grained.  In  some  cases,  however,  this  varies  to  a 
porous  and  nearly  white  limestone  that  appears  to  be  very  pure.* 

In  the  digging  of  Mr.  L.  G.  Basford's  well,  at  Austin,  the  rock  quarried  at  Austin  was  struck 
at  twenty-four  feet  and  was  penetrated  eight  feet.  Overlying  this  was  a  deposit  of  blue  clay. 
This  deposit  was  also  found  in  the  crevices  of  the  rock.  The  clay  contained  angiospermous  leaves. 
Two  distinct  varieties  of  leaf  were  discovered,  one  resembling  /Wo«/<///w /'/•/,/,<! /•«.  lir..  and  the 
other  a  species  of  Sequoia.  The  specimen  of  the  latter  consists  of  a  branch,  apparently  of  a  small 
herb.  It  shows  an  inch  and  three-fourths  of  the  main  stalk.  In  that  distance  it  gives  off  four 
branches,  each  of  which  seems  to  be  as  large  as  the  main  stalk,  three  on  the  left  and  one  on  the  right. 
The  whole  specimen  is  thickly  furnished  with  decurrent,  parallel-veined  leaves,  which  have  a  dis- 
tinct midrib.  The  leaves  are  simple,  entire,  oblanceolate  linear,  and  taper-pointed  at  their  junction 
with  the  stalk.  Their  length  is  a  quarter  of  an  inch,  varying  a  little  above  and  below  that  size, 
and  their  width  is  one-twentieth  of  an  inch.  The  diameter  of  the  stalk,  and  that  of  the  branches, 
is  about  one-half  the  width  of  the  leaves.  The  latter  diverge  from  the  branches  at  an  angle  of  40° 
to  45  .  A  photographic  copy  of  this  fossil  was  submitted  in  1874  to  Dr.  J.  S.  Newberry,  who  pro- 
nounced it  probably  a  species  of  Sei/uoia;  and  Dr.  Leo  Lesquereux.  on  examination  of  the  original 
specimen,  regards  it  as  a  new  species.f 

Near  the  mill  of  Jonathan  Gregson,  about  two  miles  below  Austin,  the 
palaeozoic  rock  is  cut  by  old  channels  and  other  cavities,  and  these  are  filled 
with  blue  clay  of  the  same  character  as  that  containing  the  angiospermous 
leaves  at  Austin.  It  shows  here  no  fossils  nor  shells  of  any  kind.  It  is 
exceedingly  tine  and  plastic.  It  is  said  to  run  down  at  least  thirty  feet, 
where  the  stone  itself  would  naturally  lie  if  the  strata  were  continuous.  It 
seems  to  occupy  a  trough-like  excavation  in  the  rock  about  a  rod  wide  run- 
ning east  and  west,  and  has  been  traced  by  means  of  an  iron  rod  several 
yards  back  from  the  river  bank.  This  clay  below  twenty  feet  is  said  to  be- 
come white. 

Besides  this  clay  there  is  a   irhitr  *<iinl.  supposed  to  underlie  the  clay, 

*In  connection  with  this  description  of  limestone  masses,  it  i«  interesting  to  note  the  occurrence  at  St  Charles  in 
Wfnona  county,  of  hard  siliceous  limestr.me  masses  on  the  surface  of  the  ground,  appearing  very  much  like  those 
embraced  in  this  clay,  and  also  in  Fillmore  county  southeast  of  Spring  Valley 

i  the  first  and  third  annual   reports  tliese  fossil  i,.:lvi..s  were  wrongly  referred  to  the  Austin  rock,  and  on  the 

reiigth  of  that  information  the  Austin  rock  was  ri-K.i,d,  ,1  ( •.vtac.ous.     A  late  re-examination  of  the  loca  ity,  and  an 

interview  with  Mr.  Charles  Bromwick,  have  established  the  fact  that  they  are  only  found  in  the  clay  deposit  overlying 


MOWER  COUNTY.  355 

Cretaceous  strata.] 

also  belonging  to  the  Cretaceous.  This  has  already  been  mentioned  at 
Alderson's  mill  on  Dobbin's  creek,  but  its  most  interesting  appearance  is  at 
Sargent's  spring.  S.  W.  j  sec.  31,  Red  Rock.  It  is  below  the  level  of  the  water 
of  a  little  pool.  Pure,  soft  (?)  water  boils  up  over  the  area  of  about  a  square 
rod,  and  sometimes  over  double  that  area,  and  can  be  seen  issuing  from  the 
ground,  bringing  with  it  clean  white  sand.  The  bottom  of  the  pool  presents 
a  beautiful  appearance.  The  water  is  as  clear  as  crystal,  and  the  boiling 
points  which  appear  by  reason  of  the  rising  white  sand,  in  the  midst  of  the 
darker  sediment,  can  be  minutely  inspected  at  a  depth  of  five  or  six  feet. 
Running  a  stick  into  the  agitated  sand,  it  soon  strikes  a  sandrock  which  is 
doubtless  the  source  of  the  boiling  sand,  and  the  same  bed  that  furnished 
that  at  the  quarry  in  Dobbin's  creek. 

There  is  also  a  white  pebbly  conglomerate,  which  passes  into  a  ferruginous 
grit,  found  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  county,  that  is  referred,  with  some 
doubt,  to  the  Cretaceous  age.  This  has  been  mentioned  in  the  report  on 
Fillmore  county.*  It  is  seen  in  the  north  half  of  section  13,  Frankford,  in 
the  north-and-south  road.  It  is  here  a  ferruginous,  pebbly  conglomerate, 
presenting  a  small  surface  outcrop,  overlain  by  loam.  It  produces  a  sandy 
road,  and  sandy  soils  in  the  adjoining  fields  for  a  quarter  of  a  mile  next 
north.  Again,  at  the  middle  of  section  12,  in  the  same  township,  is  an 
exposure  of  the  same  in  the  road.  A  perpendicular  thickness  of  about  ten 
feet  of  bedding  seems  to  be  here  involved,  in  a  weathered  down  and  half- 
covered  outcrop.  This  is  the  highest  land  between  the  two  creeks.  The 
same  rock  appears  again  on  the  N.  E.^  sec.  11,  overlying  a  disintegrating 
shaly  and  limy  rock  like  that  under  the  Devonian  limestones  in  Fillmore 
county,  and  the  same  as  that  seen  in  the  road  about  a  mile  and  a  half  north 
of  Grand  Meadow.  At  this  place,  however,  the  heavy  magnesian  beds  are 
not  in  outcrop.  At  the  S.  E.  \  sec.  3,  in  the  road  running  east  and  west  this 
rusty  conglomerate  is  conspicuous.  It  is  disintegrated  so  as  to  make  a 
gravel,  as  in  Fillmore  county. 

As  already  intimated,  the  age  of  this  conglomerate  is  not  established 
beyond  doubt.  The  appearances  will  justify  its  reference  to  the  Cretaceous, 
and  the  occurrence  of  similar  rock  in  other  counties  where  it  is  impossible 
to  refer  it  to  the  age  to  which  it  may  belong  in  Mower  and  Fillmore  coun- 

*See  also  the  reports  on  Nicollet,  Hennepin  and   Wright  counties.     Similar  conglomerates  appear  in   the   Lower 
Cretaceous  in  Guthrie  county,  Iowa.     See  Qeology  of  Iowa,  1870,  Vol.  II.,  p.  100. 


356  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Crataeeous  strata. 

ties,  confirms  that  reference.  Still,  as  the  gritty  conglomerates  seen  in 
other  counties  may  not  be  the  same  as  this,  it  is  necessary  to  mention 
another  possible  explanation  of  this  conglomerate.  It  may  be  a  repre- 
sentative of  the  Oriskany  sandstone.  This  sandstone  lies  at  the  base  of  the 
Devonian  limestones  in  New  York.  It  is  well  known  in  Ohio  where  it  is 
sometimes  quite  coarse-grained,  and  involves  pebbles  of  the  Waterlime* 
which  underlies  it.  In  Illinois  it  is  recognized  by  the  fossils  it  contains, 
and  has  the  local  designation  Clear  Creek  Ihnc^ntic.  although  its  beds  are 
cherty  and  siliceous.  It  has  not  been  identified  either  in  Iowa  or  Wiscon- 
sin. As  the  Upper  Silurian  limestones  are  wanting  in  the  series  of  strata 
in  Fillmore  county  at  Spring  Valley,  there  seems  to  have  been  some  move- 
ment in  the  ocean  level  which  caused  the  deposition  of  the  Devonian 
directly  upon  the  Lower  Silurian.  Such  an  agitation  of  the  ocean's  bed  as 
would  produce  a  conglomerate  in  Ohio,  burying  it  under  a  sandstone  like 
the  Oriskany,  or  an  arenaceous  dolomite  like  the  Lower  Corniferous  of  that 
state,  must  have  had  its  accompanying  effects  in  other  portions.  The 
gradual  disappearance  of  the  Niagara  limestone,  the  only  representative 
of  the  Upper  Silm-ian  in  northeastern  Iowa,  as  it  approaches  Minnesota, 
and  its  entire  absence  at  Spring  Valley,  seems  to  indicate  an  encroaching 
ocean.  Such  a  movement  would  necessarily  have  buried  its  own  beach- 
deposits  beneath  the  sediments  of  its  advancing  oceanic  waters,  and  may 
have  produced  a  conglomerate  stratum  like  that  seen  in  Mower  county. 
If  this  conglomerate  could  be  found  lying  below  the  Devonian  limestones, 
this  hyopthesis  would  be  sufficiently  established,  but  unfortunately  the 
drift  and  loam  are  so  prevalent  that  the  stratigraphic  relations  of  the  two 
have  not  been  made  out;  at  the  same  time  it  must  be  admitted  that  all  the 
outcrops  of  the  conglomerate  that  have  been  seen  in  Fillmore  and  Mower 
counties  are  so  situated  with  respect  to  the  strike  of  the  limestones  as  to 
allow  of  the  infra-position  of  the  conglomerate. 

All  of  these  Cretaceous  rocks,  whether  clay,  sand  or  conglomerate,  are 
comparable  with  similar  rocks  seen  in  the  Minnesota  valley  and  its  tribu- 
taries, situated  from  seventy-five  to  one  hundred  miles  west-northwest 
from  Austin.-}- 

•Report  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  Ohio      Part  I.  Geology,  Vol.  II.,  p   301. 
Geological  Survey  of  Illinois,  Vol.  Ill  ,  pp.  24,  37,  and  ft!. 
tSee  turther  respecting  possible  Cretaceous  outcrops,  under  Hudson  River  rocks. 


MOWER  COUNTY.  357 

Devonian  limestones.] 

The  Devonian  Ihtirxtoncs.  Beginning  with  the  uppermost  of  the  Devonian 
strata.we  find  a  fine-grained  ilol<nnHi<-  limestone,  quarried  at  Le  Roy,  in  the 
southeastern  corner  of  the  county.  It  is  exactly  like  that  seen  near  North- 
wood,  Worth  county.  Iowa,*  a  few  mites  south  of  the  Minnesota  state  line. 
The  full  thickness  of  these  strata  cannot  be  stated,  but  about  fifteen  feet 
can  be  assumed  for  their  maximum  thickness  at  Le  Roy.  They  contain 
stromatoporoid  corals,  and  but  very  few  other  fossils.  In  some  quarries  a  few 
beds  of  shale  three  or  four  inches  thick  can  be  seen  between  the  limestone 
beds. 

Thomas  Rough's  quarry  is  three-quarters  of  a  mile  east  of  the  village,  and  exposes  six  feet 
of  fine-grained  beds  that  have  a  perceptible  dip  toward  the  northeast.  The  quarries  of  Joseph 
Brevier,  of  which  two  are  opened,  are  in  the  left  bank  of  the  Upper  Iowa  river.  The  rock  here  is 
fine-grained,  and  in  beds  from  three  to  six  inches  thick.  On  the  land  of  F.  Brevier,  where  the 
highway  crosses  the  river  on  sec.  27,  can  be  seen  the  underlying  beds  that  differ  much  from  the 
stone  quarried  at  Le  Roy.  They  appear  at  the  spring  just  below  the  bridge,  and  exhibit  about 
two  feet  of  strata.  They  are  granular,  vesicular,  and  when  wet  rather  soft;  the  upper  part  being  con- 
fused and  indefinite  in  stratification,  in  transition  from  the  overlying  compact  beds  and  the  magne- 
sian  rock  seen  on  Beaver  creek  in  Fillmore  county  ami  at  Chester.  Iowa.  They  show  a  slight  dip  to  the 
south.  The  quarry  of  Widow  Cady  Palmer  is  at  the  road-crossing  of  the  north  fork  of  the  Upper 
Iowa  river  on  sec.  21,  Le  Hoy.  Levi  Alsdorf  's  quarry,  S.  E.  J  sec.  21,  Le  Roy,  shows  about  ten 
feet  of  beds,  parted  by  layers  of  one  to  three  inches  of  shale,  with  a  slight  dip  to  the  southeast. 
The  quarry  owned  by  the  heirs  of  L.  Johnson  is  about  forty  rods  from  the  state  line,  in  sec.  35, 
Le  Roy.  It  is  in  a  lightly  timbered  tract  of  country,  accompanying  the  Upper  Iowa  river,  and 
about  ten  rods  south  of  the  river.  The  beds  rise  to  within  a  foot  or  two  of  the  surface,  on  the 
the  angle  of  the  river  bluff,  though  the  bluffs  of  the  river  are  not  conspicuous,  the  depth  of  the 
valley  being  only  about  ten  or  fifteen  feet  below  the  general  level,  and  broad  and  basin-like.  The 
foreign  drift  about  is  light,  but  some  large  boulders  are  scattered  about.  This  stone  is  light- 
colored  (nearly  white),  hard  and  fine,  exactly  like  the  Devonian  seen  near  Northwood  in  Iowa, 
though  in  heavier  beds  than  that.  It  would  make  a  beautiful  white  marble.  It  is  uniform  in, 
texture,  and  not  in  the  least  porous.  With  the  exception  of  one  or  two  layers  of  an  inch  or  two  of 
green  clay,  the  beds  are  all  of  this  limestone,  exposed  twelve  feet.  At  Judson  A.  Palmer's 
quarry,  the  rock  is  overlain  by  six  inches  of  soil,  though  a  hundred  rods  from  the  river.  These 
beds  are  all  badly  weathered,  so  far  as  opened,  and  show  no  important  variation  from  the  other 
quarries ;  exposed  three  feet.  Mr.  Palmer's  other  quarry  is  in  the  river  bluff  and  has  furnished 
stone  that  has  been  burned  for  quicklime.  The  stone  is  the  same  as  that  already  described. 
Browne's  quarry  is  also  in  the  bank  of  the  river,  but  shows  only  about  six  feet,  though  there  is 
every  opportunity  for  opening  the  beds  to  a  greater  depth.  There  is  here  a  more  argillaceous  and 
fissile  bed  than  any  in  the  other  quarries.  It  is  about  eighteen  inches  thick.  This  layer,  coming 
about  midway  in  the  quarried  beds,  facilitates  the  working  of  the  quarry,  but  is  itself  of  no  value. 
In  the  debris  thrown  out,  probably  from  this  layer,  a  globular  mass  of  Coenostroma  was  obtained. 
There  is  an  exposure  of  the  limestone  in  the  valley  of  the  Upper  Iowa,  near  the  west  line  of  the 
S.  E.  J  of  N.  W.  J  of  sec.  29,  Le  Roy.  There  is  here  a  boiling  spring,  coming  out  of  the  rock,  in 
the  bed  of  the  creek.  The  rock  is  also  exposed  just  over  the  state  line  in  Iowa,  on  the  Little  Cedar, 
and  more  particularly  at  Staceyville,  two  miles  south  of  the  line. 

Underlying  the  above  is  a  granular,  often  vesicular,  dolomitic  limestone. 

*At  Xorthwood  are  numerous  walls  and  foundations  built  of  stone  exactly  like  that  of  the  numerous  boulders  that 
are  distributed  over  Kreeborn  county  and  counties  further  northwest  many  of  which  hare  been  burnt  for  quicklime. 
The  I  .yers  an'  about  fmir  inches  in  thickness  but  sometimes  Rre  eight  inches,  very  close-grained,  and  of  a  light  cream- 
color  Still .  in  th  center  of  the  thick  lieds  is  a  hlue  spot,  indicating  the  original  blue  color  of  the  whole  Only  a  small 
outcrop  of  these  beds  oecnrsat  Northwood  hut  three  miles  farthcrsou  h  on  the  shell  Rock  river,  these  l<eds  appear  again 
and  have  been  opened  They  are  here  horizontal  and  vary  from  three  to  ten  inche-  in  thicKness.  The  only  visible  fos- 
fils  are  badly  weathered,  and  i-how  on  the  outer  surfaces  They  are  FnvoMes,  Ccenostroma.  AcerviUaria,  and  perhaps 
one  or  two  other  corals.  At  Beckett  s  quarry  aboul  six  feet  of  very  hard,  fine-grained  beds  are  visible. 


358  THE  GEOLOGY  OP  MINNESOTA. 

[Devonian  limestones. 

This  appears  but  slightly  at  Le  Roy,  but  is  found  along  the  Upper  Iowa  at 
Chester,  seven  miles  below  Le  Roy,  and  on  Beaver  creek  in  Fillmore  coun- 
ty.* It  appears  also  in  the  northeastern  part  of  the  county,  and  in  the 
southwestern.  Its  original  line  of  strike  probably  crossed  the  county 
nearly  east  and  west,  through  the  central  portion,  and  it  is  possible  that 
this  rock  reaches  still  as  far  north  as  Brownsdale,  but  it  has  been  driven 
southward  by  the  erosive  action  of  meteoric  forces,  particularly  by  the 
"drift"  forces,  and  by  the  action  of  the  Cedar  river,  so  that  it  now  has  a 
flexure  toward  the  south,  even  to  the  Iowa  state  line,  along  the  Cedar  val- 
ley, and  its  area  in  the  county  is  separated  into  two  parts.  As  near  as  it 
is  possible  to  judge  from  the  facts  known,  the  strike  of  the  lower  beds  of 
this  limestone  is  shown  on  the  plate  of  Mower  county. 

In  the  southwestern  corner  of  the  county,  sec.  33,  Lyle,  are  the  quar- 
ries of  Mr.  John  Beech,  one  of  which  is  on  the  south  side  of  Woodbury 
creek,  east  of  the  north  and  south  road,  and  the  other  is  on  the  river  bank 
about  twenty  rods  south  of  the  mouth  of  the  creek.  Here  are  seen  about 
eighteen  feet  of  rough  magnesian  limestone  beds,  gradually  dipping  south 
and  entering  the  river  before  reaching  the  state  line.  They  are  the  cause 
of  the  water-power  at  Otranto,  a  few  miles  south,  in  Iowa,  where  flouring 
mills  have  been  erected.  These  beds  are  firm,  but  very  rough  and  cavern- 
ous, curly  with  concretionary  structure  and  with  rusty  films  that  penetrate 
them.  The  only  fossils  discovered  are  the  impressions  of  a  coarsely  ribbed 
Atrypa,  having  all  the  appearances  of  the  so-called  little:  turtles,  seen  in  a 
similar  rock  at  Spring  Valley  in  Fillmore  county.  Indeed,  the  whole  as- 
pect of  the  rock  is  like  that  of  the  coarse  rock  containing  those  fossils. 
This  rock  here  overlies  the  Austin  rock,  though  the  actual  overlie  cannot 
be  seen.  Its  manner  of  approach  to  the  river,  and  the  topography  toward 
the  south  and  west,  taken  in  connection  with  its  dip  and  the  relation  it 
bears  geographically  to  known  outcrops  of  the  Austin  rock,  are  the  only 
evidences.  The  strike  of  this  limestone  from  Beech's  quarry  northward 
can  be  followed  on  the  west  side  of  the  river  by  the  terrace  elevation  which 
they  cause,  running  about  a  mile  west  of  the  river.  Where  this  terrace  is 
crossed  by  Orchard  creek,  sec.  29,  Austin,  lime  was  burnt  some  years  ago. 
Toward  the  north  further  this  terrace  recedes  from  the  river,  apparently 

*See  the  Fillmore  county  report,  p.  305. 


MOWER    COUNTY.  359 

Devonian  limestones.] 

leaving  the  county  on  the  south  side  of  Turtle  creek.  On  the  east  side  of 
the  Cedar  river  a  similar  terrace,  or  bench  of  more  elevated  land,  skirts  the 
valley  through  the  township  of  Lyle,  bearing  away  from  the  river  toward 
the  valley  of  Rose  creek,  where  the  limerock  is  again  exposed  slightly  on 
the  land  of  Andrew  Robertson,  sec.  '2(5,  Windom,  in  a  little  valley  tributary 
to  Rose  creek.  The  same  or  similar  beds  are  next  seen  on  the  S.  W.  ^  sec. 
20,  Frankford,  where  Mr.  Aaron  Bush  quarries  them  in  the  valley  of  Deer 
creek.  Here  the  rock  is  parted  into  blocks  that  are  quarried  out  without 
blasting  or  breaking.  They  are  much  faded  and  rotted  hi  situ,  having  over 
them  only  a  thickness  of  about  four  feet  of  loam.  The  beds  are  from  six 
inches  to  two  feet  thick,  and  amount  to  about  ten  feet  altogether.  The 
stone  is  very  good  for  all  masonry.  It  is  easily  dressed  and  has  a  yellow- 
ish buff  color.  On  the  S.  E.  \  sec.  30.  Frankford,  the  same  rock  was  struck 
in  the  well  of  (4.  C.  Easton,  and  was  drilled  into  sixty  or  seventy  feet.  The 
abutments  of  the  iron  bridge  (over  the  pond)  on  sec.  20,  are  from  Bush's 
quarry.  The  stone  is  firm  and  quarried  in  blocks  three  feet  long  and  about 
twenty  inches  thick.  There  is  another  quarry  not  much  worked  a  short 
distance  below  this  bridge,  in  the  banks  of  the  Creek.  The  rock  quarried 
at  Bush's  appears  in  the  south  bank  of  Deer  creek,  at  Frankford,  nearly  on 
the  county  line,  overhanging  and  perpendicular,  in  heavy  beds  from  two 
and  a  half  to  four  feet  in  thickness.  It  is  vesicular,  as  there,  and  porous, 
and  even  cavernous,  rough  exteriorly,  and  presents  the  aspects  of  the  coarse, 
magnesian  beds  of  the  lower  Devonian  limestones  as  seen  at  Spring  Valley, 
containing  also  the  peculiar  atrypoid  casts  known  as  little  titiilen.  This  is 
on  the  land  of  John  Hawkins,  Again,  on  the  8.  W.  £  sec.  2,  west  of  both 
cmssings  of  Bear  creek,  similar  heavy  beds  ot  magnesian  limestone  are 
seen,  but  nothing  can  be  affirmed  of  their  equivalency  with  those  at  Frank- 
ford.  These  appear  to  be  overlain  by  the  rusty  conglomerate  supposed  to 
belong  to  the  Cretaceous. 

The  so-called  Austin  fork  underlies  the  foregoing  coarse  magnesian 
si  r;ita.  This  stone,  as  it  appears  at  Austin,  is  a  fine-grained  sandrock,  or 
shaly  sandrock.  that  cracks  like  some  shales  after  exposure  to  the  weather 
In  some  places,  further  down  the  river,  it  is  a  fine,  calcareous  sandrock. 
The  texture  of  the  stone  itself  is  close  and  the  grain  is  homogeneous.  Some 
slabs  have  been  sawn  for  bases  to  tombstones.  It  is  more  safely  sawn  to 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Devonian  limestones. 

any  desired  dimension  than  cut  or  broken,  since  it  fractures  treacherously; 
yet  it  is  not  in  the  least  crystalline.  Although  a  sandstone  it  contains  no 
apparent  grit,  and  is  useful  for  fine  whetstones,  or  for  hone-stones.  As  seen 
about  the  city  it  is  very  generally  of  a  dirty  buff  color  to  the  depth  of  half 
an  inch  or  even  three  inches,  depending  on  the  amount  of  weathering  or 
oxidation.  The  thinner  beds  are  altogether  changed  to  that  color.  In  the 
center  of  the  beds,  however,  in  the  deeper  parts  of  the  quarry,  the  stone  is 
blue.  The  presence  of  occasional  concretionary  iron-and-mud  balls  causes 
a  rusty  stain  ef  a  yellow  color  over  the  surface  of  many  of  the  slabs.  These 
concretionary  balls  fall  out,  or  dissolve  out  when  in  the  water,  and  leave 
cavities  that  become  larger  still.  Some  other  cavities  that  have  been  pro- 
tected within  the  homogeneous  rock,  on  fracturing  the  rock  are  seen  lined 
with  drusy  quartz,  and  the  quartz  is  sometimes  coated  with  a  limonite 
scale.  The  rock  contains  very  sparingly  a  few  molluscous  fossils.  These 
are  generally  too  much  absorbed,  or  too  fragmentary,  to  admit  of  specific 
identification.  Among  these  Prof.  H.  S.  Williams  has  made  the-  following 
determinations,  which,  however,  are  to  be  regarded  "as  nothing  more  than 
strongly  probable,"  viz:  numerous  cavities  of  Aulvjivni.  or  some  allied  form, 
a  small  shell  like  Atrypa  reticularis,  and  another  like  Atrypn  nxp't-a,  H., 
Cyrtina,  like  C.  Dalmani,  but  perhaps  C.  Hamiltonensis,  several  lenticular- 
shaped  shells  wflich  are  probably  Nucleospira,  a  minute  terebra,tuloid  shell 
of  Rensselaeria  type,  trace  of  a  crinoid  stem,  and  a  trace  of  a  minute  Ortho- 
ceras.  At  Gregson's  mill  he  has  also  identified  the  following,  viz:  Produc- 
tella  truncata,  Hall,  a  minute  lamellibranch  like  a  small  Arintlopecten,  and  a 
minute  brachiopod  of  an  oval,  smooth  surface  resembling  a  dorsal  valve  or 
Ambocoelia  or  (?)  Nucleospira.  On  the  strength  of  these  Prof.  Williams  is 
of  the  opinion  that  the  fauna  belongs  to  an  horizon  near  the  base  of  the 
Hamilton,  either  below  it  or  in  an  equivalent  position  to  the  New  York 
Marcellus. 

At  the  mill  of  J.  Gregson,  about  two  miles  below  Austin,  a  great  deal  of  stone  has  formerly 
been  taken  out,  but  now  the  quarries  of  that  neighborhood  are  nearly  all  flooded  by  water  of  the 
dam.  The  chief  quarry  was  just  above  the  present  site  of  the  mill  and  near  the  dam,  on  the 
left  side,  though  just  below  the  dam  the  rock  shows  on  both  sides  and  has  also  been  wrought. 
The  following  downward  section  was  seen  at  this  point. 

Section  at  Gregson's  mill. 

No.  1.  Black  loamy  soil 7  to  8  feet. 

No.  2.  Loose  fragments  of  the  underlying  beds,  and  clay,  mixed 3  feet. 


OWER  COUNTY.  361 

Devonian  limestones.] 

No.  3.  Heavy  stone  like  that  described  at  Austin,  with  clay  filling  the  open  planes 
and  joints 10  to  12  feet. 

No.  4.  Rusty  bituminous  films •. i  to  1  inch. 

[On  the  authority  of  the  owners  of  this  quarry,  to  this  section  may  be  added  the  following:] 

No.  5.  Limestone,  filled  with  shells,  blue,  contains  flint,  makes  lime,  pene- 
trated    3  feet. 

The  bedding  of  No.  3  is  here  broken  in  a  manner  similar  to  that  of  Alderson's  quarry 
at  Austin.  The  corners  and  angles  of  the  beds  are  replaced  by  clay  and  the  color  of  the  stone  is 
changed  from  blue  to  buff  or  drab,  to  the  depth  of  about  two  Inches. 

Some  years  ago  the  rock  was  worked  by  Dr.  Barns,  of  Austin,  about  half  a  mile  above 
Gregson's  mill.  This  quarry  is  now  almost  entirely  flooded  by  the  dam.  The  abutments  of  the 
upper  bridge  at  Austin  came  from  this  quarry,  in  part.  Judge  Ormanzo  Allen  owned  a  quarry 
still  above  Barns  that  was  also  considerably  flooded  by  the  same  means.  The  quarry  most  worked 
was  just  above  the  mill,  owned  by  M.  J.  Woodson.  It  is  now  entirely  under  water.  Stone  is 
still  taken  out,  however,  all  along,  both  above  and  below  Gregson's.  The  beds  at  Gregson's  show 
very  nearly  the  same  characters  as  at  Austin.  The  descent  of  the  stream  is  over  about  fourteen 
feet  of  rock,  the  layers  of  which  are  sometimes  two  feet  or  more  in  thickness,  or  massive,  much 
like  an  indurated  shale.  In  weathering  these  thick  beds  are  checked  by  planes  running  mainly 
horizontal,  instead  of  perpendicular  or  diagonal.  Although  mainly  horizontal,  these  planes  are 
apt  to  unite  after  a  few  feet,  splitting  up  the  heaviest  beds  into  wedging,  lenticular  masses.  Some 
parts  are  here  plainly  calcareous,  affording  traces  of  fossil  remains  that  have  the  appearance  of 
brachiopods.  These  portions  are  porous  as  if  by  the  absorption  of  fossils. 

At  the  mouth  of  Rose  creek  about  the  same  thickness  of  the  same  kind  of  stone  can  be  seen 
in  the  bed  and  banks  of  the  creek.  A  fine  exposure  is  owned  by  J.  D.  Woodard  in  the  right  bank 
of  Rose  creek  near  the  crossing  of  the  road  from  Austin  to  Officer's  mill,  perhaps  a  mile  above  its 
union  with  the  Cedar.  It  is  again  seen  above  Officer's  on  the  land  of  Col.  Lewis,  on  the  east  bank. 

At  W.  H.  Officer's  mill  the  left  bank  of  the  river  shows  about  twenty  feet  of  bedding.  This 
is  one  mile  below  Rose  creek.  South  of  this  mill  rock  of  the  same  kind  is  seen  at  a  number  of 
places  before  reaching  the  state  line.  At  two  miles  below  Officer's  it  is  quarried  on  R.  B.  Foster's 
land,  and  on  Mrs.  John  Niles's,  sec.  4,  Lyle.  At  the  last  place  it  verges  more  toward  a  sandstone. 
It  has  been  put  into  the  foundation  of  a  proposed  mill  by  Alderson  and  company. 

Two  miles  east  of  Officer's  mill  a  farmer  struck  the  same  rock  in  two  geparate  wells  on  his 
farm,  in  one  at  the  depth  of  three  feet  and  in  the  other  at  eleven. 

Dobbin's  creek,  which  joins  the  Cedar  at  Austin  from  the  northeast,  furnishes  a  water-power 
of  fourteen  feet  by  dam.  where  a  mill  is  erected.  A  quarry  in  the  left  bank  of  this  creek  shows 
the  same  rock.  The  bluffs  of  the  creek  just  below  the  mill  rise  about  thirty  feet,  and  show  about 
twenty  feet  of  rock.  The  beds  are  in  every  place  greatly  broken,  and  in  some  cases  displaced. 
The  rock  is  parted  into  blocks  of  varying  size,  according  to  the  thickness  of  the  layers,  the  upper- 
most being  finest.  Throughout,  the  partings  and  all  the  interstices  are  closely  filled  with  Creta- 
ceous clay,  making  the  whole  a  close  and  almost  impervious  mass.  It  has  very  much  the  aspect 
of  the  Cretacc  ous  on  the  Cambrian,  as  seen  at  Mankato,* except  that  the  small  cracks  and  openings 
are  here  all  filled  densely  with  the  clay. 

On  the  S.  E.  i  sec.  12,  Win-lorn,  Mr.  Thomas  Smith  struck  the  Austin  rock  in  making  ex- 
plorations for  coal,  at  a  depth  of  about  34  feet.  In  the  extueme  northwestern  corner  of  Mower 
county  it  was  struck  by  a  farmer  in  digging  a  well.  It  there  has  the  form  of  the  fine-grained 
sandstone  seen  at  Austin.  The  surface  features  that  prevail  at  that  point  pass  into  the  north- 
western corner  of  Fillmore  county,  and  cover  the  most  of  Sumner  township.  Southward,  at 
Spring  Valley,  a  similar  stone  appears  in  the  north  side  of  the  creek,  where  it  has  been  opened  for 
building  purposes  by  Mr.  James  Wilder  and  Henry  Thayer.  This  stone  is,  however,  more  dolo- 
mitic,  and  contains  large  Strophomence,  and  is  thought  to  be  allied  to  the  Lower  Silurian,  though 
its  palaeontology  has  not  been  learned  yet  sufficiently  to  warrant  any  positive  sentiments  concern- 
ing its  age. 

Hudson  Ricer  rocks  ?    At  two  points  within  the  county  has  been  seen 

*See  the  second  annual  report;  also  the  report  on  Blue  Earth  county. 


362  TIIE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Hudson  River  and  Galenx 

a  light-colored,  crumbling  calcareous  shale  or  clay  which  may  belong  to 
the  Hudson  River  epoch.  No  fossils  have  been  found  in  it.  It  has  more 
resemblance,  lithologically.  to  some  Cretaceous  beds,*,  but  it  holds, 
geographically,  the  right  position  to  fall  within  the  shale  seen  at 
High  Forest  in  Olmsted  county.  This  differs  from  that,  however,  in  not 
being  so  coarse,  nor  in  any  degree  arenaceous.  The  points  referred  to  are 
both  in  the  northeastern  corner  of  the  county.  Along  the  road  a  mile  and 
a  half  north  of  Grand  Meadow  it  appears  in  a  weathered  and  washed  slop- 
ing exposure,  near  the  crossing  of  the  north  fork  of  Bear  creek.  No  other 
rock  is  to  be  seen  in  the  vicinity,  and  nothing  indicates  its  stratigraphic 
relation  to  other  strata  except  that  it  occupies  a  position  somewhat  more 
elevated  than  the  rock  quarried  by  Mr.  Bush,  about  a  mile  east  of  (irand 
Meadow.  An  exposure  of  similar  shale  is  visible  in  the  N.  E.  \  sec.  11,  Ra- 
cine, by  the  highway,  east  of  the  easterly  crossing  of  Bear  creek.  This 
outcrop  is  topographically  lower  than  the  Cretaceous  conglomerate  seen 
in  the  immediate  vicinity  in  the  highest  land. 

The  Galena  and  Upper  Trenton.  This  limestone  strikes  across  the 
northeastern  corner  of  the  county,  and  doubtless  there  are  some  exposures 
of  it  in  the  banks  of  the  streams  in  Pleasant  Valley  and  Uacine.  but  none 
of  them  have  been  seen. 

THE    DRIFT. 

It  is  only  in  the  eastern  portion  of  the  county,  and  mainly  in  the 
northeastern,  that  there  is  any  noticeable  deposit  of  the  loess  loam.  The 
soil  here  is  somewhat  different  from  that  of  the  rest  of  the  county,  being 
rather  lighter,  both  in  color  and  composition.  In  general,  throughout  the 
county  the  drift  consists  of  a  stony  clay,  or  till.  The  surface  is  smooth,  or 
gently  undulating.  This  clfty  has  a  light  color  for  the  first  ten  or  fifteen 
feet,  and  below  that  depth  it  is  apt  to  be  blue.  Stones  of  all  kinds  are  dis- 
seminated through  it.  Some  of  the  boulders  are  very  large,  and  consist 
of  granite.  Sometimes  very  large  boulders  lie  on  the  surface.  Several 
such  may  be  seen  near  Rose  Creek  village,  and  near  Adams,  and  between 
Adams  and  Le  Roy.  At  Austin  a  granite  boulder  was  broken  for  building 
stone.  It  was  at  least  sixteen  feet  long  by  twelve  feet  wide.  Others  were 

*See  the  reports  on  Goodliue  and  Wabasha  countif* 


MOWEK    COUNTY.  363 

Drift.     Imerglacial  peat.) 

seen  equally  large  in  various  parts  of  the  county,  and  particularly  on  the 
high  praries  north  of  Brownsdale,  near  the  county  line.*  Probably  the 
average  thickness  of  the  drift  for  the  county  would  be  between  fifty  and 
seventy-five  feet. 

Ancient  prat.  The  most  interesting  development  in  respect  to  the  drift, 
in  Mower  county,  is  the  existence  of  a  bed  of  peat  at  various  depths  below 
the  surface  in  the  eastern  and  central  portions  of  the  county.  The  discov- 
ery of  "coal''  by  Mr.  Thomas  Smith,  S.  E.  J  sec.  12,  Windom,  led  to  some 
exploration  of  this  peat  bed.  Mr.  Smith  followed  it  into  the  bank  of  Rose 
creek  a  distance  of  about  seventy  feet.  Its  greatest  thickness  was  found 
to  be  eighteen  inches.  It  lies  at  a  depth  of  about  fifty  feet  below  the  sur- 
face, having  been  met  with  in  different  places  in  that  immediate  vicinity. 
Above  it  is  a  gravelly  clay,  of  a  blue  color,  and  the  same  is  below  it.  On  the 
top  of  the  bed  of  peat  were  found  pieces  of  wood,  thought  to  be  pine  and 
cedar;  but  by  far  the  most  of  the  peaty  substance  consists  of  comminuted 
vegetable  fiber. 

This  peat  was  met  again  in  a  shaft  twenty  rods  further  southwest,  and  was  there  about  a 
foot  thick,  and  about  the  same  depth  below  the  surface.  It  was  met  in  wells  two  and  a  half  or 
three  miles  northwest,  at  thirty-five  feet  below  the  surface.  This  bed  of  peat  seems  to  be  of  con- 
siderable extent  superficially.  A  similar  deposit  is  struck  in  wells  at  Le  Roy.  Mr.  J.  D.  Wilsey, 
on  sec.  31,  met  it  at  twenty  feet.  Mr.  Porter,  who  dug  his  well,  describes  the  deposit  there  as 
largely  made  up  of  woody  fiber,  among  which  he  thought  he  recognized  hemlock  bark.  Several 
other  instances  of  striking  this  buried  vegetation  are  reported  in  the  neighborhood  of  Le  Roy. 
The  clay  overlying  the  peat  bed  is  described  as  a  gravelly  yellow  clay.  Six  miles  northwest  of 
Le  Roy  it  is  fifty  feet  under  the  surface,  and  from  six  to  eight  feet  thick.  It  is  here  brownish 
black,  and  burns  readily.  At  A.  D.  Parker's,  near  Le  Roy,  wood  was  found  in  digging  a  well.  It 
appeared  to  be  of  ceda*.  At  Grand  Meadow  wells  strike  black  clay  and  muck,  containing  wood, 
at  twenty-four  or  twenty-six  feet,  spoiling  the  water.  Those  that  only  go  to  the  depth  of  twenty- 
two  or  twenty-three  feet  get  good  water.  One  that  was  fifty  feet  deep  was  so  permanently  bad 
from  this  cause  that  it  was  filled  again.  This  peat  has  been  met  with  at  a  number  of  places  in 
Bennington  township,  and  in  the  neighboring  towns  of  Fillmore  county.  Much  wood  is  found 
also  in  the  vicinity  of  Lyle,  at  a  few  feet  beneath  the  surface,  in  digging  wells.  A  peat  bed  six 
feet  thick  was  encountered  on  sec.  13,  Pleasant  Valley,  at  a  depth  of  forty-five  feet,  underlying  a 
compact  layer  of  blue  clay,  situated  in  elevated  land.  Peat  moss  and  sticks  two  inches  in  dia- 
'  meter  were  taken  from  a  well  at  Austin,  twenty  feet  below  the  surface.t 

In  the  state  of  Iowa  an  ancient  peat  has  slso  been  met  with  at  a  num- 
ber of  places.  Dr.  White  describes  it  at  Davenport,  at  Iowa  City  and  in 
Adair  county,:}:  and  refers  its  origin  there  to  marshes  that  accompanied 
the  valleys  of  the  rivers  near  which  the  peats  occur,  when  those  rivers 

*One  boulder  in  this  region  was  measured  with  the  following;  result:  North  and  south  over  the  top,  thirty-six  feet; 
east  and  west  over  the  top.  thirty-two  and  a  half  feet:  hight  above  the  ground,  eight  and  a  halt' feet;  with  a  form  indicat- 
ing that  the  major  part  of  the  stone  was  below  the  •  in  face.  A  small  part  had  been  separated  from  the  remainder,  caus- 
ing a  tisMire  through  the  mass  about  ten  inches  in  width. 

tSee  a  summary  of  facts  respecting  vegetation  in  the  drift  deposits  of  the  Northwest  in  the  Proceeding*  of  the  Ameri- 
can Aitocialinn.  1875.  B.,  p.  43. 

JGeology  of  Iowa,  1870,  Vol.  I.,  p.  119. 


364  ™E  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Peat.     Modified  drift. 

spread  wider,  and  flowed  at  higher  levels.  But  in  Mower  county  the  peaty 
deposit  is  not  confined  to  the  valleys  of  streams,  nor  to  the  proximity  of 
streams.  Mower  county  is  on  one  of  the  highest  divides  in  the  state  of 
Minnesota,  and  from  it  flow  the  sources  of  streams  toward  the  north,  south 
and  east.  Those  streams  are  small  and  never  could  have  flooded  the  extent  of 
country  in  which  this  peat  is  found.  From  all  accounts  it  appears  to  be  em- 
braced between  glacial  deposits  of  gravelly  clay,  and  it  seems  to  mark  a 
period  of  interglacial  conditions  when  coniferous  trees  and  peat  mosses 
spread  over  the  country.  Peat  mosses  are  not  necessarily  restricted  to  low, 
wet  places.  If  the  atmosphere  be  moist  they  will  flourish  on  any  surface, 
and  an  accumulation  of  good  peat  may  take  place  on  a  bare,  rocky  moun- 
tain side.  There  are  extensive  marshes  now  existing  in  northern  Minne- 
sota, mainly  covered  with  ericaceous  plants,  with  some  cedars  and  tama- 
racks, that  are  forming  immense  peat  deposits.  With  an  increase  in  the 
amount  of  moisture  of  the  air  such  peaty  accumulations  would  spread  over 
much  higher  levels.  A  return  of  glacial  conditions  would  bury  such 
marshes  below  the  deposits  that  are  known  as  drift. 

But  little  modified  drift  has  been  seen  in  Mower  county.  This,  per- 
haps, is  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  but  little  opportunity  is  afforded  in  the 
form  of  natural  or  artificial  excavations  for  inspecting  its  actual  composi- 
tion. The  plate  of  the  county  is  wholly  colored  as  if  only  the  till  charac- 
ters of  the  drift  exist,  but  a  few  exceptions  should  be  mentioned.  There  is 
considerable  gravel  in  the  valley  of  the  Upper  Iowa  river  in  Le  Eoy  town- 
ship, and  in  that  of  the  Cedar  in  Austin  and  Lyle.  From  the  south  bound- 
ary of  the  county  in  sec.  33,  Lyle,  a  flat  tract  consisting  of  gravel  and  sand 
accompanies  the  Cedar  river  northward,  sometimes  being  about  two  miles 
wide.  This  plain  rises  from  twelve  to  eighteen  feet  above  the  Cedar  river 
along  the  north  part  of  Lyle,  and  to  Austin  city.  In  the  north  part  ot  Lyle' 
a  distinct  terrace  is  seen  running  along  the  Cedar,  one-half  or  three-fourths 
of  a  mile  distant,  limiting  this  belt  of  gravel  and  sand,  and  rising  gradu- 
ally about  twenty  feet  above  the  gravel  flat.  This  terrace  gradually  ap- 
proaches the  river  toward  the  south,  but  is  cut  and  disturbed  by  the  en- 
trance of  Woodbury  creek.  The  real  cause  of  it  is  shown  by  the  strike  of 
the  Devonian  limestones  where  they  appear  in  the  banks  of  Cedar  river, 
near  the  mouth  of  Woodbury  creek,  below»which  the  general  elevation  of 


MOWER  COUNTY.  365 

Modified  drift     Mounds.] 

the  country  is  increased,  and  the  contour  is  much  more  rough.  North  of 
Austin  this  belt  of  gravel  and  sand  extends  to  Madison,  and  is  sometimes 
partly  composed  of  stratified  clay,  as  shown  by  wells  in -sees.  20  and  9  in 
Udolpho.  At  Dexter  the  surface  consists  of  a  loamy  till,  and  at  one  mile 
east  of  Dexter  there  is  a  cut  by  the  railroad  in  loam  showing  a  thickness 
of  five  or  six  feet,  while  in  the  adjoining  low  land  lies  a  large  granite  boul- 
der. In  general  throughout  the  northern  part  of  the  county  the  till  is 
found  from  six  to  twelve  inches  beneath  the  surface.  In  the  valleys  of 
Deer  and  Bear  creeks  is  found  more  or  less  stratified  clay,  and  this  has 
been  employed,  formerly,  in  the  manufacture  of  red  brick,  on  sees.  15  and 
16.  Frankford. 

Mounds.  There  is  a  multitude  of  mounds  on  the  high  prairies  between 
Grand  Meadow  and  Le  Roy,  which,  were  it  not  for  their  great  number, 
would  be  unhesitatingly  pronounced  artificial.  They  are  first  seen  sur- 
rounding a  marsh  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  across,  about  two  miles  and  a 
quarter  south  of  Grand  Meadow.  About  twenty  are  here  visible,  rising 
each  about  two  feet  above  the  surface.  Farther  south  they  increase  in 
number,  extending  three  or  more  miles  toward  the  south  and  southwest. 
Probably  five  hundred  could  be  counted,  some  being  five  feet  high.  They 
are  scattered  promiscuously  over  the  upper  prairie.  The  surface  has  the 
appearance  of  having  been  poorly  drained  formerly,  and  was  perhaps  cov- 
ered with  shallow  water  till  late  into  the  summer  season.  These  mounds 
have  the  popular  reputation  of  being  "gopher  knolls."  It  is  thought  that 
they  occur  where  the  ground  is  wet  and  the  clay  near  the  surface.  Yet, 
south  of  the  region  designated  they  do  not  exist,  though  there  is  no  appar- 
ent difference  in  the  prairie.  The  material  of  which  they  consist  is  the 
ordinary  loam  of  the  surface  soil.  Several  of  them  have  been  removed,  when 
near  the  highway,  and  the  material  hauled  into  the  street  for  grading. 
There  is  no  record  or  knowledge  of  any  human  bones  or  other  relics 
having  been  found  in  them. 

MATERIAL  RESOURCES. 

With  the  exception  of  the  central  high  prairie  portion  of  Mower 
county,  it  is  tolerably  well  supplied  with  wood  for  common  fuel.  On  the 
prairies  referred  to  wood  is  costly.  That  portion  of  the  county  is  thinly 


366  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

I  Material  resources. 

settled  with  farmers.  Along  the  valleys  of  the  streams  in  the  eastern  and 
western  portions  of  the  county,  the  first  settlements  took  place,  and  in 
those  valleys  are  found  the  most  of  the  population  at  this  time.  The  prin- 
cipal natural  wealth  of  the  county  lies  in  its  soil  and  its  agricultural  adap- 
tations. The  people  are  generally  farmers.  The  growth  of  the  county  in 
all  respects  will  be  primarily  dependant  on,  and  co-ordinate  with,  the  set- 
tlement of  the  farming  lands,  and  their  profitable  tillage.  There  is  some 
water-power  in  the  county,  as  at  Austin,  and  below  Austin  to  the  county 
line,  and  at  Le  Roy  and  Ramsey,  and  it  is  well  improved  in  the  erection  of 
flouring  mills.  Mower  county  contains  no  peat,  and  cannot  hope  for  coal. 
The  rocks  that  underlie  the  county  cannot  be  depended  on  for  producing 
anything  but  building  stone  and  quicklime.  Of  the  former  some  of  the 
limestone  would  produce  a  good  marble,  if  properly  handled.  That  is  the 
case  particularly  at  Le  Roy.  For  making  quicklime  there  is  ample  oppor- 
tunity. The  only  difficulty  will  be  a  competition  with  other  localities  from 
which  transportation  is  light,  that  possess  cheaper  fuel  for  calcination. 
Red  brick  can  be  made  at  almost  any  place  in  the  county.  This  has  been 
demonstrated  at  Austin,  Lansing,  Le  Roy  and  Frankford.  At  present 
there  is  no  great  demand  for  brick,  and  several  establishments  that  were 
started  have  suspended  operations. 

The  Mower  county  court  house,  just  finished,  is  one  of  the  finest  in  the 
state.  It  is  built  of  red  pressed-brick  from  St.  Louis,  but  red  brick  from 
Austin  were  used  in  the  inner  walls.  The  outside  basement  walls  are  of 
dimension  rock  from  Mankato,  but  the  inner  walls  and  general  foundation 
are  of  the  stone  quarried  at  A  ustin.  The  steps  leading  to  the  front  entrance 
are  of  the  pinkish  Kasota  stone.  The  porch,  with  its  carved  capitals  and 
columns,  is  of  gray  sandstone  from  Berea,  Ohio.  All  the  window  tops  and 
and  the  cap  and  sill  courses  are  also  of  the  Berea  sandrock.  The  cornice 
and  frieze,  and  the  brackets,  are  of  galvanized  iron.  The  Masonic  block,  at 
Austin,  is  also  trimmed  with  the  Ohio  stone. 

Mr.  L.  G.  Basford's  residence  has  window-caps  cut  from  the  Austin 
stone,  now  standing  fourteen  years  (1883).  They  are  in  good  preservation, 
but  are  covered  with  paint.  In  other  places  in  the  city  this  rock  is  break- 
ing up  under  the  weather,  especially  in  exposed  steps  and  sills. 


/'/..1 7 7:'  /:i. 


OMOLOI11CAI,    AND  XATl'HAl,    HISTORY 
SI'KVKY  <>!•'  MIXXKSOTA 

Ji-;   COTNTY. 

BY    M.W.  HARRINGTON. 


fJtHitriHUfV  '      ////,  .intOatJt    tlrUJ    U  n<Jll-l « I > !>,! 


'I'ri'ii  fun    Li rti  t:\~ttitii- 


: 


(  <nit/iri,ijj 

Contour  Lint's    tin-  ,/r,m-ti    <if>fnwnnftt?h' 


C          O  U  N  Y 


O         0  D          H  U 


LI 


\\    XVI   W. 

N  T          Y 


CHAPTER  IX. 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  DODGE  COUNTY. 


BY  M.  W.  HARRINGTON. 


(UK/  (u-i'ii.  This  county  occupies  the  angle  formed  by  the 
boundaries  of  the  two  la:;t  described,  being  west  of  Olmsted  and  north  of 
Mower.  Its  form  is  that  of  a  rectangle,  being  four  towns  long  north  and 
south,  and  three  in  width  east  and  west.  Its  total  area  is  43>S.6">  square 
miles,  or  '2S().7:!s.(.)U  acres,  of  which  279.956.47  are  land,  and  782.43  are  water, 
according  to  the  measurements  of  the  original  survey  by  the  United  States 
surveyors,  on  record  in  the  office  of  the  State  Auditor  at  St.  Paul. 

SURFACE    FEATURES. 

Natttni/  ilniiiiiif/t'.  The  surface  waters  leave  the  county  for  the  most 
part  toward  the  east  and  northeast  by  means  of  the  branches  of  the  Zum- 
hro  river.  The  largest  of  these  is  the  south  branch  of  the  middle  fork 
of  the  Zumbro,  which  rises  in  Rice  lake,  on  the  western  border  of  the 
county,  and  flows  eastward  through  nearly  the  central  portion  of  the 
county.  The  north  branch  of  the  same  stream  has  its  source  in  the  wet 
prairies  in  the  northwest  corner  of  the  county,  and  flows  nearly  eastward 
also.  The  south  branch  of  the  Zumbro  reaches  this  county  by  two  small 
streams  which  have  their  sources  in  the  southeastern  part.  The  upper 
tributaries  of  the  Cedar  river,  known  as  the  west,  middle  and  east  forks, 
rise  in  Westfielcl  and  Hayh'eld  townships,  in  the  southwestern  corner  of  the 
county.  These  sources  of  the  Cedar  consist  of  a  series  of  shallow  lagoons 
which  during  the  summer  and  autumn  are  not  connected  visibly  by  water 
currents.  Lying  in  the  broad  depressions  of  the  high  prairies,  they  act  as 


368 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


[Drainage.      Water-power. 


basins  to  receive  the  drainage  from  a  large  tract  of  country,  and  when 
they  become  full  discharge  successively  into  each  other  until  their  volume 
is  sufficient  to  maintain  a  continuous  stream.  The  water-shed  between 
the  sources  of  the  Zumbro  and  the  Cedar  is  very  broad  and  flat,  and  from 
its  summit  the  horizon  fades  out  before  the  beholder  in  the  dim,  blue  dis- 
tance so  gradually,  that  unless  the  air  be  clear  it  is  difficult  to  distinguish 
it  either  to  the  north,  south  or  west.  This  divide  consists  immediately 
of  drift,  as  indicated  by  large  boulders  along  the  shallow  drainage  lines, 
and  by  the  excavations  for  wells. 

The  fall  of  all  the  streams  is  inconsiderable  in  all  parts  of  the  county, 
but  greater  in  the  northern  part  than  in  the  southern. 

Water-power.  The  only  improved  water-power  in  the  county  is  found  on  the  middle  and 
north  forks  of  the  Zumbro  river.  The  following  list  shows  the  location  and  manner  of  improve- 
ment of  these  powers: 


Mills. 

Owner. 

Location  . 

Stream, 
(tfl 

Kim 
of  atone  | 

Kind  of  mill. 

Wasioja."  .  . 
Blake's  

Mantorville. 

Kockton.  .  .  . 
Agawaui...  . 
Eagle  Valley 
Buchanan... 
Milton  .... 

A.  Mason  &  Son..  . 
J  I)  Blake 

Wasioja  village  — 
Sec.  13,  Wasioja... 

Mantorville  village 

22,  Mantorville  
13,  Mantorville...  . 
15,  Concord  

Middle   fork... 
Middle   fork.... 

Middle   fork  ... 

Middle   fork... 
Middle   fork.... 
North   fork 

9 
12 
\  10 
)    7 
8 
12 
12 
10 
8 

4 
4 

3 

2 
2 
2 

2 

Custom  and  flour. 
Flouring  . 

Custom  . 

Custom  and  flour. 
Flouring. 
Custom  . 
Saw  mill  . 
Custom. 

Adams  &  Kneeland 

John  Bradford  
Chase  &  Swaringan 
J.  Gordon  .  .  
Widow  Irish  

Buchanan  village  . 
9,  Milton  

North  fork 

James  Elias  

North  fork  .    ... 

Of  the  above  mills  tbat  at  Mantorville  has  two  powers,  one  being  about  a  hundred  and  ten 
rods  above  the  other.  There  is  an  unimproved  mill  privilege  at  Concord. 

The  south  middle  branch  of  the  Zumbro  rises  in  Rice  lake,  which  also  has  a  natural  outlet 
toward  the  west  into  Straight  river,  through  Maple  creek.  In  order  that  the  mills  on  the  east- 
ward-flowing stream  should  have  as  much  water  as  possible,  the  western  outlet  was  cut  off.  Still 
the  supply  is  so  uncertain  that  the  mills  are  compelled  to  stop  some  years  during  several  months 
in  the  winter  season.  The  water  in  the  north  middle  branch  is  still  more  unreliable. 

Topography.  The  surface  is  but  little  diversified.  The  southern  and 
southwestern  portions  of  the  county  are  an  undulating  prairie,  with  no 
visible  rock  exposure,  sometimes  marshy,  and  but  thinly  settled.  On  some 
of  these  high  prairies  are  frequently  seen  large  quantities  of  boulders. 
They  seem  to  prevail  in  the  lower  spots,  and  especially  in  boggy  surfaces, 
yet  are  not  wanting  on  the  upland  prairies.  Some  are  twenty-five  or  thirty 
feet  long,  with  corresponding  width  and  hight.  They  are  found  all  the  way 
fi'om  a  few  miles  south  of  Kasson  to  the  Mower  county  line.*  They  con- 
stitute the  most  marked  natural  exception  to  the  monotonous  features 

•See  the  Mower  county  report. 


DODGE  COUNTY.  369 

Elevations.     Trees  and  shrubs.] 

of  the  prairies.  The  valleys  in  the  northeastern  part  of  the  county  are 
from  one  to  two  hundred  feet  below  the  average  level.  They  are  some- 
times precipitous  and  rocky,  but  not  generally.  About  in  the  center  of  the 
county  these  streams  pass  from  the  drift  deposits  onto  the  rocky  structure. 
Above  this  point  their  valleys  are  shallow  and  broad,  and  below  it  they 
change  rather  rapidly  to  the  features  that^  prevail,  but  more  character- 
istically, in  the  "driftless  area",  and  become  narrow  and  rock-bound. 

Elevations.    The  townships  of  Hayfield,  Ripley  and  Ashland  rise  over 
thirteen  hundred  feet  above  the  ocean.     The  valley  of  the  north  middle 

branch  of  the  Zumbro  descends  from  twelve  hundred  feet  to  slightly  less 

» 

than  one  thousand  feet  above  the  sea  in  crossing  the  county.  The  south 
middle  branch  descends  from  about  twelve  hundred  feet  to  ten  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  in  crossing  the  county.  From  the  contour-lines  of  the  map  (plate 
13)  the  townships  have  the  following  estimated  average  elevation,  viz: 
Westfield,  1300  feet  above  the  sea:  Hayfield,  1340;  Vernon,  1300;  Ripley,  1310; 
Ashland,  1310;  Canisteo,  1260;  Claremont,  1250;  Wasioja,  1225:  Mantorville, 
1190:  Ellington,  1200;  Concord,  1175,  and  Milton,  1140.  This  gives  an  aver- 
age for  the  county  of  about  1250  feet  above  the  sea. 

According  to  the  engineers  of  the  Winona  and  St.  Peter  division  of  the 
Chicago  and  Northwestern  railway,  the  elevation  of  Byron,  in  Olmsted 
county,  is  1250  feet  above  the  ocean,  Kasson  1252  ft.,  Dodge  Center  1288  ft., 
Claremont  1280  ft.,  and  Havana,  in  Steele  county,  1246  ft. 

Timber,  trees  and  shrubs.  Along  the  streams  in  the  eastern  portion 
of  the  county  is  found  considerable  heavy  timber,  but  the  most  of  the 
county  is  natural  grassland  or  prairie.  In  addition  to  the  woody  species 
named  in  the  Olmsted  county  report,  the  following,  not  observed  there, 
occur  in  Dodge  county,  and  probably  also  others: 

Menispermum  Canadense,  L.     Moonseed. 
Ceanothus  Americanus,  L.    New  Jersey  tea. 
Cratsegus  coccinea,  L.    Scarlet-fruited  thorn. 
Cr.  Cius-galli,  L.    Cockspur  thorn. 
Ribes  Cynosbati,  L.     Wild  gooseberry. 

Cornus  circinata.  L'Her.    Large-leaved  dogwood.     Found  in  cold  woods  and  on  bluffs. 
Fraxinus  viridis,  Michx.    Green  ash. 
Celtis  occidentalis,  L.    Sngarberry. 
Ostrva  Virginica.  Willd.    Hop-hornbeam. 
lietula  lutea,  Michx.  f.     Yellow  birch. 

Piuus  Strobus.  L.  White  pine.  A  few  straggling  specimens  were  seen  iii  Olmsted  county. 
There  is  a  grove  of  the  trees  near  Mantorville. 

Abies  balsamea,  Marshall.     Balsam  fir.     With  the  preceding. 
Juniperus  communis,  L.    Common  juniper. 
J.  Virginiana,  L.     Red  cedar. 

24 


370  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Geological  structure. 


THE  GEOLOGICAL  STRUCTURE  OF  DODGE  COUNTY. 

The  underlying  rocks  can  only  be  seen  in  the  valleys  of  the  streams  in 
the  northeastern  portion  of  the  county.  Canisteo,  Mantorville,  Milton, 
Concord  and  Wasioja  townships  include  all  the  rocky  outcrops.  Over  the 
remaining  seven  townships  the  drift  conceals  every  feature  of  the  rock  be- 
low. All  the  evidence  that  there  is  indicates  that  to  some  extent,  at  least, 
the  rock  so  covered  is  Cretaceous,  but  no  facts  of  observation  can  be  cited 
to  demonstrate  this. 

The  Shakopee  limestone  is  found  in  the  bottom  of  the  valley  of  the  north 
branch  of  the  Zumbro  but  a  short  distance  east  of  the  county  line,  and  the 
characteristic  arrangement  of  the  bluffs,  indicating  that  formation,  enters 
the  county  about  two  miles  and  a  half.  The  rock  has  not  actually  been 
seen  in  Dodge  county,  although  the  overlying  St.  Peter  sandstone  appears 
in  several  places.  It  is  on  the  strength  of  this  evidence  that  the  Shakopee 
limestone  is  shown  on  the  accompanying  map  as  forming^the  floor  of  the 
valley  in  Milton  township. 

St.  Peter  sandstone.  Surrounding  this  valley  is  the  bluffy  outcrop  of 
this  sandstone.  It^is  sometimes  seen  in  digging  wells  or  is  cut  by  the  grad- 
ing for  the  highway.  It  preserves  its  characters  as  a  white,  friable  sand- 
stone, growing  reddish  and  attaining  more  firmness  when  exposed  to  the 
air. 

The  Trenton  limestone  comprises  the  remaining  exposures  along  this 
stream.  In  descending  the  stream  everything  is  covered  by  drift  until 
reaching  the  vicinity  of  the  Eagle  Valley  mills,  sec.  15,  Concord.  Here  a 
rock  in  rather  thin  layers  is  quarried,  but  without  affording  any  good  ex- 
posure of  the  strata.  Two  miles  farther  down  the  stream  is  a  quarry  at 
Concord,  in  the  south  bank  N.  W.  J  sec.  23,  with  the  following 

Descending  section  at  Concord. 

1.  Black  loam  and  reddish  clay 4  ft. 

2.  Rubble,  stone 2J  ft. 

3.  Dolomitic  rock,  yellow,  with  fine  reddish  lines;  layers  two  to  eight  inches 

thick 3  ft. 

4.  Bluish  stone,  less  dolomitic,  in  even  beds  from  one  to  two  feet  thick 3  ft. 

5.  Bluish  stone,  not  dolomitic,  in  thin  layers 1  ft. 

6.  Heavy  layers  of  bluish  stone 3 J  f t. 

Total..  17ft. 


DODGE  COUNTY.  37] 

Trenton  limestone.] 

Below  this  is  a  compact  limestone,  not  well  exposed.  It  is  not  dolo- 
mitic  and  is  good  for  burning. 

At  the  saw-mill  near  the  middle  of  sec.  17,  Milton,  the  road  passes 

• 

around  an  exposure  of  rock.  Here  are  about  ten  feet  of  shaly  limestone 
and  blue  clay.  A  fine  specimen  of  Receptaculites  lay  in  the  wheel-track  of 
the  road,  and  had  been  considerably  marred.  Many  other  incomplete 
specimens  were  found. 

An  eighth  of  a  mile  below  this  saw-mill  (still  in  sec.  17,  Milton),  is 
an  irregular  bluff  on  the  south  side  of  the  stream.  It  is  concealed  by  debris, 
bushes,  etc.,  and  not  very  accessible.  The  following  measurements  and 
observations  were  obtained  with  as  much  accuracy  as  circumstances  would 
admit.  They  are  taken  from  above: 

Section  on  sec.  17,  Milton. 

1.  Yellowish  limestone  in  thin  layers 10  ft. 

2.  Compact  aluminous  layers,  4  to  6  inches 1  ft. 

3.  Shale,  limestone,  and  blue  clay  in  alternate  layers,  usually  thin 15  ft. 

Below,  passing  under  the  debris  and  probably  occupying  the  present 
river  bed  is  a  thick  stratum  of  compact  limestone,  with  a  depth  of  upwards 
of  twenty  feet.  Receptaculites  is  abundant  in  the  rock. 

As  might  be  anticipated  from  the  structure  of  the  rock,  living  springs 
are  abundant  along  these  bluffs.  One  very  fine  one,  the  size  of  one's  arm 
pours  out  from  the  rock  just  above  the  saw-mill,  at  a  distance  of  twenty 
feet  above  the  water  of  the  stream.  Here  these  springs  are  almost  equal 
in  number  in  bluffs  facing  north  or  south,  betraying  the  absence  ot  dip  at 
this  point  in  either  of  those  directions. 

Other  small  exposures  of  Trenton  rock  were  seen  in  the  road  in  several 
places  within  the  Trenton  area  as  marked  on  the  accompanying  map,  as 
at  sections  19  and  30  of  Milton  township,  and  in  sections  12,  13  and  14  of 
Mantorville.  The  lower  parts  of  the  exposures  at  Mantorville  and  Wasi- 
oja  are,  in  all  probability,  Trenton;  but  as  it  is  impracticable  to  tell  where 
this  rock  begins  and  the  rock  above  ceases,  these  exposures  will  be  de- 
scribed under  the  Galena.  The  Trenton  can  also  be  traced  into  this  county 
from  Olmsted,  in  sec.  14,  Canisteo,  and  from  Goodhue  along  the  north  fork 
of  the  middle  branch  of  the  Zumbro,  near  the  north  county  line. 

The  Galena  limestone  is  found  cropping  out  along  the  south  middle 
branch  of  the  Zumbro.  In  descending  this  stream  no  rock  is  found  until 


370  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Galena  limestone. 

reaching  sec.  14,  Wasioja.  The  first  important  quarry  is  that  of  Thomas 
Arnold,  on  the  north  bank  of  the  stream,  in  sec.  13.  At  the  top  of  the  ex- 
posed wall  is  a  layer  of  five  feet  of  rubble  stone.  Below  this  are  thirty  feet 
of  dolomitic,  sparry  stone,  yellow  when  weathered,  but  blue  within.  It  is 
in  evenly  bedded  layers  from  six  inches  to  three  feet  thick.  It  works 
smoothly  and  is  soft,  without  flint.  Near  the  bottom  the  rock  is  gray  when 
weathered. 

A  few  rods  below  this,  on  the  same  side  of  the  stream,  are  the  lime- 
kilns of  James  Paul,  two  in  number.  This  is  in  the  village  of  Wasioja,  in 
sec.  13.  The  rock,  of  which  he  has  eight  or  ten  feet  exposed  close  by,  is 
yellow  and  in  thin,  rather  irregular,  fragments.  It  is  in  all  probability  Ga- 
lena. Mr.  Paul  obtains  from  this  a  lime  of  a  light  yellow  color.  He  burns 
about  840  barrels  per  year,  for  which  he  obtains  $1.00  per  barrel.  He  uses 
for  this  eighty-six  cords  of  wood,  for  which  he  pays  $4.00  per  cord.  Mr. 
Paul  praises  his  lime  highly,  and  it  is  acknowledged  by  all  to  be  good 
tor  laying  stone.  It  is,  however,  generally  said  to  be  slow  in  slacking, 
and  not  strong.  At  Blake's  mill,  on  the  eastern  edge  of  sec.  13,  of  Wasioja 
is  an  exposure  of  about  thirty  feet  of  rock  where  materials  have  been  ob- 
tained for  the  mill  and  dam.  The  upper  five  feet  are  of  broken  rubble 
stone.  The  remainder  is  in  solid,  even  beds,  six  inches  to  three  feet  thick. 
The  stone  is  a  limestone,  yellow,  dolomitic,  compact,  coarse-grained. 

About  half  a  mile  above  Mantorville,  in  section  17,  of  Mantorville 
township,  is  a  natural  exposure  of  about  forty  feet  of  rock,  on  the  north 
bank.  The  upper  twenty  feet  are  composed  of  a  compact  rock  in  thick 
beds,  yellow  in  color,  wearing  away  very  evenly  by  weathering,  in  a  cas- 
tellated manner.  Below  it  the  rock  wears  much  more  unevenly  and  is 
grayish.  Between  the  two  lies  a  thin  soft  layer  which  was  not  accessible. 
It  wears  out  much  more  rapidly  than  the  other  rocks.  It  is  probably  a 
clay-shale.  About  twenty  yards  from  this  place  is  a  fine  spring,  always 
flowing.  It  is  caused  by  a  layer  of  gi-een  shale  lying  just  below  it. 

In  the  bed  of  the  stream,  just  below  the  first  clam  at  Mantorville,  sec. 
20,  is  a  compact,  dark  limestone,  in  thin  beds  and  not  dolomitic.  Just  be- 
low the  village  of  Mantorville  are  the  quarries  owned  by  H.  Hook,  P.  Man- 
tor,  A.  Doig  and  others. 


DODGE  COUNTY.  373 

Galena  limestone.] 


Section  at  Hook's  quarry,  Mantorvillr. 

1.  Loose  .fragments,  4ft. 

2.  Beds  from  six  to  twenty  inches  each,  of  vesicular  magnesian  limestone, 

almost  free  from  iron,  very  much  used  formerly  for  all  kinds  of  construction,  -  30  ft.  10  in. 

3.  Thin,  slaty,  argillo-magnesian  beds,  1  ft.    6  in. 

4.  Good  heavy  beds  of  magnesian  limestone,  same  as  No.  2,  -  lift.    6  in. 

5.  Shaly  and  thinner  beds,  seen.  5  ft, 
NOTE— Where  these  beds  are  weathered  out,  a  white  deposit  is  accumulated  on  the 

slope  below,  having  much  the  taste  of  lime,  yet  it  may  consist  of  alumina  and 
lime.  On  the  face  of  the  rocks  the  coating  is  bitter  and  sour,  tasting  some- 
what like  Epsom  salt. 

6.  Heavy  magnesian  layers,  of  a  buff  color,  with  considerable  shale  -  20  ft. 


Total  63  ft.  10  in. 

The  stone  taken  from  the  quarries  at  Mantorville  is  highly  prized,  and 
has  been  placed  in  some  important  buildings.*  It  is  evenly  bedded  and 
can  be  got  out  in  good  shape.  It  has  but  little  grit  or  flint  to  take  off  the 
edge  of  tools,  working  easily  and  cheaply.  It  hardens  after  exposure,  and 
has  a  pleasant,  light  yellow  color,  or  when  from  deep  within  the  quarry 
shows  a  light  blue  color.  It  is  rarely  affected  by  spots  of  iron  pyrites. 

Section  at  Mantor's  quarry. 

1 .  Loose  material,  with  broken  rubble  stone 2  ft. 

2.  Light  yellow  rock,  in  layers  three  inches  thick 1  ft. 

3.  Yellow  dolomitic  rock,  in  thick  beds 4  ft.    6  in 

4.  Shaly,  yellowish  rock,  including  a  layer  of  two  inches  of  an  uncemented, 

rather  fine  gravel  containing  numerous  black  quartzyte  pebbles 6  in. 

5.  Yellow,  dolomitic  rock,  in  thick  beds 4  ft. 

Total "lifft" 

In  the  bed  of  the  race  at  the  second  dam  at  Mantorville,  a  hundred 
and  ten  rods  below  the  mill,  is  a  fossiliferous  green  shale.  These  sections, 
and  that  which  follows,  show  that  the  transition  from  the  Trenton  to  the 
Galena  was  gradual,  the  occurrence  of  the  buff  and  magnesian  layers  mark- 
ing those  changes  favorable  for  the  deposition  of  the  Galena  limestone 
which  preceded  the  full  introduction  of  that  epoch. 

Section  at  Rockton  mills,  sec.  22,  Mantorville. 

1 .  Slope  from  the  summit  of  the  bluff  (hid)  estimated 40  ft. 

2.  Magnesian  layers,  buff,  much  shattered 4  ft.    6  in. 

3.  Shale : 2  ft.    6  in. 

4.  Good  layers  of  vesicular,  buff,  magnesian  stone,  with  some  argillaceous 
patches.   lift. 

o.    Argillo-magnesian  limestone,  weathering  into  rather  thin  beds 3ft. 

6.  Vesicular,  buff,  magnesian  limestone.     In  one  bed 10  in. 

7.  Shale  and  shaly  limestone 2  ft.    2  in. 


-'Compare  the  chapter  on  buiMing  stones,  p.  167. 


374  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINXESOTA. 

[Drift. 

8.  Beds  of  argillaceous  limestone,  each  of  about  eight  inches  and  separated  by 
shale  beds,  each  of  the  latter  being  about  two  inches,  containing  Iteceptacu- 

lites 5  ft.    2  in. 

9.  Shale 4  in. 

10.  Vesicular  limestone,  argillo-magnesian,  in  one  bed 9  in. 

1 1 .  Shaly  and  calcareous  beds  (thin) 8  in. 

12.  Crystalline  beds  of  a  gray  color,  weathering  buff ,  one  bed 1  ft.    7  in. 

13.  Shale  and  shaly  limestone 1  ft.    4  in. 

14.  Shale 8  in. 

15.  Argillo-magnesian  limestone,  some  parts  crystalline  and  calcareous  only:  in 

three  beds 6  ft.    4  in. 

16.  Shale 4  in 

17.  Argillo-magnesian;  one  bed 10  in. 

18.  Shale. i  ft.    2  in. 

19.  Hard  crystalline  limestone  of  a  gray  color  with  some  cavities  and  specimens 

of  Rcceptaculites 2  ft.    2  in. 

20.  Shale 6  in. 

21.  Argillo-magnesian,  one  bed;  showing  Chcetetes  and  fucoids  of  the  Trenton 

epoch 1ft.    6  in. 

22.  An  interval,  not  well  seen,  of  beds  of  greenish-blue  shale  and  argillaceous 
limestone,  each  varying  from  eight  to  twelve  inches,  showing  abundant 
fossils  of  the  Trenton 16  ft. 

23.  Blue,  earthy  limestone;  under  water  and  not  well  seen 6  in 


Total 103  ft.  10  in. 

In  Canisteo  township,  due  south  from  Kasson,  is  an  exposure  of  the  Galena  limestone 
at  the  crossing  of  one  of  the  branches  of  the  Zumbro,  and  along  the  stream  for  some  distance  be- 
low. It  appears  in  heavy,  coarse,  cavernous  layers  eight  to  sixteen  inches  thick,  of  a  buff  color, 
and  without  apparent  fossils,  and  has  been  slightly  opened  by  quarrying. 

Rock  that  resembles  the  Galena  is  used  at  Concord  for  building  stone,  and  by  the  farmers 
for  foundations  between  Concord  and  Mantor\ille. 

THE  DRIFT. 

• 

This  covers  nearly  the  whole  county.  Boulders  are  abundant  and 
sometimes  very  large,  as  has  been  stated  under  the  head  of  topography.  A 
stony  blue  clay  underlies  the  southern  and  western  portions  of  the  county, 
and  its  tenacious  and  impervious  character  is  the  cause  of  numerous  marshes 
in  that  part  of  the  county.  This  clay  is  uniformly  met  in  digging  wells,  at 
the  depth  of  from  ten  to  thirty  feet,  and  sometimes  it  contains  logs  and 
other  vegetation.  While  it  is  essentially  a  drift-clay,  probably,  in  nearly 
all  cases  it  is  augmented  by  the  disrupted  and  disseminated  shaly  beds  of 
the  Cretaceous,  which  has  added  largely  to  the  thickness  of  the  drift-clay 
in  other  counties.  These  characters  fade  out  toward  the  northeast,  in 
Dodge  county,  so  that  the  drift-clay  loses  its  blue  color,  and  all  the  ma- 
terials of  the  drift  are  affected  by  yellow  loam  that  there  takes  the  place 
of  the  drift-clay. 


DODGE  COUNTY.  375 

Drift.] 

On  the  railroad  between  sees.  32  and  33,  of  Wasioja,  the  water  washed  out  a  ditch  to  a  con- 
siderable depth  so  that  the  following  section  could  be  seen: 

Black  loam 2  ft. 

Yellow,  sandy  clay,  with  some  small  pebbles  below 6  ft. 

Alternations  of  thin,  ferruginous,  sandy  films  and  black,  or  yellowish,  sandy  clay    4  ft. 


Total 12  ft. 

In  the  bottom  of  the  ditch  was  a  bluish  quartzyte  boulder,  fifteen  inches  across,  and  six 
inches  thick,  worn  off  smoothly  on  one  side  by  glacial  action.  The  smooth  side  was  polished,  but 
scratched. 

At  the  crossing  of  the  railroad  over  a  stream  a  similar  section  amounting  to  fifteen  feet  was 
seen,  except  that  the  bottom  clay  was  dark  blue  and  without  the  ferruginous  films,  and  contained 
numerous  drift-pebbles,  and  a  piece  of  Galena  limestone. 

In  some  of  the  railroad  cuttings  in  Wasioja.  some  ferruginous  concretions  of  small  size  and 
much  decayed  were  seen,  with  numerous  fragments  of  Galena  limestone,  and  a  solitary  piece  of 
argillyte. 

Two  miles  east  of  Kasson  Mr.  Watson  Houston  found  a  stick  twenty-five  feet  beneath  the 
surface,  two  feet  long  and  three  and  a  half  inches  in  diameter.  It  was  like  Norway  pine  or  tam- 
arack, with  loose  texture  and  coarse  annual  growths. 

Brick  are  made  from  the  surface  loam  at  Dodge  Center,  and  three 
miles  east  of  Dodge  Center.  At  Kasson  are  made  brick  and  drain  tiles, 
for  which,  however,  the  clay  is  obtained  at  Mantorville. 

Lime  is  burnt  in  sec.  17,  Milton,  from  the  strata  of  the  Trenton,  and  on 
sec.  10,  Milton,  from  a  surface  deposit  of  travertine. 


CHAPTER  X. 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  FREEBORN  COUNTY. 


BY  N.  H.  WINCHELL. 


Situation  and  area.  This  is  one  of  the  southern  border  counties,  and  lies 
very  near  the  center  of  the  southern  boundary  of  the  state.  It  embraces 
five  government  towns  east  and  west  and  four  north  and  south  in  the  form 
of  a  rectangle,  making  an  area  of  701.94  square  miles,  or  449,242.53  acres, 
after  deducting  the  areas  covered  by  water,  the  latter  being  13,271.87. 

SURFACE    FEATURES. 

Natural  drainage.  With  the  exception  of  Freeborn.  Hartland  and 
Carlston  townships,  the  surface  drainage  is  toward  the  south  and  south- 
east. The  county  embraces  the  headwaters  of  the  Shell  Rock  and  Cedar 
rivers  of  Iowa,  and  those  of  the  Cobb  river  which  joins  the  Minnesota 
toward  the  north.  Hence  it  lies  on  the  watershed  between  two  great  drain- 
age slopes.  For  the  same  reason  none  of  its  streams  are  large,  the  Shell 
Rock,  where  it  leaves  the  state  being  its  largest.  The  streams  have  not 
much  fall,  but  afford  some  water-power,  which  has  been  improved  in  the 
construction  of  flouring  mills.  Such  are  found  at  Albert  Lea  and  Twin 
Lakes.  In  these  cases  the  body  of  water  confined  in  the  upper  lake  serves 
as  the  water-head  and  reservoir,  the  mills  being  constructed  near  their  out- 
lets. There  is  also  an  available  water-power  near  Shell  Rock  village,  but  its 
use  would  cause  the  flooding  of  a  large  body  of  land  adjoining  the  river. 

Topography.  The  surface  of  the  county.*  although  having  no  remark- 
able changes  of  general  contour,  yet  is  marked  by  two  belts  or  areas  of 
rolling  prairie  which  cross  it  from  north  to  south,  and  is  more  or  less  cov- 
ered with  sparse  oaks  and  oak  bushes.  The  rolling  tracts  mentioned  differ 

*Some  notea  on  the  topography  and  on  wells  in  this  county  are  derived  from   Mr.  Upluun. 


FAR1BAULT 


FREEBOEN  COUNTY.  377 

Surface  features.  | 

considerably  in  area  but  are  alike  in  a1!  essential  features.  The  eastern 
belt  of  rolling  land  passes  through  sections  5,  9,  16,  21,  2S,  33,  in  Newry 
township;  through  sections  4.  1).  IB,  20,  30  and  31  of  Moscow;  through  sec- 
tions 6.  7.  IS,  part  of  17,  19  and  30,  of  Oakland:  section  36  of  Hay  ward,  and 
diagonally  southwestward  through  Shell  Rock,  leaving  the  state  east  of 
Shell  Rock  river.  In  Shell  Rock  it  is  less  marked,  but  a  rolling  surface  is 
found  along  the  valley  of  the  Shell  Rock  river,  accompanied  by  timber,  and 
through  sections  2.  10.  15,  16.  21.  22.  27,  28,  and  33.  This  belt  varies  from 
one  to  three  miles  in  width,  and  the  short  ridges  and  conical  hills  of  which 
it  consists  rise  from  twenty-five  to  sixty  feet  above  the  smooth  prairies 
adjoining  on  either  side,  their  most  characteristic  development  being  in 
Newry.  in  section  16. 

The  other  area  of  rolling  surface  occupies  much  of  the  central  portion 
of  the  county,  and  varies  from  four  to  twelve  miles  in  width*  its  most 
marked  development  being  in  sees.  1  and  2  in  Pickerel  Lake  township.  It 
covers  nearly  all  of  Bath,  Bancroft  and  Albert  Lea,  and  the  northwestern 
third  of  Freeman.  It  also  embraces  the  southeastern  third  of  Hartland. 
the  eastern  three-quarters  of  Manchester,  nearly  all  of  Pickerel  Lake  and 
Nunda,  the  southeastern  corner  of  Alclen  and  a  belt  about  two  miles  wide 
through  the  west  part  of  Mansfield.  It  extends  westward  and  northwest- 
ward in  Faribault  county  nearly  to  Lura.  The  hills  that  diversify  the 
surface  in  this  part  of  Freeborn  county  are  generally  formed  by  smooth 
swells  and  gentle  depressions  in  the  gravelly  clay,  or  hardpan  of  that 
part  of  the  state,  but  sometimes  they  are  abrupt  and  and  stony,  rising 
from  seventy-five  to  one  hundred  feet.  The  valleys  between  are  frequently 
wet,  and  contain  much  peat.  The  material  of  which  the  hills  consist  is 
the  drift-sheet  of  the  Northwest,  mainly  a  gravelly  clay,  but  sometimes 
gravel  and  sand  in  oblique  stratification.  The  rest  of  the  county  is  either 
flat  or  moderately  undulating.  The  smoothest  portions  are  the  eastern  two- 
thirds  of  Oakland,  the  greater  part  of  London  and  the  western  "half  or  two- 
thirds  of  Freeborn  and  Carlston.  The  marsh  occupying  sec.  12,  Hayward, 
and  parts  of  the  adjoining  sections,  is  commonly  called  the  "big  slough.'' 
The  maximum  depth  of  Freeborn  lake  is  reported  to  be  twenty-five  feet, 
and  of  Geneva  lake  fifteen  to  twenty  feet.  The  town  of  Albert  Lea  is 
forty-two  feet  above  lake  Albert  Lea.  The  stream  flowing  from  Fountain 


378  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[  Surface  features. 


lake  into  lake  Albert  Lea  falls  eight  and  a  half  feet,  and  is  the  site  of  a 
dam  and  mills. 

The  plats  of  the  United  States  surveyors,  on  file  in  the  Register's  office  at  Albert  Lea,  indi- 
cate considerably  more  area  covered  with  timber,  or  as  "oak  openings,"  when  the  county  was 
surveyed  by  them,  than  is  now  the  case.  The  following  minutes  are  based  on  an  examination  of 
their  plats,  and  will  give  a  pretty  correct  idea  of  the  distribution  of  the  oak  openings  and  the 
prairie  tracts  throughout  the  county. 

London.  The  most  of  this  township  is  prairie,  a  belt  of  oak  onenings  and  timber  entering 
it  from  the  north  about  three  miles  wide,  and  extending  to  the  center,  bearing  off  to  the  southeast 
and  terminating  in  section  24.  The  magnetic  variation  throughout  the  town  was,  when  surveyed 
(1851i,  from  8°  20'  to  10"  42  ,  the  greatest  being  in  sees.  33  and  34. 

Oakland.  A  little  more  than  a  half  of  this  township  consists  of  oak  openings,  an  area  in 
the  easten:  half  only  being  prairie,  with  a  small  patch  also  in  sec.  31.  Two  large  sloughs  cross 
the  town,  one  through  sections  30,  31  and  32,  and  the  other  through  sections  4,  5,  8,  7  and  18. 
Magnetic  variation  about  9°,  varying  from  8"  12'  to  10°  8',  in  1854. 

Moscow.  Nearly  the  whole  of  this  township  is  taken  up  with  oak  openings  and  marshes. 
Turtle  creek  crosses  it  from  N.  W.  to  S.  E.  A  large  portion  of  the  northern  half  of  the  town  is  a 
floating  marsh,  containing  a  great  quantity  of  peat.  Magnetic  variation  from  9°  20'  to  10°  20'  in 
1854. 

Newry. '  There  is  a  small  patch  of  prairie  in  the  northeast  part  of  this  town,  sees.  1,  12,  13 
and  24,  and  a  small  area  in  sees.  20  and  21.  There  is  another  in  the  N.  W.  corner,  embracing 
sections  6  and  7,  and  parts  of  5,  8  and  18.  The  rest  is  openings  and  marsh,  particularly  marsh 
in  the  S.  W.  corner.  Magnetic  variation  8°  20'  to  9°  40',  in  1854. 

Shell  Eock.  A  belt  about  U  miles  wide  along  the  west  side  of  this  town,  accompanying  the 
Shell  Rock  river,  constitutes  the  only  openings  or  timbered  portion,  the  rest  being  prairie.  This 
district  also  comprises  some  marsh,  viz.:  sees.  19  and  31.  The  first  house  in  the  county  was  built 
in  sec  33  in  this  town,  in  the  S.  W.  quarter.  Magnetic  variation  8°  45'  to  10°  15-,  in  1854. 

Hayward.  A  wide  belt  of  prairie  occupies  about  two- thirds  of  this  town,  running  north 
and  south  through  the  center.  On  the  west  of  this  is  a  rolling  tract  embracing  a  portion  of  lake 
Albert  Lea  and  some  tributary  nurshes,  while  on  the  east  a  large  marsh  covers  sections  12  and 
14,  and  portions  of  13,  11, 15,  22  and  23.  There  is  also  a  prairie  tract  in  sec.  1. 

Eiceland.  This  township  is  about  equally  divided  between  prairie,  openings  and  marsh 
the  first  being  in  the  south  central  portion,  the  second  in  the  northwest  and  central,  bordering  on 
Rice  lake,  and  the  marsh  in  the  northeastern  part  of  the  town.  Magnetic  variation  from  8°  45'  to 
10°  30'. 

Geneva.  There  is  but  little  prairie  in  this  town,  the  southern  portion  being  comprised  in  a 
large  marsh  which  is  crossed  by  Turtle  creek,  the  outlet  of  Walnut  (or  Geneva)  lake.  The  cen- 
tral portion  is  occupied  by  oak  openings  which  also  extend  to  the  N.  W.  and  W.  boundaries.  The 
prairie  is  in  the  northern  and  eastern  portions.  Magnetic  variation  9°  10'  to  10°  23  ,  in  1854. 

Freeman.  This  township  comprises  no  prairie.  It  is  mostly  devoted  to  oak  openings,  but  a 
series  of  marshes,  drained  by  the  tributaries  of  the  Shell  Rock,  that  cross  it  toward  the  S.  E.  take 
up  a  considerable  area  in  the  central  and  eastern  portions.  Mag.  var.  9°  to  10P  40',  in  1854,  the 
greatest  being  in  sec.  31. 

Albert  Lea.  This  township  is  nearly  all  taken  up  with  oak  openings,  but  a  few  small 
marshes,  trending  N.  W.  and  S.  E.  are  found  in  different  portions.  There  is  also  a  small  patch 
of  prairie  in  sec.  6,  and  another  in  the  S.  E.  corner  of  the  county.  The  western  arm  of  Albert 
Lea  lake,  through  which  the  Shell  Rock  river  runs,  is  in  the  central  and  eastern  part  of  this  town 
and  adds  greatly  to  the  variety  and  beauty  of  its  natural  scenery.  Pickerel  lake  is  also  partly  in 
this  township.  Mag.  var.  8°  46'  to  10°  8'. 

Bancroft.  A  little  more  than  one-fourth  of  this  township  is  prairie,  situated  in  the  central 
and  southwestern  portions.  The  rest  of  th'e  town  is  covered  with  oak  openings.  The  source  of 
Shell  Rock  river  is  in  the  N.  W.  part  of  this  town.  Mag.  var.  8°  50'  to  10"  15-,  in  1854. 

Bath.    An  area  of  openings  comprising  about  half  of  this  town  in  the  central  and  eastern 


FREEBORN  COUNTY  379 

Surface  features.] 

portions  is  nearly  surrounded  by  a  belt  of  prairie.    Small  marshes  are  scattered  through  the 
town.    Mag.  var.  8"  45-  to  10°  35',  in  1854. 

Nunda.  This  town  is  also  mostly  openings,  but  an  area  of  prairie  occurs  on  sections  4,  5, 9 
and  3:  another  lies  southwest  of  Bear  lake.  Considerable  marsh  land  is  embraced  within  the  area 
of  openings.  Mag.  var.  in  1854  10°  5'  to  12°  15',  the  latter  in  section  31. 

Pickerel  Lake.  The  west  half  of  this  township  is  prairie,  and  the  eastern  is  devoted  to  open- 
ings with  lakes  and  marshes.  Mag.  var.  9°  45'  to  11°  50'  in  1854. 

Manchester.  About  one-half  of  this  town  is  prairie,  the  remainder  being  oak  openings.  The 
prairie  lies  in  the  northwestern  and  southern  portions.  Small  marshes  occur  both  in  the  prairies 
and  openings.  Mag.  var.  10°  to  12"  15'  in  1854. 

llartland.  Ttiis  town  is  almost  entirely  composed  of  prairie,  the  only  timber  being  about 
Mule  or  Le  Sueur  lake,  and  in  the  southern  portions  of  sections  34,  35  and  36.  There  is  not 
much  marsli  in  the  town.  Mag.  var.  9°  45'  to  12°  25'  (1854). 

Mniitfield.  This  town  is  nearly  all  prairie,  a  small  patch  of  oak  openings  occurring  in  sec- 
tions 3,  10  and  15.  The  northwest  part  of  the  township  is  rolling  and  the  southeast  is  level  and 
wet  with  marshes.  Mag.  var.  11°  30'  to  13°  40'  (1858). 

Alden.  This  town  is  all  prairie,  with  scattered  small  marshes.  Mag.  var.  11°  27'  to  13°  15' 
(1854). 

Carlston.  This  town  is  all  prairie  except  a  narrow  belt  of  sparse  timber  about  Freeborn  lake. 
Long  narrow  marshes  spread  irregularly  over  the  central  and  eastern  portions  of  the  town.  In 
the  southeast  quarter  of  section  36  there  is  also  a  small  area  of  sparse  timber.  Mag.  var.  11'  13- 
to  13°  (1854). 

Freeborn.  In  this  town  there  is  a  little  sparse  timber  about  the  north  ends  of  Freeborn  and 
Spicer  lakes,  and  a  little  adjoining  Spicer  lake  on  the  east.  There  are  also  some  openings  in  sec- 
tion 26,  where  the  arms  of  the  marsh  protect  the  timber  from  the  prairie  fires.  The  rest  is  of  prai- 
rie, with  spreading  marshes.  Mag.  var.  (1854)  11°  55'  to  12°  50'. 

North  and  west  of  Albert  Lea  is  a  very  broken  and  rolling  surface  of  sparse  timber.  This 
tract  consists  of  bold  hills  and  deep  valleys  wrought  in  the  common  drift  of  the  country.  On 
some  of  these  hills  are  granitic  boulders,  but  the  country  generally  does  not  show  many  boulders. 
The  drift  is  usually  in  this  broken  tract,  a  gravelly  clay.  In  some  of  the  road  cuts  for  grading  a 
gravel  is  found  containing  a  good  deal  of  limestone. 

A  great  many  of  the  marshes  of  the  county  are  surrounded  with  tracts  of  oak  openings,  a 
fact  which  indicates  that  the  marshes  serve  as  barriers  to  the  prairie  fires.  Such  marshes  are 
really  filled  with  water  and  quake  with  a  heavy  peat  deposit  on  being  trod  on.  They  are  very 
different  from  those  of  counties  farther  west,  as  in  Nobles  county,  which  in  the  summer  are  apt 
to  become  dried,  and  are  annually  clothed  with  a  growth  of  coarse  grass  which  feeds  the  fires  that 
pass  over  the  country  in  the  fall.  As  a  general  rule  but  little  pr  no  grass  grows  on  a  good  peat 
marsh. 

The  contour  of  the  county  is  further  exemplified  by  the  following  elevations  obtained  from 
lines  run  for  railroad  surveys: 

Elevations  taken  from  a  preliminary  survey  made  in  July,  1870,  through  Freeborn  county,  Minnesota, 

by  WM.  MORIN. 

Commencing  on  the  state  line  (south)  930  feet  east  of  the  quarter  stake  on  the  south  side  of 
sec.  32,  T.  1O1,  R.  3O;  thence  north  to  Glenville  on  sec  6,  T.  1O1,  R.  2O;  thence  north 
40°  west  to  Albert  Lea  on  sec.  8,  T.  IO2,  R.  21 ;  thence  north  40°  east  to  Geneva  on  sec.  8, 
T.  1O4,  11.  80.  and  thence  north  to  the  Steele  county  line. 

Above  ocean. 
Feet. 

Station  No.  1,  at  point  930  ft.  east  of  quarter  stake  on  sec.  32,  T.  1O1,  R.  8O,    1212 

Station  No.  100,  1221 

Station  No.  190,  1199 

Station  No.  199  +  10.     Water  in  Shell  Rock  river,  east  bank,  1197 

Station  No.  200+80.    Water  in  Shell  Rock  River,  west  bank,  1197 

Station  No.  202,  1212 

Station  No.  300.    Glenville  (town  plat)  1221 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

["Elevations. 

Station  No.  494.    Summit  between  Glenville  and  Albert  Lea,  1313 

Station  No.  654.     Albert  Lea  (town  plat),  1243 

Lake  Albert  Lea,  1201 

Station  1064.    Summit  at  Clark's  Grove,  1314 

Geneva  lake  (or  Walnut  lake)  1214 

Station  No.  1330,  at  Steele  county  line,  sec.  5,  T.  1O4.  R.  2O,  1206 
Elevations  obtained  of  George  B.  Woodworth,  assistant  engineer  of  the  Southern  Minnesota  railroad, 

La  Crosse. 

Miles  from         Feetabove 
La  Crosse.  the  sea. 

Ramsey,  crossing  Iowa  and  Minn.div.  of  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul 

railway,  103.1  1214 

Depression,  grade,  107.7  1197 

Oakland,  109.9  1265 

Summit,  grade,  113.8  1270 

Depression,  grade,  117.6  1241 

Hayward,    •  118.0  1248 

Summit,  grade,  121.5  1263 

Depression,  grade,  124.2  1206 

Albert  Lea,  124.6  1221 

Burlington,  Cedar  Rapids  and  Northern  crossing.  121.7  1220 

Summit,  grade,  128.9  1323 

Armstrong,  129.8  1270 

Summit,  grade,  133.5  1317 

Alden,  135.2  1261 

Bood's  switch,  139.7  1189 

Wells,  144.4  1153 
Elevations  on  the  Minneapolis  and  St.  Louis  railway,  from  Robert  Angst,  assistant  engineer. 

Miles  from          Feetabove 
Minneapolis.  the  sea. 

Hartland,  94.9  1247 

Manchester,  100.9  12-58 

Albert  Lea,  108.0  1224 

Twin  Lakes,  115.0  1255 

Norman,  121.4  1279 

Average  elevation  of  the  county.  The  most  of  the  county  is  more  than  1 .209  feet  above  the 
sea,  the  range  being  between  1,100  and  1,400,  the  average  elevation  for  the  county  being  about 
1,250  feet.  The  average  elevation  of  the  different  townships  is  about  as  follows,  estimated  from 
the  contour  lines:  Ne wry,  1.275  feet  above  the  sea  ;  Moscow,  1,250;  Oakland,  1,260;  London. 
1,225;  Geneva,  1,240  ;  Riceland,  1,240;  Hayward,  1,240;  Shell  Rock,  1,260;  Bath,  1,280;  Ban- 
croft, 1,290;  Albert  Lea,  1,250;  Freeman,  1 ,250 ;  Hartland,  1,225;  Manchester,  1,275;  Pickerel 
Lake,  1,290;  Nunda,  1,275;  Freeborn,  1,175;  Carlstou,  1,210;  Alden,  1.260;  Mansfield,  1,275. 
The  mean  elevation  of  Freeborn  county,  derived  from  these  figures,  is  approximately  1,250 
feet  above  the  sea. 

Soil.  Throughout  the  county  the  soil  depends  on  the  nature  of  the 
drift  combined  with  the  various  modifying  local  circumstances.  There  is 
nothing  in  the  county  that  can  properly  be  designated  a  limestone  soil,  or 
a, -sandstone  soil.  The  materials  of  which  it  is  composed  have  been  trans- 
ported perhaps  several  hundred  miles,  and  are  so  abundantly  and  univers- 
ally spread  over  the  underlying  rock  that  they  receive  no  influence  from 
it.  The  sub-soil  is  a  gravelly  clay,  and  in  much  of  the  county  that  also 
constitutes  the  surface  soil.  In  low  ground  this  of  course  is  disguised  by  a 


FREEBORN  COUNTY. 

Soil.     Tree*  and  shrubs. J 

wash  from  the  higher  ground,  causing,  sometimes,  a  loam  and,  sometimes, 
a  tough,  fine  clay,  the  latter  particularly  in  those  tracts  that  are  subject  to 
inundation  by  standing  water.  On  an  undulating  prairie,  with  a  close 
clay,  or  clayey  subsoil,  such  low  spots  are  apt  to  have  a  black,  rich  loam 
or  clayey  loam,  the  color  being  derived  from  the  annual  prairie  fires  that 
leave  charred  grass  and  other  vegetation  to  mingle  with  the  soil.  The 
same  takes  place  on  wide  tracts  of  flat  prairie.  In  these  there  may  be  but 
rarely  a  stone  of  any  kind — indeed  that  is  usually  the  case — but  below  the 
immediate  surface,  a  foot  or  eighteen  inches,  a  gravelly  clay  is  always  met 
with.  This  at  first  doubtless  formed  the  soil,  the  disintegrating  forces  of 
frost,  rain  and  wind,  combined  with  the  calcining  effects  of  the  prairie 
fires,  having  reduced  the  stones  and  gravel  to  powder,  leaving  a  finely  pul- 
verized substance  for  a  surface  soil. ,  In  a  rolling  tract  of  country,  while 
the  low  ground  is  being  filled  slowly  with  the  wash  from  the  hills,  and  fur- 
nished with  a  fine  surface  soil,  the  hills  are  left  covered  with  a  coarse  and 
stony  surface  soil.  For  that  reason  a  great  many  boulders  are  sometimes 
seen  on  the  tops  of  drift  knolls.  Along  streams,  and  about  the  shores  of 
lakes,  the  action  of  the  water  has  carried  away  the  clay  of  the  soil  and 
often  eaten  into  the  original  drift,  letting  the  stones  and  boulders  tumble 
down  to  the  bottom  of  the  bank,  where  they  are  often  very  numerous. 
Along  streams  they  are  sometimes  again  covered  with  alluvium — indeed 
are  apt  to  be — but  along  the  shores  of  lakes  they  are  kept  near  the  beach 
line  by  the  action  of  winter  ice.  After  a  lapse  of  time  sufficient,  the  banks 
themselves  become  rounded  off,  and  finally  turfed  over  or  covered  with 
trees.  Thus  lakes  sometimes  extend  their  limits  laterally,  but  slowly  be- 
come shallower. 

This  county  is  furnished  with  a  number  of  very  beautiful  lakes.  These 
are  generally  in  the  midst  of  a  rolling  country,  and  some  of  their  banks 
are  high. 

Timber.  In  the  "survey  of  the  county  the  following  species  of  trees  and  shrubs  were  noticed 
growing  native: 

Quercus  macroearpa,  Miclix.     Bur  oak.  Quercus  coecinea,    Wany.,  var.  tinetoria, 

Populus  tremuloides,  Miclix.    Aspen.  Gray.     Black  oak. 

Ulmus  Americana, .L.ipl.Clayt.),  J-PiMd. \Vhiteelm.  Prunus  serotina,  Ehr.    Black  cherry. 

Finis  coronaria,  L.     American  crab-apple.  Carya  aiuara,  Nutt.    Bitternut. 

Juglans  nigra,  L.    Black  walnut.  Corylus  Americana,  Walt.     Hazelnut. 

Vitis  cordifolia,  Michx.    Frost  grape.  Celastrus  scandens,  L.  Climbing  bitter-sweet. 

Frunus  Americana,  Marshall.     Wild  plum.          Fraxinus  Americana,  L.     White  ash. 


382  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Geological  structure. 

Juglans  cinerea,  L.    Butternut.  Rhus  glabra,  L.     Smooth  sumach. 

Rubus  strigosus,  Michx.    Red  raspberry.  Rosa  blanda,  Ait.    Rose. 

Symphoricarpus  occidentals,  B.  Br.  Wolfberry.  Tilia  Americana,  L.    Bass. 

Xanthoxylum  Americanum,  Mill.  Prickly  ash.   Cornus.    Different  species. 

Salix.    Different  species.  Ribes  Cynosbati,  L.     Prickly  gooseberry. 

Crataegus  coccinea,  L.    Thorn.  Celtis  occidentalis,  L.    Ilackberry. 

Acer  saccharinum,  Wang.     Sugar  maple.  1'opulus  monilifera,  Ait.     Cottonvvood. 

Acer  dasycarpum.  Ehr.    Soft  maple.  CraUegus  Crus-ealli,  L.    Cockspur  thorn. 

Ulmus  fulva,  Mich.    Slippery  elm.  Fraxinus  sambucifolia,  Lam.    Black  ash. 

Viburnum  Opulus,  L.     High-bush  cranberry.      Primus  Virginiana,  L.    Choke  cherry. 
Carya  alba,  Nutt.     Shagbark  hickory. 

The  last  is  seen  on  land  of  M.  B.  Bullis,  in  Moscow  township,  near  the  county  line. — A.  A. 
HAKWOOD. 

Besides  the  foregoing,  the  following  list  embraces  trees  that  are  frequently  seen  in  cultiva- 
tion in  Frteborn  county. 

Juuiperus  Virginiana,  L.     Red  cedar.  Pirus  Americana,  DC.    Mountain  ash. 

Populus  balsamifera,  L.  var.  candicans,  Gray.    Populus  dilatata,  Ait.    Lombardy  poplar. 
Balm  of  Gilead.  Robinia  Pseudacacia,  L.    Locust. 

Larix  Americana,  Miclix.    Hackmatack.  Thuja  occidentalis,  L.    Arbor  vitse. 

THE   GEOLOGICAL   STRUCTURE. 

There  is  not  a  natural  exposure  of  the  underlying  rock  in  Freeborn 
county.  Hence  the  details  of  its  geological  structure  are  wholly  unknown. 
It  is  only  by  an  examination  of  outcrops  in  Mower  county  and  in  the  adjoin- 
ing counties  of  Iowa,  together  with  a  knowledge  of  the  general  geology  of 
that  portion  of  the  state,  that  anything  can  be  known  of  the  bed-rock  of  Free- 
born  county.  In  the  absence  of  actual  outcrops  of  rock  within  the  county 
there  are  still  some  evidences  of  the  character  of  the  rock  that  underlies 
the  county,  in  the  nature  and  position  of  the  drift  materials.  There  is,  be- 
sides, a  shaft  that  has  struck  the  Cretaceous  in  the  northwestern  portion 
of  the  county,  in  exploration  for  coal. 

Although  the  drift  is  heavy  it  lies  in  such  positions  that  it  shows  some 
changes  in  the  surface  of  the  bed-rock.  It  is  a  principle  pretty  well  estab- 
lished that  any  sudden  great  alteration  in  the  rock  from  hardness  to  soft- 
ness, as  from  a  heavy  limestone  layer  to  a  layer  of  erosible  shales,  or  from 
shales  to  more  enduring  sandstone,  each  stratum  having  a  considerable 
thickness,  is  expressed  in  the  drift  by  changes  from  a  rough  and  rolling, 
more  or  less  stony  surface  to  a  flat  and  nearly  smooth  surface,  or  v ice  versa. 
It  sometimes  happens  that  the  non-outcropping  line  of  superposition  of 
one  important  formation  with  another,  either  above  or  below,  can  be 
traced  across  a  wide  tract  of  drift-covered  country  by  following  up  a  series 
of  gravel  knolls  or  ridges  that  accompany  it.  or  by  some  similar  feature  of 


FREEBORN   COUNTY.  383 

Geological  structure.] 


the  topography.  Again  the  unusual  frequency  of  any  kind  of  rock  in  the 
drift  at  a  certain  place,  especially  if  it  be  one  not  capable  of  bearing  long 
transportation,  is  pretty  good  evidence  of  the  proximity  of  the  parent  rock 
to  that  locality. 

Applying  these  principles  to  Freebovn  county,  we  find  throughout  the 
county  a  great  many  boulders  of  a  hard,  white,  compact,  magnesian  lime- 
stone, many  others  of  which  have  been  burned  for  quicklime.  These 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  early  settlers,  and  before  the  construction  of 
the  Southern  Minnesota  railroad  supplied  all  the  lime  in  the  county. 
Although  these  boulders  are  capable  of  being  transported  a  great  distance, 
their  great  abundance  points  to  the  existence  of  the  source  of  supply  in 
the  underlying  bed-rock.  In  the  drift  also  are  frequently  found  pieces  of 
lignite,  or  Cretaceous  coal,  which  cannot  be  far  transported  by  glacier 
agencies.  This  also  indicates  the  existence  of  the  Cretaceous  lignites  in 
Freeborn  county.  In  regard  to  changes  in  the  contour  of  the  natural  sur- 
face, we  see  an  evenly  flat  and  prairie  surface  in  the  western  tier  of  towns, 
and  in  the  southeastern  part  of  the  county,  and  a  hilly  and  gravelly  tract 
of  irregular  shape  in  the  central  portion.  There  are  two  ridges  or  divides, 
formed  superficially  of  drift,  that  occur  in  the  central  part  of  the  county, 
one  north  of  Albert  Lea,  and  the  other  south  of  it,  separated  about  eleven 
miles,  as  shown  by  a  series  of  elevations  for  a  preliminary  railroad  survey 
by  Wm.  Morin,  already  mentioned.  What  may  be  their  direction  at  points 
farther  removed  from  Albert  Lea  it  is  not  possible  to  state  with  certainty, 
but  on  one  side  they  seem  to  trend  toward  the  northwest.  Indeed  there 
seems  to  be  a  northwest  and  southeast  trend  to  some  of  the  surface  features. 
Such  rough  surfaces,  and  especially  the  ridges  of  drift  are  more  stony  and 
gravelly  than  the  flat  portions  of  the  county.  They  mark  the  location  of 
great  inequalities  in  the  upper  surface  of  the  underlying  rock,  the  exact 
nature  of  which  cannot  be  known. 

In  addition  to  these  general  indications  of  the  character  of  the  rock  of  the  county,  the  shaft 
sunk  for  coal  at  Freeborn  reveals  the  presence  of  the  Cretaceous  in  that  poition  of  the  county,  and 
examinations  of  the  nearest  exposures  in  the  neighboring  county  of  Iowa  disclose  the  Hamil- 
ton limestone  of  the  Devonian  age.  This  limestone  is  exactly  like  that  found  so  abundantly 
in  the  form  of  boulders  in  Freeborn  county.  As  the  general  direction  of  the  drift  forces  was 
toward  the  south,  and  as  the  strike  of  the  Hamilton  in  Iowa  is  toward  the  northwest,  there  is 
abundant  reason  for  concluding  that  that  formation  also  extends  under  Freeborn  county.  The 
great  distance  toward  the  northwest  through  which  these  limestone  boulders  can  be  traced  with 


334  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Explorations  for  coal. 

equal  abundance,  is  an  evidence  of  the  former  extent  of  the  Devonian  rocks  in  that  direction. 
The  Devonian  does  not  certainly  cross  the  Minnesota  river.  Yet  in  McLeod  county,  which  lies 
in  the  line  of  strike  of  the  Devonian  of  Iowa  and  Freeborn  county,  toward  the  northwest,  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  Minnesota  river,  the  same  limestone  boulders  are  very  abundant,  some  being 
so  large  as  to  have  been  reputed  rock  in  tilu,  and  quarried  as  such  till  exhausted.  There  is,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Fieeborn,  an  area  of  the  Cretaceous,  which  must  overlie  the  Silurian  limestones. 
This  Cretaceous  area  is  believed  to  extend  north  and  south  across  the  west  end  of  the  county  and 
to  be  roughly  coincident  with  the  flat  and  prairie  portion  in  the  western  part  of  the  county,  in 
which  case  it  also  overlaps  the  Devonian. 

Explorations  for  coal. 

In  common  with  many  other  places  in  southern  Minnesota,  Freeborn  township,  in  the  north- 
western corner  of  this  county,  has  furnished  from  the  drift,  pieces  of  Cretaceous  lignite  that 
resemble  coal.  These  have,  in  a  number  of  instances,  incited  ardent  expectations  of  coal,  and 
led  to  the  outlay  of  money  in  explorations*  Such  pieces  are  taken  out  in  digging  wells.  The 
opinion  seems  to  grow,  in  a  community  where  such  fragments  are  found,  that  coal  of  the  Carbon- 
iferous age  exists  in  the  rocks  below.  In  sinking  a  drill  for  an  artesian  well  at  Freeborn  village, 
very  general  attention  was  directed  to  the  reported  occurrence  of  this  coal  in  a  regular  bed  in  con- 
nection with  a  "slate  rock''.  This  locality  was  carefully  examined,  and  all  the  information  was 
gathered  bearing  on  the  subject  that  could  be  found.  The  record  of  the  first  well  drilled  is  given 
below,  as  reported  by  the  gentleman  who  did  the  work. 

1.  Soil  and  subsoil,  clay 15  feet. 

2.  Blue  clay 35  feet. 

3.  "  Conglomerated  rock  "   (Had  to  drill) 2  in. 

4.  Sand  with  water 5  feet. 

5.  Fine  clay,  tough,  and  hard  to  drill,  with  gravel,  and  limestone  pebbles 60  feet. 

6.  Sand  with  water 4  in. 

7.  "  Slate  rock  "  i  \     7  feet. 

8.  "Coal"  |  Probably  Cretaceous )  _6feet_4_in. 

Total  depth 127  ft.  10  in. 

This  indication  of  coal  induced  the  drilling  of  another  well  situated  one  hundred  feet  distant. 
toward  tha  northeast.  In  this  the  record  was  as  follows,  given  by  the  same  authority. 

1.  Soil  and  subsoil,  clay 15  feet. 

2.  Blue  clay 33  feet. 

3.  "  Conglomerated  rock  " 2  in. 

4.  Sand  with  water  and  pieces  of  coal 12  feet. 

Total  depth 60  feet  2  in. 

When  the  drill  here  reached  the  "conglomerated  rock",  it  was  supposed  to  have  reached  the 
"slate  rock'',  No.  7,  of  the  previous  section.  The  amount  of  coal  in  the  sand  of  No.  4  was  also 
enough  to  cause  it  to  be  taken  for  No.  8  of  the  previous  section.  Hence  the  boring  was  stopped  ; 
and  having  thus  demonstrated  the  existence  of  a  coal-bed,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  proprietors, 
the  enterprise  was  pushed  further  in  the  sinking  of  a  shaft.  In  sinking  this  shaft  water  troubled 
the  workmen  so  that  at  thirty-five  feet  it  had  to  be  abandoned. 

Three-quarters  of  a  mile  north  of  these  drills  a  shaft  was  sunk  fifty-seven  feet,  but  not  find- 
ing the  coal  as  expected,  according  to  the  developments  of  the  last  section  above  given,  this 
exploration  ceased.  In  this  shaft  the  oveiseer  reports  the  same  strata  passed  through  in  the 
drift  as  met  with  in  the  first  well  drilled,  but  the  so-called  "conglomerated  rock"  was  met  at  a 
depth  of  forty-five  feet.  The  sand  below  the  ''conglomerated  rock"  here  held  no  water,  but  was 
full  of  fine  pieces  of  coal.  Before  sinking  the  shaft  at  this  place  a  drill  was  made  to  test  the  strata. 
These  being  found  "all  right"  the  shaft  was  begun.  In  that  drill  gas  was  first  met.  It  rose  up  in 
in  the  drill-hole,  and  being  ignited  it  flamed  up  eight  or  ten  feet  with  a  roaring  sound.  The  shaft 
was  so  near  the  drill-hole  that  it  drew  off  the  gas  gradually,  allowing  the  intermixture  of  more  air, 
thus  preventing  rapid  burning.  From  this  place  the  exploration  was  re-directed  to  the  first  situa- 
tion, where  another  shaft  was  begun.  This  was  in  search  for  the  "lower  rock",  so  called,  or  the 
"slate  rock"  supposed  to  overlie  the  "coal".  Here  they  went  through  the  same  materials,  shutting 


FREEBORN  COUKTY.  385 

Drift.] 

off  the  water  in  the  live-foot  sand  bed.  and  sixty  feet  of  tine  clay,  when  water  rose  so  copiously 
from  the  second  saud  bed  (No.  6  of  the  first  section  given)  as  to  compel  a  cessation  of  the  work. 
In  this  shaft  were  found  small  pieces  of  the  same  coal,  all  the  way.  These  pieces  had  sharp  cor- 
ners and  fresh  surfaces.  The  total  depth  here  was  106  feet,  and  the  water  seems  to  have  been 
impregnated  with  the  same  gas  as  that  which  rose  in  the  drill  at  the  point  three-fourths  of  a  mile 
distant.  Such  water  is  also  found  in  the  well  at  the  ho'el  at  Freeborn.  With  sugar  of  lead  it  does 
not  present  the  reactions  for  sulphuretted  hydrogen,  and  the  gas  is  presumed  to  be  carburetted 
hydrogen. 

Further  exploration  was  undertaken  in  1880.  This  was  done  by  Mr.  E.  B.  Clark,  the  shaft 
going  to  the  depth  of  144  feet.  The  section  as  reported  by  Mr.  Clark,  was  found  to  be  soil,  2  feet; 
yellow  till,  14  feet;  softer  blue  till.  29  feet;  sand,  1  foot;  gray  till,  harder  than  the  yellow  till,  47  feet; 
saud,  1  foot;  gray  till,  2  feet;  quicksand,  44  feet,  "containing  at  124  feet  from  the  surface  a  stratum 
of  slate  two  inches  thick,  underlain  by  six  inches  of  coal''.  Small  fragments  of  lignite  were  found 
in  the  blue  and  gray  till,  but  apparently  not  larger  nor  more  numerous  than  are  often  found  in 
this  formation  in  wells  throughout  southern  and  western  Minnesota.  The  remaining  four  feet 
were  said  to  have  been  drilled  in  "slate";  but  nearly  all  the  detritus  brought  up  was  gray  sand, 
with  which  was  intermingled  a  small  proportion  of  black  slaty  particles,  perhaps  making  up  a 
quarter  of  one  per  cent.  This  boring  is  eight  rods  farther  east,  and  at  a  site  three  feet  lower,  than 
the  first  of  those  above  mentioned. 

This  account  of  explorations  for  coal  is  but  a  repetition  of  what  has  taken  place  in  numer- 
ous instances  in  Minnesota.  The  Cretaceous  lignites  have  deceived  a  great  many,  and  consider- 
able expense  has  been  needlessly  incurred  in  fruitless  search  for  good  coal.  In  the  early  discov- 
ery of  these  lignites  some  exploration  and  experimentation  within  the  limits  of  the  state  were 
justifiable,  but  after  the  tests  that  have  already  been  made  it  can  pretty  confidently  be  stated  that 
these  lignites  are  at  present  of  no  known  economical  value.  This,  not  in  ignorance  of  the  fact  that 
they  will  burn,  or  that  they  contain,  in  some  proportion,  all  the  valuable  ingredients  that  charac- 
terize coal  and  carbonaceous  shales,  but  in  the  light  of  the  competing  prices  of  other  fuels,  the 
cost  of  mining  them,  and  the  comparative  inferiority  of  the  lignites  themselves. 

The  drift.  Till.  This  deposit  covers  the  entire  county  and  conceals 
the  rock  from  sight.  It  consists  of  the  usual  ingredients,  but  varies  with 
the  general  character  of  the  surface.  In  rolling  tracts  it  is  very  stony  and 
has  much  more  gravel.  In  flat  tracts  it  is  clayey.  It  everywhere  contains 
a  great  many  boulders,  and  these  are  shown  abundantly  along  the  beaches 
of  the  numerous  lakes  of  the  county.  The  frequency  of  limestone  boulders, 
and  their  significance,  have  already  been  mentioned.  Thousands  of  bushels 
of  lime  have  been  made  from  such  loose  boulder  masses,  mainly  gathered 
about  the  shores  of  the  lakes.  The  two  belts  of  prominently  rolling  till 
described  on  page  877  are  parts  of  a  series  of  terminal  moraines  that  mark 
the  boundary  of  the  ice-sheet  in  the  last  glacial  epoch.*  The  average  thick- 
ness of  the  drift  in  Freeborn  county  does  not  vary  much  probably  from  one 
hundred  feet. 

Gravel  and  sand.  In  general  the  drift  of  Freeborn  county  is  glacier 
hardpan  or  till.  Yet  in  some  places  the  upper  portion  is  gravel  and  sand, 
showing  all  the  effects  of  running  water  in  violent  currents,  such  as  oblique 
bedding  and  sudden  transitions  from  one  material  to  another. 

•For  a  description  of  the  mode  of  formation  of  the  moraines,  see  the  report  of  Wuseca  county. 
25 


:jS(j  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Modified  drift. 

In  a  gravel  bank  at  Albert  Lea,  according  to  Mr.  Wm.  Morin,  the  jaw 
bone  of  a  mastodon  was  found  a  number  of  years  ago.  It  was  sent  to  St. 
Paul,  but  was  lost  in  the  capitol  fire  in  1881. 

From  Albert  Lea  to  a  distance  of  four  miles  northward,  the  valley  of 
the  Shell  Rock  river  is  occupied  by  modified  drift,  consisting  of  stratified 
fine  gravel,  sand  and  silt,  or  clayey  sand.  This  deposit  has  an  area  from 
one  and  a  half  to  two  miles  wide,  about  two-thirds  of  its  width  being  on 
the  west  side  of  the  stream.  Originally  this  nearly  fiat  plain  was  contin- 
ous  from  the  east  to  the  west  side  of  the  valley,  through  which  the  Shell 
Rock  river  has  since  cut  its  channel  about  forty  feet  in  depth.  A  portion 
fully  a  mile  wide  remaining  on  the  west  side  of  the  river  in  sections  29,  31 
and  82,  Bancroft,  is  known  as  "  Itasca  prairie",*  a  little  collection  of  houses 
in  the  southeast  quarter  of  section  31  being  called  "  Itasca".  The  level  site 
of  the  town  of  Albert  Lea,  consisting  of  stratified  fine  gravel  and  sand,  is 
part  of  the  same  formation,  which  here  is  underlain  by  a  mud  or  fine  sand 
of  dark  color,  sometimes  yielding  branches  or  twigs  of  wood.  Besides  the 
extension  of  this  deposit  upon  both  sides  of  the  Shell  Rock  river  and  Foun- 
tain lake  to  the  west  end  of  lake  Albert  Lea,  it  also  reaches  from  Itasca 
prairie  two  miles  southwestward,  by  White  lake  to  Pickerel  lake,  its  width 
for  this  distance  being  from  one  to  two  miles.  It  is  here  nearly  level,  with 
its  surface  about  forty  feet  above  Pickerel  and  White  lakes;  against  which, 
as  also  at  the  end  of  lake  Albert  Lea,  it  is  terminated  by  steeply  sloping 
escarpments.  The  origin  of  these  beds  of  stratified  drift  is  believed  to  have 
been  from  the  floods  formed  by  glacial  melting,  chiefly  during  the  final 
recession  and  departure  of  the  ice-sheet.  It  has  evidently  been  in  some 
places  excavated  by  streams  since  the  ice  age.  Yet  it  can  scarcely  be  sup- 
posed that  the  hollows  of  all  these  lakes  have  been  formed  by  such  erosion; 
in  some  instances  they  must  apparently  be  attributed  to  the  presence  of 
masses  of  ice  remaining  where  the  lakes  now  are,  causing  their  basins  to 
be  left  empty  when  the  adjacent  plains  of  modified  drift  were  deposited. 

Another  remarkable  area  of  modified  drift  known  by  the  name  of  "  Bear 
lake  prairie,"  is  found  in  Mansfield  and  the  west  end  of  Nunda,  reaching 
six  miles  from  north  to  south  and  the  same  distance  from  east  to  west  in 
this  county,  while  its  southern  portion  continues  two  miles  or  more  into 

*This  was  named  Paradise  prairie  by  Lieut.  Albert  Lea.     See  page  67. 


FREEBORN  COUNTY. 

Modified  drift  | 

Iowa.  This  is  a  flat  plain,  consisting,  beneath  its  fertile  soil,  of  stratified 
sand  and  gravel.  It  is  bounded  on  the  east  and  southeast  by  Bear  lake  and 
Lime  creek.  Rolling  areas  of  till  jut  up,  island-like,  twenty  to  forty  feet 
above  this  plain  in  the  three  miles  next  southwest  from  Bear  lake.  The 
highest  part  of  this  expanse  is  its  northwest  and  west  border,  which  rests, 
along  most  of  its  extent,  on  the  flanks  of  morainic  hills.  From  this  side  a 
scarcely  perceptible  slope  descends  eastward  thirty  or  forty  feet  in  a  dis- 
tance varying  from  three  to  six  miles,  and  terminates  by  descending  beneath 
the  water-level  of  Bear  lake,  which  this  modified  drift  bounds  with  a  very 
low  and  flat,  marshy  shore.  It  is  evident  that  the  waters  from  ivhich  this 
plain  of  sand  and  gravel  was  deposited  flowed  in  the  direction  of  its  slope, 
from  west  to  east;  and  it  is  demonstrable  that  they  were  poured  down  upon 
this  area,  loaded  with  detritus,  from  the  melting  surface  of  ice  that  covered 
the  country  adjacent  westward. 

Bear  lake  prairie  is  surrounded  by  knolly  and  hilly  accumulations  of 
till,  with  an  abundance  of  boulders  and  stones  enclosed  and  strewn  upon 
its  surface,  belonging  to  the  inner  or  western  belt  of  the  terminal  moraine. 
At  the  east  these  scattered  and  irregularly  grouped  hills  rise  twenty-five  to 
fifty  feet  above  Bear  lake  and  Lime  creek.  At  the  west,  in  sections  31  and 
32,  Mansfield,  they  rise  fifty  to  one  hundred  feet  above  this  plain  of  modi- 
fied drift;  and  three  to  five  miles  farther  northwest  in  Kiester,  Faribault 
county,  they  attain  a  hight  fully  150  feet  above  the  upper  west  edge  of  this 
plain,  or  about  200  feet  above  Bear  lake.  From  the  "Kiester  hills  a  series  of 
morainic  accumulations  extends  twenty-five  miles  or  more  northwestward, 
crossing  Faribault  county.  At  two  places  on  the  west  border  of  Bear  lake 
prairie,  head-streams  of  the  East  fork  of  the  Blue  Earth  river  have  their 
sources  and  thence  descend  westward  and  northward.  One  of  these  is 
Brush  creek,  which  begins  upon  an  area  of  low,  moderately  undulating  till 
in  sections  29  and  30,  Mansfield,  and  flows  south  of  the  Kiester  hills.  The 
other  is  Jones'  or  Dunnell's  creek,  which  rises  in  springs  in  the  north- 
east quarter  of  section  17,  Mansfield,  issuing  at  the  base  of  a  bluff  or  bank 
of  gravel  and  sand  about  twenty-five  feet  in  hight,  from  whose  top  the 
broad  Bear  lake  prairie  stretches  eastward.  For  a  considerable  distance 
thence  northward,  in  section  8.  this  stream  flows  in  a  ravine  forty  to  sixty 
feet  deep,  enclosed  by  rough  knolls  of  morainic  till.  Along  its  next  mile. 


888  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Kames  wells. 

in  section  5,  Mansfield,  the  morainic  accumulations  are  less  prominent  and 
give  place  to  smoother,  undulating  or  moderately  rolling  till;  except  that 
here  the  stream  is  bordered  by  well-marked  kames,  or  hillocks  and  ridges 
of  water-deposited  gravel  and  sand.  One  ridge,  or  kame,  twenty  to  forty 
feet  high,  extends  nearly  a  mile  along  the  east  side  of  the  creek,  separat- 
ing it  all  this  distance  from  a  slough,  to  which  two  gaps  supply  outlets. 
Before  these  gaps  were  cut  through,  the  slough  was  probably  a  lake. 
These  kames  are  in  large  part  gravel,  very  full  of  pebbles  up  to  three  or 
four  inches  in  diameter,  fully  half  of  them  being  well  water-worn.  They 
also  contain  rarely  boulders  up  to  two  or  three  feet  in  diameter.  These 
rock-fragments,  like  those  contained  in  the  till  of  this  region,  are  mostly 
granite,  syenite,  schists,  and  limestone.  Though  these  kames  are  lower 
than  the  Bear  lake  prairie,  they  are  believed  to  have  been  formed  at  a 
higher  level,  in  the  ice-walled  channels  of  the  glacial  streams  which  car- 
ried forward  their  finer  gravel,  sand  and  silt  to  that  plain.  When  the  ice 
had  wholly  melted,  these  ridges  of  coarse  gravel  fell  upon  the  till,  which 
gradually  descends  northwestward  from  the  moraine  in  a  smoothly  undu- 
lating surface,  with  no  noteworthy  accumulations  of  modified  drift  beyond 
these  kames. 

The  plate  (No.  14)  which  illustrates  the  geology  of  this  county  is  designed  only  to  show  the 
features  and  distribution  of  the  drift.  In  the  areas  represented  as  till-covered  will  be  found 
numerous  patches  of  modified  drift  which  were  too  small  to  be  noted.  Of  these,  two  areas  of 
gravel  and  sand,  which  are  more  important  than  others,  should  be  mentioned.  One  is  along  the 
Shell  Rock  river,  particularly  along  the  east  side  of  the  river,  and  the  other  extends  northward 
from  Geneva  lake.  Throughout  the  very  rough  portions  of  the  morainic  till  there  is  also  a  fre- 
quent occurrence  of  large  knolls  and  of  flat  tracts  of  modified  drift,  the  morainic  accumulation 
itself  often  consisting  largely  of  this. 

Wells.  In  the  survey  of  the  county  considerable  attention  was  paid  to  the  phenomena  of 
common  wells  with  a  view  to  leain  the  nature  and  thickness  of  the  drift,  and  the  following  list 
is  the  result  of  notes  made. 

Good  water  is  generally  found  throughout  the  county,  in  the  drift,  at  depths  less  than 
eighty  feet;  but  some  deep  wells  that  occur  within  the  Cretaceous  belt,  in  the  western  part  of 
the  county,  are  spoiled  by  the  carburetted  hydrogen.  This  must  arise  from  carbonaceous  shales 
in  the  Cretaceous,  and  indicates  the  extent  of  that  formation. 

The  only  well  in  the  county  that  is  known  to  have  struck  bed-rock  is  that  of  the  Minneap- 
olis and  St.  Louis  railway  at  Albert  Lea.  It  is  near  the  station,  on  a  flat  which  is  about  twenty 
feet  below  the  main  streets  of  Albert  Lea  and  twenty  feet  above  Albert  Lea  lake. 

Deep  well  at  Albert  Lea. 

1 .  Clay,  said  to  be  free  from  gravel 34  ft. 

2.  Quicksand 4  ft. 

3.  Clay 32  ft. 

4.  "Dark  gray  limestone,"  thought  to  be  the  same  as  that  at  Northwood 32  ft. 

5.  White  sandrock,  giving  a  little  water,  which  rose  to  within  twenty  feet  of 


FREEBORN  COUNTY 


Wells.  ] 


3H9 


the  surface  4  ft 

6.    "Dark  limestone,"  same  as  No.  4,  with  more  water  which  rose  to  within  six 
feet  of  the  surface  41  ft 

Total  depth  

1d7  ft 

Aotes  of  wells  in  Freeborn  county. 

Owner's  name. 

Location  . 

Depth 
n  feet. 

Kind  of 
water. 

Remarks. 

W.  P.Sargent  
Geo.  Stevens      .    .  . 
T.  A.  Southwiek  .  . 
Ezra  Stearns  
lizra  Stearns     .  . 
James  Hanson  .  .  . 
F  1)  Drake 

Sec.  29  Albert  Lea 

28 
47 
4li 
30 
42 
50 
90 
94 
96 
61 
37 
50 
50 
96 
48 
125 
142 
35 
iO 
12 
12 

a 

72 
33 
52 
25 
72 
85 
30 
28 
72 
42 
34 
2H 
65 
28 
28 
32 
65 
44 
80 
80 
75 
40 
30 
70 
75 
32 
50 
40 
38 
30 
18 
45 
16 
75 
125 
70 
K 
1UO 
20 
15 
10 
20 
30 
44 
f.0 
15  to  21 
96 
56 
18 
15  to  30 
12  to  Id 

Good  
Carburetted 
Soft    .  .     . 
Good  

y,  bushel  of  coal  at  2'1  feet. 
Pieces  of  coal  in  1  he  bine  tlay;  26  feet  of  water. 
44  feet  of  water. 
Kound  pieces  of  coal. 
Found  pieces  of  coal. 
Pound  pieces  of  coal. 
Water  siands  5  feet  from  the  top. 

Artesian;  at  first  bringing  stones  and  gravel. 

Found  pieces  of  coal  in  clay. 
Kound  pieces  of  coal  in  clay. 
Found  pieces  of  coal  in  clay. 
Artesian 
Nearly  artesian. 
Bore  lor  coal. 
Bore  for  coal:   lost  tools. 
Blue  c'ay;  water  in  sand  and  gravel. 
Water  in  quicksand. 
Water  in  quicksand. 
Water  in  quicksand. 
Water  in  quicksand. 
Struck  gravel  below  the  blue  clay. 
In  gravel. 
Small  bed  of  gravel  in  blue  clay. 
In  gravel. 
[n  gravel  below  the  blue  cl*y. 
^truck  black  clay,  no  sticks  nor  grit. 
[n  very  fine  blue  sandy  clay. 
Yellow  clay"  all  the  way. 
Yellow  and  blue  clay;  then  gravel, 
travel  and  sand:  water  in  quicksand, 
travel  and  sand;  water  in  quicksand. 
Water  in  gravel. 
Gravelly  clay;  fine  sandy  clay;  on  rock. 
Water  in  green  sand. 
Water  in  green  sand, 
travel  and  sand,  then  quicksand. 
LJravel  and  sand,  then  quicksand. 
En  gravel. 
Drift  clay;  water  in  gravel. 
'Tastes  iike  kerosene." 
Clay  only. 

Lump  of  coal  at  27  feet. 
Mainly  in  hard  stony  clay. 
Vlainly  hard  stony  clay;  water  from  gravel  at  67ft. 
Water  in  sand  and  gravel  below  the  blue  clay. 
Contains  much  wood;  water  seeps  from  blue  clay. 
Inexhaustible  water  from  quicksand. 
\Vater  in  sand  at  the  bottom 
Water  from  a  thin  bed  of  sand  10ft.  belowsuface. 
Water  seeps  from  the  yellow  till. 
Water  from  sand  at  the  bottom,  rising  20  feet. 
Wa'er  at  U  ft.  in  sand  and  gravel  below  yellow  and  blue  till. 
Muck  at  7J  ft    injures  the  water. 
Water  rises  from  100  ft  ;  stands  21)  ft.  below  surface. 
Passed  through  till,  with  some  layers  of  sand. 
Water  in  gravel  at  38  ft. 
In  till  all  the  way. 
Water  from  sand  at  the  bottom  . 
Water  in  sand  at  12  ft. 
All  fine  gravel  and  sand. 
All  fine  gravel  and  sand. 
Gravel  and  sand,  18  ft.;  till,  10  ft. 
Water  rises  25  ft  from  sand  at  the  bottom  . 
Mostly  gravel  and  sand,  underlain  by  till. 
Ontv  sand  and  gravel 
Water  seeps  from  till  at  16  ft  ;  only  till  . 
Bored  in  clay. 
Water  from  gravel  and  sand  at  the  bottom. 
Yellow  and  blue  till. 
In  gravel  and  sand,  underlain  by  fossiliferous  clay. 

Freeborn  
Kreeborn  
1  '2  mile  west  of  Freeborn  .  .  . 
i'2  mile  west  of  Freeborn     .. 
1  mile  N    \V  of  Freeborn. 
Sec.  13,  Freeborn     .    . 
Byron.  Waseca  eountv    .  .  . 
6  miles  N.  W.  of  Freeborn 
2  miles  N.  W  of  Freeborn  . 

Good  
Carburetted 
Carburetted 
Soft     .     ... 
jJood  
Carburetted 
'arburetted 
jiood  
Good  
'arburetted 
Carburetted 

O.  U.  Weseott  
L.  U  Taylor 

Geo  Snyder,  Jr  .... 
A.  M.  Tri»g    ... 
H.  M.Foot  
John  Melender  ... 
L.  C.  Taylor 
Wm.  Oomstock  
Charles  Ayers  
John  Ayers     
T.  A.  Southwiek  .  . 

Alden 

Alden  
6  miles  N   W.  of  Freeborn  . 
.)  miles  N.  E.  of  Aldcn..   . 
N.  W,  corner  of  Kreeborn 
Trenton        

Jarburettod 
Good  
Soft  ...  .  .. 
Soft     
Soft  
iood  
!3ood  
3ood  .  .   .. 
jiood   
}ood  
Sot  good., 
jood     .... 
jood  

jrood  
<MH)<1        
jrood     

-rood     .    ... 
So  water  .  . 

J.  K.  Jones     
Nelson  Kingsley  .... 
John  Farrell  

Geneva  
Geneva  ..... 

A.  Chamberlain  
D  G.  Parker  
Dr.  C.  W.  Ballarcl 
James  Barker  
<J.  W.  Levins     
H   Rowe  1     .  
W.  W.Cargill  
Charles  Ostrom  
Lewis  Gaul  

Geneva     
Albert  Lea 

Albert  Lea 

Albert  Lea     
Albert  Lea  

H.  Rowell     
Col  >.  A.  Hatch  
Ole  Knutson  
W.  \V.  i  argill  
Geo  Topon  
And.  Palmer     
Dr  A.  C.  Wedge     . 
W.  C.  Lincoln  
Krank  Hall  
Town  well  

Albert  Lea 

Sec.  4,  Albert  Lea     
Albert  Lea  
Sec  28,  Albert  Lea  
Sec.  29,  Albert  Lea  
Sec.  29,  Albert  Lea  
Sec  8,  Albert  Lea  
Albert  Ijea 

Good  
Good   
Good  
Good.   .     . 
Sot  good  .  .  . 
Sot  good  . 
Sot  good  .  . 
Sot  good  . 
Sot  good.  .  . 
Good  
Good 
Good  
Liood  ...   .  . 
Sood  
:!ood  
Good     .... 

Good    .... 
f  Jood  
Poor  
Poor      
No  water.... 
Good  
No  water.  . 
Hood  
Good  
Good   
Uood   
Good  
(food  
Good  
Good  

Scanty    .... 

Good  
Good...  . 

Albert  Lea  
Alden 

A.  W,  Johnson  
Rev.  G.  W.  Prescott. 
Town  well  

A.  Palmer,  Jr  
Wm.  Bell  
Jos.  H.  Butler     .     .  . 
James  Bush  
NV  m.  r*ace     
S.  G    Wat-rs  
G  D.  Barron 

Sec  29,  Albert  Lea  
Sec.  21,  Newry  
Sec.  :  S.  Xewry  
Sec  27,  M  oscow     
S.  E.  yi  sec.  34,  Moscow  
Sec.  35  .  Hay  ward  
-    K.  '  ,  >ee"2,  Shell  Rock  . 
N".  E  '4  sec  21,  Bath  
"ec  25    Bath 

Ingebret  Erickson  . 
Christ  .  Lyngby  
Mark  A.  Freeman  . 
John  E.  Hatle  ..     . 
Ole  Peterson  
Rolf  1  hvkeson  
A.  D.  Le  Kave  .... 
Jason  Goward     ... 
Asa  Walker  
Janaes  Fisk  
J.  A    Burdick 
Ole  J.Ophdal    .. 
Knut  Oleson  Saland 
John  Cross  
Edward  Emerson. 
A.  H  Stewart 
Several  other  wells 
-lohn  Niebnhr  .   ... 
Wm.  Emerson     .    . 
Wm    Emerson 
Several  wells  at     . 
Several  wells  at 

Sec.  14.  Freeman  
N.  W  i  ,  sec  I,  Hartland 
->.  W.  *  ,  sec  15,  Manchester 
1.  E  %  sec.  lt>,  Manchester 

Freeborn  village  
See.  24,  Carlston  
Sec.  7,  Alden  
S  W.  Vi  *ee  24,  Alden  
Sec.  11,  Mansfield  
Sec.  14,  Mansfield  
N.  W.  ^  fee.  20,  Mansfield.  . 
Sec.  22,  Mansfield  . 
S.  E.  Y±  sec  18,  Mansfield 
-<ec.  27,  Mansfield 
N.  W.  '4  sec.  17.  Mansfield  . 
N.  W.  ';  sec.  IS.  Mansfield 
(on  lower  land 
Norman  station,  Iowa  .    .  . 
Northwood.  Iowa  

In  some  wells  at  Albert  Lea  a  muck  is  found,  and  such  wells  are  unfit  for  use.  This  muck 
is  reported  to  contain  sticks,  and  is  about  thirty-eight  or  forty  feet  below  the  surface.  It  may 
indicate  a  former  bed  of  the  river,  or  an  interglacial  marsh.*  It  is  by  some  called  slush,  and 

•The  Great  lee  Age.    James  Geikie 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Wells. 

seems  not  to  uniformly  hold  sticks  and  leaves,  but  to  be  rather  a  fine  sand  of  a  dark  color.  The 
well-diggers  call  it  quicksand.  Dr.  Wedge,  of  Albert  Lea,  thinks  the  site  of  the  city  was  once 
covered  by  a  lake,  and  that  this  slush  was  its  sediment;  and  that  the  overlying  gravel,  which  is 
about  thirty-eight  feet  thick,  has  since  been  thrown  onto  it  by  a  later  force,  perhaps  by  currents. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  overlying  gravel  was  thus  deposited,  those  currents  being  derived 
from  the  ice  of  a  retiring  glacier. 

Wells  at  Geneva  are  generally  not  over  twenty  feet  in  depth.  They  also  pass  through  a 
gravel  that  overlies  a  quicksand.  This  village  is  situated  with  reference  to  Geneva  lake  as  Al- 
bert Lea  is  with  reference  to  Albert  Lea  lake,  both  being  at  the  northern  extremities  of  those 
lakes.  The  phenomena  of  wells  at  the  two  places  are  noticeably  similar  and  in  the  same  way  dif- 
feient  from  the  usual  phenomena  of  wells  throughout  the  county. 

At  Albert  Lea. 

Gravel,  about  thirty  feet. 

Quicksand,  with  water,  sometimes  black  and  mucky. 
At  Oenern. 

Gravel,  twelve  to  fifteen  feet. 
Quicksand  with  water. 

It  would  seem  that  the  history  of  the  drift  at  Albert  Lea  was  repeated  at  Geneva.  These 
villages  being  both  situated  at  the  northern  end  of  lake  basins,  are  probably  located  where  pre- 
glacial  lakes  existed.  On  all  sides,  both  about  Albert  Lea  and  Geneva,  the  usual  drift  clay, 
hard  and  blue,  is  met  in  wells,  and  has  a  thickness  of  about  one  hundred  feet. 

Vegetation  in  the  drift  deposits  of  Freebom  county.  On  sec,  34,  Moscow,  sticks,  which  were 
apparently  of  tamarack,  were  found  "in  gravel  and  clay,"  from  thirty-live  to  fifty  feet  beneath 
the  surface.  They  were  from  three  to  eight  inches  in  diameter,  and  were  associated  with  re- 
mains of  crawfish  and  gasteropod  shells.  Several  other  wells  in  this  vicinity  have  also  contained 
wood.  On  sec.  22,  Moscow,  Mr.  D.  M.  Farr  found  a  log  of  tamarack  (V)  a  foot  in  diameter,  at 
twenty  feet  below  the  surface,  which  was  said  to  have  had  the  appearance  of  having  been  chop- 
i>i  1 1.  off  at  the  ends  [probably  gnawed  by  beavers].  It  was  accompanied  by  peat-moss  and  sticks 
a  few  inches  in  diameter. 

In  Shell  Rock,  S.  E.  }  sec.  2,  Mr.  G.  D.  Barren's  well  contained  a  small  stick  of  wood  eight- 
een inches  long  at  about  thirty-five  feet  from  the  surface,  and  a  single  fragment  of  lignite.  On 
sec.  28  the  well  of  Mr.  W.  H.  II.  Gordon  contained  wood  at  about  twenty-five  feet  beneath  the 
surface,  with  fragments  of  bark  ;  also  that  of  E.  Barber,  on  sec.  29,  at  about  the  same  depth. 

In  Manchester,  sec.  15,  Ole  Peterson  encountered  a  bed  of  muck  in  his  well  at  seventy  feet 
below  the  surface.  It  was  a  foot  thick  and  injured  the  water. 

As  already  stated,  considerable  soft  muck  is  found  in  many  wells  at  Albert  Lea. 

Boulders.  A  few  years  ago  a  boulder  was  found  on  the  border  of  a  marslt  about  twelve 
miles  south  of  Albert  Lea,  in  Shell  Eock,  near  the  state  line,  which  was  supposed  to  be  of  mete- 
oric origin,  and  was  carried  to  Albert  Lea  for  preservation.  It  was  owned  by  Mr.  G.  D.  Parker. 
Of  this  stone  no  further  note  would  be  made,  were  it  not  that  it  has  been  regarded  by  many  who 
have  seen  it  as  a  true  meteorite,  and  that  such  opinion  has  been  published.  When  found  it  was 
at  first  nearly  covered  by  earth.  On  excavation  it  proved  to  be  dark  colored.  It  was  among 
other  drift  boulders  scattered  promiscuously  about.  It  is  roughly  pitted  and  has  fragments  ami 
pebbles  of  quartzyte  standing  out  all  over  it.  It  is  rudely  pyramidal  in  form  and  contains  soim  - 
thing  more  than  three  cubic  feet,  weighing  about  five  hundred  pounds.  A  couple  of  thin  quart/, 
veins  cross  it  from  one  end  to  the  other,  one  of  them,  however,  running  off  the  surface  before 
reaching  the  end,  being  nearly  parallel  with  the  sides  of  the  mass.  It  also  contains  hornblende. 
and  perhaps  other  minerals.  The  quartzyte  is  pinkish  and  compact,  grayish.  The  mass  contain. 
no  iron  that  can  be  seen.  The  regular  quartz  seams  are  evidence  of  its  having  been  embraced 
once  in  the  rocky  crust  of  the  earth.  The  rough  exterior  is  due  to  the  we  ithering  out  of  some  of 
the  softer  materials.  It  seems  to  have  come  from  the  great  Ogishke  Muncie  conglomerate:  but 
it  is  a  rare  thing  to  see  a  fragment  from  that  formation  in  the  drift  in  the  central  and  southern 
parts  of  the  state. 

A  large  boulder  exactly  like  the  above,  but  one-third  larger,  was  found  about  the  same  time 
in  Murray  county,  and  was  offered  for  sale  in  St.  Paul,  with  the  belief  that  it  was  a  meteorite. 


COUNTY.  891 

Lime.] 

MATERIAL   RESOURCES. 

p 

In  addition  to  the  soil  Freehorn  county  has  very  little  to  depend  on  as 
a  source  of  material  prosperity.  As  already  stated  there  is  not  a  single 
exposure  of  the  bed-rock  in  the  county.  All  building  stone  and  quicklime 
have  to  be  imported.  The  former  comes  by  the  Southern  Minnesota  R.  R. 
from  Lanesboro  in  Fillmore  county,  or  Stockton  in  Winona  county,  though 
it  is  very  likely  that  the  Shakopee  stone  from  Mankato  will  also  soon  be 
introduced.  The  latter  comes  from  Iowa,  largely,  (Mason  City  and  Mitchell) 
and  from  the  kilns  at  Mankato  and  Shakopee.  Some  building  stone  is  also 
introduced  into  the  eastern  part  of  the  county  from  the  quarries  at  Austin. 

Lime.  At  Twin  Lakes  three  or  four  thousand  bushels  of  quicklime  have 
been  burned  by  Mr.  Carter  from  boulders  picked  up  round  the  lake  shores. 
This  lime  sold  for  seventy-five  cents  per  bushel.  It  was  very  fine  lime,  and 
purely  white.  The  construction  of  the  railroad  put  a  stop  to  his  profits,  as 

^ 

the  Shakopee  lime  could  then  be  introduced  and  sold  cheaper.  The  boul- 
ders burned  were  almost  entirely  of  the  same  kind  as  those  that  are  so 
numerous  in  McLeod  county.  They  are  fine,  close-grained,  nearly  white  on 
old  weathered  surfaces,  and  of  a  dirty  cream  color  on  the  fractured  surfaces. 

« 

They  very  rarely  show  a  little  granular  or  rougher  texture,  like  a  magne- 
sian  limestone,  though  this  grain  is  intermixed  with  the  closer  grain.  They 
hold  but  few  fossils.  There  are  a  few  impressions  of  shells,  and  by  some 
effort  a  globular  mass  of  coarse  favositoid  coral  was  obtained. 

Besides  the  above,  which  are  distinguished  as  "white  limestone",  there 
are  also  a  few  bluish-green  limestone  boulders.  One  of  these,  which  now 
lies  near  Twin  Lakes,  is  about  seven  feet  long  by  five  or  six  feet  broad,  its 
thickness  being  at  least  two  and  a  half  feet.  It  has  been  blasted  into  smaller 
pieces  for  ntaking  quicklime,  but  nearly  all  of  it  yet  lies  in  its  old  bed,  the 
fragments  being  too  large  to  be  moved.  This  stone  is  also  very  close- 
grained.  It  is  heavier  than  the  other  and  more  evidently  crystalline.  It 
holds  small  particles  of  pyrites.  It  is  not  porous,  nor  apparently  bedded. 
On  its  outer  surface  it  looks  like  a  weathered  diorite,  and  it  would  be  taken, 
at  a  glance,  for  a  boulder  of  that  kind.  It  is  said  to  make  very  fine  lime. 
Several  hundred  bushels  of  lime  were  formerly  burned  also  at  Geneva. 
llrick.  At  Albert  Lea  the  following  persons  have  made  brick: 
George  Broughton,  Wm.  Cook,  G.  C.  Dillinghani,  and  Rusfeldt  and 


392  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Brick. 

Kleven.  These  all  make  what  is  known  as  "slop  brick'',  i.  e.  they  handle 
and  dry  them  after  mixing  in  water,  without  the  use  of  sand.  The  latter 
method  (with  sand)  is  much  quicker  and  pleasanter,  but  in  the  use  of  the 
brick  there  is  not  much  choice  between  the  methods.  At  Broughton's  the 
brick  are  red.  The  clay  used,  which  is  about  five  feet  below  the  surface,  is 
fine  and  of  a  yellowish  ashy  color.  It  is  underlain  by  gravel.  The  clay 
itself  locally  passes  into  a  sand  that  looks  like  "the  bluff".  At  other  places 
it  is  a  common,  fine  clay-loam,  with  a  few  gravel-stones.  There  is  but  little 
deleterious  to  the  brick,  in  the  clay,  although  some  of  the  brick  are,  on 
fractured  surfaces,  somewhat  spotted  with  poor  mixing,  and  with  masses 
of  what  appear  like  concretions.  The  clay  itself  is  apparently  massive, 
but  it  is  really  indistinctly  bedded,  rarely  showing  a  horizontal  or  oblique, 
thin  layer  of  yellow  sand.  Oak  wood  costs  from  five  to  six  dollars  per  cord. 
The  yard  of  Mr.  Cook  also  furnishes  red  brick.  He  uses  the  same  stratum 
of  fine  clay  overlain  by  the  same  yellowish  sandy  clay  or  loam.  The  clay 
here  shows  to  better  advantage  and  is  plainly  bedded.  It  contains  sticks, 
the  largest  observed  being  a  little  over  half  an  inch  in  diameter.  These 
sticks  are  plainly  endogenous  in  cellular  structure,  but  have  a  bark.  They 
are  not  oxidized  so  as  to  be  brittle,  but  are  flexible  stiil,  with  small  branches 
like  rootlets  hanging  to  them.  It  is  uncertain  whether  they  belong  to  the 
deposit,  or  are  the  roots  of  vegetation  that  grew  on  the  surface  since  the 
drift.  There  are  no  boulders  of  any  size  in  the  drift  just  here;  but  a  few 
granitoid  gravel  stones.  The  aspect  generally  indicates  that  this  clay  has 
a  local  character  largely,  but  no  outcropping  beds  can  be  found  in  the  neigh- 
borhood. Mr.  Cook  has  made  in  one  year  250,000  brick.  The  yard  has  been 
running  twelve  years.  Brick  here  sell  for  $1.30  per  hundred,  as  they  come 
from  the  kiln,  or  $10.25  per  thousand.  Hard  brick  from  the  arch  sell  at 

• 

$1.50  per  hundred.     The  brick  here  seem  to  show  a  little  more  lime,  but 
they  are  well  made  and  well  burned. 

About  a  quarter  of  a  mile  south  of  Albert  Lea,  in  the  west  edge  of  sec. 
16  of  that  township,  bricks  have  been  made  by  Rusfeldt  and  Kleven 
since  1878.  For  several  years  previous  to  1880,  they  made  500,000  to 
700,000  yearly,  selling  at  $7.00  per  M.  In  the  spring  of  1880  they  were 
putting  in  brick-making  machinery,  and  expected  to  produce  1,500.000 
bricks  that  year.  The  clay  forms  a  ridge  fifty  or  sixty  rods  long  from  north- 


FREEBOKN  COUNTY.  393 

Peat.]  ^ 

west  to  southeast  and  about  twenty  feet  high;ifc  is  yellowish  in  its  upper  ten 
feet  and  gray  below.  This  clay  when  excavated  a,nd  mixed  from  the  upper 
and  lower  portions  of  the  bank,  contains  the  right  proportion  of  sand,  and 
none  is  used  except  for  making  the  bricks  slip  from  the  mould.  No  fossils, 
as  shells  or  wood,  have  been  found  in  this  deposit. 

Bricks  were  formerly  made  at  Geneva,  and  at  a  point  about  two  and  a 
half  miles  east  of  that  place.  At  Geneva  the  clay  was  taken  from  the  bank 
of  Allen  creek,  about  eighteen  inches  below  the  surface.  It  was  a  drift 
clay,  with  small  pebbles.  That  used  two  and  a  half  miles  east  of  Geneva 
was  of  the  same  kind.  In  both  places  sand  had  to  be  mixed  with  the  clay. 
About  Geneva  sand  is  abundant,  taken  from  the  gravel  and  sand  knolls, 
and  from  the  banks  of  the  creek. 

Peat.  In  Freeborn  county  there  is  an  abundance  of  peat.  The  most 
of  the  marshes,  of  which  some  are  large,  are  peat-bearing.  In  this  respect 
the  county  differs  very  remarkably  from  those  in  the  western  portion  of 
the  same  tier  of  counties,  which,  being  entirely  destitute  of  native  trees,  are 
most  in  need  of  peat  for  domestic  fuel. 

The  peat  of  the  county  is  generally  formed  entirely  of  herbaceous 
plants,  though  the  marshes  are  often  in  the  midst  of  oak  openings.  The 
peat-moss  constitutes  by  far  the  larger  portion.  There  is  no  observed  dif- 
ference in  the  peat-producing  qualities  between  the  marshes  of  the  prairie 
districts  and  those  of  the  more  rolling  woodland  tracts  of  the  county. 

At  Freeborn  peat  has  been  taken  out  on  John  Scovill's  land.  Here  it 
is  eight  feet  thick,  two  rods  from  the  edge,  and  it  is  probably  much  thicker 
toward  the  center  of  the  marsh.  That  below  the  surface  of  the  water  now 
standing  in  the  drain  is  too  pulpy  to  shovel  out;  and  after  being  dipped  out 
and  dried  on  boards,  it  is  cut  into  blocks  and  hauled  to  town.  That  above 
the  water  is  more  fibrous,  and  can  be  taken  out  with  a  spade  in  convenient 
blocks.  Yet  the  level  of  the  water  varies,  and  that  datum  is  not  constant. 
It  appears  as  if  there  were  here  a  stratum  of  more  fibrous  peat,  about 
twenty  inches  thick,  that  separates  from  the  lower,  and  floats  above  it 
at  certain  times.  In  the  peat  at  this  place  a  sound  elk-horn  was  taken  out, 
at  the  depth  of  six  feet. 

There  is  a  large  peat  marsh  in  sec.  11.  Hayward,  which  extends  also  on 
much  of  sees.  12,  13,  and  14. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  STEELE  COUNTY. 


BY  M.  W.  HARRINGTON. 


Situation  and  area.  Steele  county*  (plate  15)  lies  in  the  second  tier  of 
counties  from  the  Iowa  line.  It  lies  next  west  of  Dodge  county,  being  the 
fourth  in  number  west  of  the  Mississippi  river.  It  has  the  form  of  a  rect- 
angle, and  is  bounded  on  the  south  by  Freeborn,  on  the  west  by  Waseca, 
and  on  the  north  by  Rice  county.  The  area  of  Steele  county,  compiled 
from  the  plats  of  the  United  States  surveyors,  is  430.59  square  miles,  or 
275.579.16  acres,  of  which  2,817.69  acres  are  covered  by  water. 

SURFACE   FEATURES. 

Natural  drainage.  This  county  is  well  provided  with  lakes,  as  may  be 
seen  in  the  following  notes.  Marshes  also  are  numerous.  These  are  due 
to  the  nearly  level  character  of  the  county,  and  to  the  very  slight  elevation 
of  one  part  above  another.  The  small  amount  of  slope  in  the  surface  is 
further  shown  by  the  sluggishness  of  the  currents  in  the  various  streams. 
The  course  of  the  Straight  river  shows  that  some  increase  in  bight  occurs 
as  we  travel  southward.  But,  although  the  county  is  very  nearly  level  and 
has  little  change  of  elevation  within  itself,  its  elevation  with  reference  to 
the  rest  of  the  state  is  considerable.  This  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  two 
streams  originate  here,  viz:  the  Straight  river  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
county,  and  a  branch  of  the  Zumbro. 

in  Steele  <otmly. 


The  small  amount  of  fall  of  the  streams  limits  the  mill  privileges  in  this  county.  The  mills 
are  found  only  on  the  Straight  river,  at  Owatonna.  anil  north. 

The  City  mills  at  Owatonna,  Drought  and  VVliitson,  owners.  They  have  seven  feet  head  of 
water,  and  three  run  of  stone.  It  is  a  custom  mill,  but  does  a  little  export  business. 

*This  county  was  examined  iti  1875.  and  was  described  in  Ilic  :mmml  report  for  that  year.  In  the  present  report 
additional  del  ail*  are  derived  from  Mr.  I'phani.  respecting  the  drilling  for  an  artesian  well,  the  glacial  drill,  Hml  sections 
of  the  drift  shown  by  common  wells. 


STKKLE  COUNTY.  395 

Topography.) 

Clinton  mills  are  at  Clinton  Falls,  Sherman  and  Winship,  owners.  They  have  ten  feet  head 
of  water,  and  three  run  of  stone.  It  is  a  custom  and  export  mill. 

Medford  mills  are  at  Medford,  White,  Beynon  and  company,  owners.  They  have  ten  feet 
head  of  water  and  four  run  of  stone.  They  do  only  an  export  business. 

There  is  said  to  be  an  available  water-power,  unimproved,  at  Lindersmith's,  between  Owa- 
tonna  and  Clinton  Falls. 

Toftyrapky.  This  county  is  for  the  most  part  moderately  undulating 
or  nearly  level,  and  is  covered  heavily  by  drift.  As  will  be  seen  the  rock 
appears  at  the  surface  only  along  the  Straight  river,  near  its  exit  from  the 
county.  Grassy  swales  are  common  and  characteristic  of  the  swamps, 
especially  in  Lemond  township.  Gravelly  knolls  are  quite  common  in  much 
of  the  county,  especially  in  the  southern  part.  They  are  short  and  steep  in 
the  southeast  part  of  Somerset  and  the  adjoining  parts  of  Aurora.  Summit 
and  Blooming  Prairie. 

The  following  notes  were  taken  from  the  field-notes  and  plats  of  the  government  survey  in 
Steele  county,  access  to  which  was  obligingly  given  by  the  county  register.  The  surveys  were 
made  in  1854. 

Blooming  Prairie  was  covered  by  "thickets  and  low  scrub  for  the  most  part.  Marshes  were 
numerous  and  there  were  two  small  lakes  in  the  northern  part  of  the  township. 

Aurora.  This  township  much  resembles  the  last ;  thickets  and  scrub  over  the  most  of  it 
and  numerous  marshes,  some  of  them  quite  large. 

Havana.  This  township  contains  the  major  part  of  Rice  lake.  It  is  for  the  most  part 
brushy  or  wooded,  but  the  southwest  part  is  prairie.  Marshes  are  numerous  but  not  large. 

Merton.  This  township  was  found  to  be  wooded  on  the  south  side  and  in  the  northwest  cor- 
ner. The  remainder  was  prairie.  A  large  marsh  was  located  in  sections  23  and  24,  and  many 
smaller  ones  were  scattered  over.the  country. 

Summit  was  wooded  in  the  eastern  half,  prairie  in  the  western.  A  large  branching  marsh  is 
located  along  the  streams,  and  there  are  a  few  isolated  marshes. 

Somerset  had  several  sections  of  prairie  in  the  northeast  corner,  and  the  portion  of  the  town- 
ship lying  west  of  the  Straight  river  was  prairie  ;  otherwise  it  was  wooded.  The  marshes  platted 
are  few  and  not  large. 

Owatonna.  A  band  of  woods,  two  or  three  miles  wide,  crosses  the  township,  accompanying 
the  Straight  river  and  lying  on  its  eastern  bank.  The  remainder  is  prairie.  The  banks  of  the 
stream  are  bluffy.  The  site  of  the  city  of  Owatonna  was  already  in  part  claimed  when  the  survey 
was  made  (1854). 

Clinton  Falls  was  mostly  wooded,  though  a  wedge  of  prairie  lay  between  the  Straight  river 
and  Crane  creek.  There  was  also  a  little  prairie  on  the  eastern  border.  There  was  a  long  marsh 
platted  in  sections  26  and  27. 

Medford.  This  township  is  prairie,  except  for  a  wooded  strip  two  to  four  miles  wide,  east  of 
the  river.  The  banks  of  the  stream  are  rather  bluffy. 

Berlin  was  wooded  through  the  center  of  the  township;  the  remainder  was  for  the  most  part 
prairie.  The  plats  indicate  marshes  along  the  streams,  and  some  other  scattered  marshy  spots. 
Near  the  center  lie  Lonigan's  and  Beaver  lakes,  and  in  the  southwestern  part  a  pond.  Beaver  lake 
is  said  to  be  deep  and  clear,  and  to  contain  only  soft  water.  This  item,  and  much  other  valuable 
information  concerning  tins  county,  the  writer  owes  to  Rev.  G.  C.  Tanner,  superintendent  of 
schools  for  the  county. 

Lemond.  The  northwest  part  was  woody  and  marshy,  and  there  are  besides  two  or  three 
isolated  groves  of  small  extent.  An  extensive  marsh  crosses  the  north  end  of  the  township. 

Meriden.    This  township  was  nearly  all  prairie,  a  little  wood  being  found  north  of  Crane 


396  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Elevations. 

creek  and  also  a  small  amount  in  the  southern  part.  The  laud  along  the  creek  was  marshy.  On 
the  northern  boundary  a  small  lake  was  found. 

Deei-fidd.  A  lake  enters  from  the  south.  Another  of  about  220  acres  is  platted  just  liortli- 
east  of  this,  and  near  it  is  a  pond  of  about  half  the  size.  All  the  township  was  wooded  except  the 
northwest  corner,  which  was  prairie.  Extensive  marshes  were  platted  in  the  southern  and  western 
part. 

On  comparing  the  magnetic  variations  given  on  these  plats,  as  observed  during  the  survey  in 
1854,  it  is  found  that  the  extremes  arc  7  37  in  Morton,  and  11  40'  in  Deerh'eld,  eastward  from 
the  true  north. 


Elerutionit  on  the  Winona  <f'  St.  Peter  division  of  the  Cliivayo  <!'•  NortlnivxlrrH   rnibrny. 
From  John  E.  Blunt,  engineer,  Winona. 

Miles  from  Feet  above 
Winona.       the  sea 

Claremont  (Dodge  county)  -                                                                     76.36  1280 

Havana  83.90  1246 

Owatonna  88.17  1)44 

Meriden  96.35  1149 

Waseca  (Waseca  county)  -102.68  1153 

Eltrations  on  the  Iowa  rf-  Mtniiexota  division  of  tin:  Clticnyo,  Milwaukee  if-  St.  Paul  milirnt/. 
From  profiles  in  the  office  of  George  II.  White,  engineer,  Minneapolis. 

Milt-s  1'roin    l-Yrt  above 
St    Paul.       the  sea. 

Straight  river,  water.  1069;  grade  60.2        1090 

Medford,   -  60.4         1098 

Clinton  Falls,  62.5        1107 

Maple  creek,  water.  1113;  grade,  65.9        1128 

Owatonna.      -  66.6        1144 

Summit,  grade,  70.3        1245 

Someiset.  71.7        1222 

Aurora,  75.2         1253 

Turtle  creek,  water,  1238;  grade,  75.7        1246 

Road  crossing  in  section  34,  Aurora.  78.5        1301 

Summit,  grade,  82.1        1313 

Blooming  Prairie,  84.6        1286 

The  hills  of  the  terminal  moraine  in  Blooming  Prairie,  Summit,  Aurora  and  Somerset,  are 

1300  to  1350  feet  above  the  sea,  and  are  the  highest  land  of  this  county.     Its  lowest  land  is  where 

its  northern  boundary  is  crossed  by  Straight  river,  approximately  1060  feet  above  the  sea.    The 

extremes  of  elevation  thus  differ  about  three  hundred  feet. 

Mean  elevation  of  the  county.     Estimates  of  the  average  hight  of  the  townships  of  this  coun- 

ty are  as  follows:    Blooming  Prairie,  1300  feet  above  the  sea;  Aurora,  1280;  Havana,  1240;  Mer- 

ton,  1240;  Summit,  1250;  Somerset,  1230;  Owatonna,  1200;  Clinton  Falls.  1190;  Mtdford,  1175; 

Berlin,  1250;  Lemond,  1220;  Meriden,  1175;  Deerfield.  1160.     The  mean  elevation  of  Steele  coun 

ty  above  the  sea,  derived  from  these  figures,  is  approximately  1225  feet. 

Soil  and  timber.  This  county  has  a  fertile  soil,  and  is  wholly  adapted 
for  cultivation  excepting  a  few  unusually  knolly  tracts  of  small  extent,  and 
frequent  sloughs  which  are  valuable  for  their  crop  of  marsh  hay.  Nearly 
all  of  the  county  is  prairie,  diversified  here  and  there  by  tracts  thinly 
wooded  with  bur  oak.  The  only  heavy  timber  of  considerable  area  is  found 
in  a  belt  at  the  east  side  of  Straight  river,  in  Owatonna,  Clinton  Falls  and 
Medford.  The  time  spent  in  this  county  was  not  long  enough  to  make  out 
a  complete  list  of  its  trees  and  shrubs.  The  following  were  noted. 


STEELE  COUNTY.  397 

Trees  and  shrubs.     Geological  structure.] 

2' fees  and  shrubs  of  Steele  count;/. 

Tilia  Americana,  L.     Basswood.  Cornus  paniculata.  L'Her.     Dogwood. 

Bhus  glabra,  L.  Smooth  sumac.  Symphoricarpus  occidentalis,  7?.  Br.    Wolfben-y. 

Vitis     Wild  grape.  Fraxinus.    Ash. 

Ampelopsis  quinquefolia,  Michs.     Virginia  I'lmus  fulva,  Mich.     Slippery  elm. 

creeper.  Ulrmis  Americana,  L.     White  elm. 

Ceanothus  Americana,  L.    New  Jersey  tea.  Juglans  cinerea,  L.     Butternut. 

Acer  saccharinum,  Wang.    Sugar  maple.  Juglans  nigra.  L.     Black  walnut. 

Acer  dasycarpum,  Ehr.    Silver  maple.  Carya.     Hickory. 

Acer  rnbrum,  L.    Ked  or  swamp  maple.  Quercus  macrocarpa.  Mn-hx.     Bur  oak. 

Negundo  aceroides,  Mnench.     Box-elder.  Quercus  coccinea.    WHIKJ..  var.  tinrto.ia,  Gray. 
Amorpha  frnticosa.  L.    False  indigo.  Black  oak. 

Frunus  Americana,  Marshall.     Wild  yellow  or  Corylus  Americana,  Wall.     Ha/.elnut. 

red  plum.  Ostrya  Virginica,   Willd. 

Primus.    Cherry.  Populus  tremuloides,  Mickx.     American  aspen. 

Rubus  strigosus,  Michx.     Red  raspberry.  Populus  grandidentata.    Mii-lu-.      L-irge-toothed 
Kubus  villosus.  AH.     Blackberry.  aspen. 

Pirns  coronaria,  L.     American  crab-apple.  Populus  monilifera.  Ait.     Cottonwood. 

GEOLOGICAL     STRUCTURE. 

The  glacial  drift  is  so  thick  that  it  effectually  conceals  the  underlying 
strata  throughout  this  county,  excepting  slight  exposures  of  the  bed-rock 
in  the  valley  of  Straight  river  at  and  near  Lindersmith's,  two  to  three  miles 
north  of  Owatonna.  This  rock  has  been  referred,  with  some  doubt,  to  the 
Hudson  River  epoch  by  Prof.  Winchell.  It  certainly  falls  within  the  Tren- 
ton period,  and  may  be  lower  than  Hudson  River. 

The  rock  is  an  argillaceous  and  dolomitic  limestone,  and  is  first  met  at 
John  Abbott's  quarry,  in  section  83.  Clinton  Falls.  It  is  in  the  bed  and 
on  the  low  banks  of  Straight  river.  The  exposure  at  the  time  of  examina- 
tion extended  only  about  four  feet  above  the  surface  of  the  water.  The 
rock  is  in  horizontal  layers,  two  to  six  inches  thick.  It  is  blue  on  fresh 
fracture,  yellow  when  weathered,  compact,  sparry,  and  contains  many 
minute  fragments  of  blue  shale.  The  loamy  clay  overlying  was  evidently 
not  deposited  by  glacier  ice,  the  rock  in  *ifn  being  rotted  with  age,  like 
much  of  the  rock  in  northeastern  Iowa. 

Just  below,  on  section  28,  is  Lindersmith's  quarry.  The  rock  is  in 
thicker  layers  than  in  Abbott's  quarry.  The  following  section  was  seen 
in  one  place,  beginning  above: 

Loam 2  feet. 

Black  clay  and  limestone,  in  thin  layers 2  feet. 

Compact,  blue  limestone,  in  thin  layers,  to  water's  surface : 4  feet. 

The  rock  is  like  that  in  Abbott's  quarry.  Near  by  was  another  section 
as  follows: 


g98  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Drilling  for  artesian  well. 

Black  and  red  loam ...    2J  feet. 

Hard,  yellow  clay 2  feet. 

Blue  stone,  in  layers  two  to  five  Indies  thick,  extending  to  surface  of  water —     7  feet. 

Below  this  there  is  no  more  rock  until  the  county  line  is  passed.  No 
fossils  were  found  in  the  rock.  This  stone  is  used  for  nagging  and  other 
purposes  at  Owatonna,  and  is  considered  a  good  stone.* 

Some  evidence  of  the  existence  of  Cretaceous  beds  was  found.  On  the  southeast  quarter  of 
section  26,  of  Deerfleld,  on  the  farm  of  Aug.  Hoffmann,  coal  has  been  found  in  sinking  a  well. 
Dr.  G.  A.  Rossbach  states  that  they  went  through  twenty-five  feet  of  blue-black  clay,  in  the  un- 
der part  of  which  were  fragments  of  coal.  After  that  they  passed  through  gravel  in  which  also 
were  coal  fragments.  At  the  depth  of  sixty-three  or  sixty-four  feet  rock  was  struck;  the  drill 
showed  it  to  be  black  shale  with  pieces  of  coal  imbedded  in  it.  Although  no  specimens  of  the 
coal  were  seen  by  the  writer,  the  description  given  would  answer  for  Cretaceous  lignite.  The 
evidence  from  the  geology  of  adjoining  counties,  as  well  as  the  nature  of  the  rock  itself,  justifies 
us  in  calling  the  rojk  Cretaceous.  Just  west  of  Owatonna  another  farmer  is  said  to  have  struck 
coal  also,  though  the  writer  was  unable  to  get  any  further  information  on  the  matter. 

n  rilling  for  an  artesian  well.  By  a  subscription  of  the  citizens  of  Owa- 
tonna, a  well  was  drilled  in  1878,  near  the  center  of  that  city,  to  a  depth 
of  887  feet.  No  artesian  flow  was  obtained.  Its  site,  a  few  feet  higher  than 
the  depot,  is  approximately  1150  feet  above  the  sea.  being  twenty -three 
feet  above  the  top  of  the  dam  in  Straight  river,  and  some  fifty  or  sixty  feet 
below  the  average  hight  of  the  surrounding  region.  Mr.  John  Shea  and 
Mr.  Samuel  H.  Baker  have  furnished  notes  of  the  succession  of  beds  pene- 
trated by  this  well,  as  follows: 

Section  drilled  for  an  artesian  well  at  Owatonna. 

Thickness  Depth  to  top  Hi^'M  of  topof  strutu 
infect.         of  strata.  above  the  sea. 

1.  Gravel  and  sand 20  0  1150 

2.  Blue,  stony  clay 14  20 

3.  Gravel  and  boulders,  with  much  water 5  34  1116 

4.  White  quartz  sand 21  39  1111 

o.  Soft  limestone,  decayed «0  1090 

6.  Yellow  clay,  making  the  water  very  yellow 1  62  1088 

7.  White  sandstone,  quite  hard 35  63  1087 

8.  Blue,  compact  limestone 20 

9.  Blue  sandstone,  "like  grindstone  grit" 10  118  1032 

10.  Blue  shale 10  128  1022 

11.  Light  gray  shale 10  138  1012 

12.  Shale,  "full  of  specks  of  iron  pyrites,  very  hard  to 

drill" 3  148  1002 

13.  Blue  shale 20  151  999 

14.  Light  gray  shale     5  171  979 

15.  Blue  clay 12  176  974 

16.  "Yellow,  pyritous,  very  hard  rock,  appearing  to 

contain  scales  of  mica" 2  188 

17.  Blue  clay  and  shale SO  190 

18.  Lead- colored  clay,  making  the  water  dark-bluish. .       3  240  910 

•See  also  the  chapter  on  the  building  stones  of  Minnesota,  pp.  176  and  -JOC-303. 


bTEELE   COUNTY.  3<)9 

Glacial  drift.] 

19.  Like  No.  16  ..............................        .  7  243  907 

20.  Blue  shale,  arenaceous  .......................  3  250  900 

21.  Blue  shale  .....................................  8  253  897 

•2-2.  A  cherty  layer  ..................................  1  261  889 

23.  Hhte  limestone  ...............................  28  262  888 

•24.  White  sandstone  ..............................  80  290  860 

25.  Similar  to  the  last  but  very  hard,  thought  to  con- 

tain iron  pyrites  ...........................  %..       8  370  7SO 

26.  White  sandstone  .............................       9  378  772 

Total  .....................................  387     Bottom,  763 

These  notes  are  discussed  as  follows  by  Mr.  Upliam,  in  respect  to  the  geological  age  of  the 
several  parts  of  the  section. 

The  first  thirty-nine  feet  are  drift. 

The  next  fifty-nine  feet,  to  a  total  depth  of  ninety-eight  feet,  appear  to  be  Cretaceous  de- 
posits. Formations  of  this  age,  including  thick  beds  of  sandstone,  occur  in  Blue  Earth  county 
and  farther  west  in  this  state,  in  northwestern  Iowa,  and  in  Dakota;  but  no  massive  sandstone,  as 
found  in  this  well  from  the  depth  of  sixty-three  to  ninety-eight  feet,  is  known  in  any  of  the  older 
formations  of  this  part  of  the  continent  till  the  horizon  of  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  is  reached, 
which  surely  underlies  these  and  the  next  lower  strata  of  this  section. 

From  98  to  118  feet  is  undoubtedly  the  limestone  before  described,  which  outcrops  beside 
the  Straight  river  within  a  few  miles  northward.  In  this  well  its  hight  above  the  sea  is  approxi- 
mately 1030  to  1050  feet,  its  top  being  thus  fifty  feet,  very  nearly,  lower  than  the  quarries  three 
miles  farther  north,  in  Clinton  Falls.  This  stratum  thus  dips  to  the  south  about  sixteen  feet  per 
mile.  If  the  same  dip  continues  through  the  eight  miles  northward  from  the  Clinton  Falls  quar. 
ries  to  the  point  near  the  center  of  Walcott  township,  in  Rice  county,  where  the  Straight  river 
cuts  through  the  Trenton  limestone  into  the  St.  Peter  sandstone,  it  would  carry  the  horizon  of 
the  limestone  found  at  the  depth  98  feet,  or  1050  feet  above  the  sea,  in  the  Owatonna  well,  and  at 
about  1100  feet  in  Clinton  Falls,  to  a  hight  175  to  200  feet  above  the  top  of  the  St.  Peter  sand- 
stone, which  is  1040  feet,  very  nearly,  above  the  sea,  in  Walcott  and  at  Faribault.  This  consid- 
eration. and  the  character  of  the  beds  penetrated  in  the  next  144  feet  at  Owatonna,  consisting 
mostly  of  shale  and  clay,  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  these  strata  from  118  to  262  feet  in  the 
Owatonna  well,  correspond  to  those  which  were  penetrated,  having  a  thickness  of  about  100  feet. 
above  the  Lower  Trenton  limestone  in  the  wejl  at  the  State  reform  school,  near  St.  Paul,  as  de- 
scribed in  the  report  of  Ramsey  county. 

The  blue  limestone,  twenty-eight  feet  thick,  next  in  the  descending  order,  between  262  and 
290  feet  in  depth,  is  quite  certainly  the  Lower  Trenton  limestone;  being  the  same  formation  that 
occurs  at  Faribault,  and  at  St.  Paul,  Fort  Snelling  and  Minneapolis. 

The  remaining  ninety-seven  feet  to  the  bottom  of  this  section  are  the  St.  Peter  sandstone. 


drift.  The  drift  in  Steele  county  consists  chiefly  of  till,  or  clay, 
sand,  pebbles  and  boulders,  mingled  in  an  unstratified  deposit,  of  which 
clay  is  the  prevailing  ingredient.  It  reaches  from  the  surface  to  a  depth 
that  varies  in  this  county  from  fifty  feet  to  probably  a  hundred  feet  or 
more.  The  contour  of  this  region  is  smoothly  undulating  and  often  nearly 
flat,  excepting  two  belts  of  knolly  and  hilly  till,  from  one  to  several  miles 
in  width,  which  extend  from  north  to  south,  divided  by  a  tract  of  gently 
undulating  till,  from  six  to  fifteen  miles  wide.  These  are  moraines  heaped 
at  the  east  border  of  the  ice-sheet  of  the  last  glacial  epoch,  as  terminal 
moraines  are  formed  at  the  end  of  alpine  glaciers.  A  considerable  retreat 


400  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Terminal  moraines. 

of  the  ice,  probably  followed  by  a  re-advance,  took  place  between  the  time 
of  accumulation  of  the  eastern  or  outer  belt  of  hills  and  hillocks  and  that 
of  the  inner,  western  member  of  this  twofold  formation. 

In  this  county  the  eastern  morainic  belt  extends  through  Merton, 
Havana.  Aurora  and  Blooming  Prairie,  its  eastern  range  of  townships.  It 
occupies  the  greater  part  of  Merton,  at  the  northeast  corner  of  this  county; 
but  its  hillocks,  mounds  or  swells  are  only  from  twenty  to  thirty  and  rarely 
forty  feet  high.  Most  of  them  consist  of  till,  or  drift  clay,  enclosing  boul- 
ders: but  here  and  there  are  mounds  of  irregularly  stratified  fine  gravel  and 
sand.  The  east  third  of  Havana  has  a  similar  rolling  surface,  bordering 
the  west  part  of  Rice  lake.  Through  Aurora  this  moraine  is  well  exhibited 
in  scattered  mounds  and' hillocks,  fifteen  to  forty  feet  high.  On  the  road 
from  Owatonna  to  Blooming  Prairie  and  Austin,  it  is  crossed  in  sections 
I),  15  and  22.  being  here  about  three  miles  wide.  At  Aurora  station  and  for 
one  and  a  half  miles  south,  this  formation  is  finely  seen  at  the  east  side  of 
the  railroad,  by  which  it  is  crossed  in  section  28.  The  boundaries  of  the 
moraine  are  very  definite  in  this  township.  Its  narrowest  place  in  the  county 
is  found  in  section  28,  north  of  which  it  is  indented  on  the  northwest  side 
by  a  tract  of  lowland  and  marsh,  which  lies  next  west  of  the  railroad, 
reducing  the  width  of  the  hilly  tract  to  one  mile.  At  the  west  and  south- 
west this  quickly  widens  again  to  two  or  three  miles,  covering  sections  29, 
30,  31,  and  32,  of  Aurora,  and  sections  25  and  3(i  of  Somerset,  with  a  profu- 
sion of  knolls  and  hills,  twenty  to  fifty  feet  high,  sprinkled  with  boulders, 
principally  granite  and  gneiss,  mostly  less  than  two  feet  in  diameter,  with 
occasional  blocks  or  slabs  of  limestone,  sometimes  six  or  eight  feet  long. 
These  elevations  are  seldom  prolonged  more  than  a  few  hundred  feet.  The 
trend  of  their  longer  axes  is  more  frequently  from  east  to  west  than  other- 
wise, but  this  is  not  very  noticeable.  From  the  southeast  corner  of  Somer- 
set the  moraine  turns  southward,  and  extends  in  typical  hills  and  short 
ridges  through  the  west  two  ranges  of  sections  in  Blooming  Prairie.  Here 
the  trend  of  its  separate  elevations  is  most  frequently  from  north  to  south, 
being  parallel,  as  before  in  its  east  and  west  trends,  with  the  course  of  the 
whole  series.  In  the  west  part  of  sections  8  and  17,  Blooming  Prairie,  these 
rough  hillocks  are  well  exhibited,  being  twenty  to  fifty  feet  above  the  depres- 
sions, and  seventy-five  or  one  hundred  feet  above  the  neighboring  creek. 


STEELE  COUNTY.  401 

Wellt.] 

The  largest  boulders  seen  in  this  county  are  one  about  twelve  feet  in 
diameter  at  the  Rock  school-house  in  the  southwest  corner  of  section  8, 
Merton,  and  a  second  of  about  the  same  size  beside  the  road  in  the  north- 
east part  of  Summit. 

The  western  or  inner  moraine  lies  in  eastern  Waseca  county  and  in 
the  southwest  edge  of  Steele  county,  and  extends  from  north  to  south  in 
Freeborn  county  by  Albert  Lea,  having  a  width  that  varies  from  three  to 
ten  or  twelve  miles.  In  Steele  county  this  morainic  belt  occupies  the 
southwest  part  of  Meriden  and  the  western  two-thirds  of  Lemond  and  Ber- 
lin townships,  being  made  up  of  massive  swells  of  smooth  contour,  twenty 
to  forty  feet  above  the  frequent  depressions,  many  of  which  contain  sloughs. 
The  east  portion  of  this  prominently  rolling  land  is  three  or  four  miles 
west  of  Straight  river. 

Wells  in  Steele  county. 

The  records  of  the  materials  met  in  digging  wells,  examples  of  which  are  here  given,  fur- 
ther illustrate  the  character  of  the  drift  deposits. 

Blooming  Prairie.  At  the  village  the  wells  are  8  to  14  feet  deep,  averaging  10  feet.  They 
go  through  till  to  the  top  of  a  stratum  of  quicksand,  which  has  a  considerable  extent.  The  well 
at  the  south  elevator  was  dark  soil.  3  feet;  hard,  yellow  till,  7  feet;  and  quicksand,  3  feet,  pene- 
trated with  difficulty  because  of  the  large  supply  of  water,  which  rises  two  to  five  feet  above  the 
top  of  this  bed;  to  coarse  gravel  at  13  feet.  This  well  and  the  similar  railroad  well,  14  feet  deep* 
some  twenty-five  rods  farther  north,  are  the  deepest  here,  no  others  having  a  depth  of  more  than 
twelve  feet.  In  wet  seasons  the  cellars  of  this  village  are  filled  with  water. 

C.  B.  Pettie;  sec.  24:  well,  16  feet;  soil,  2  feet;  till,  14;  quicksand  at  bottom.  Wells  in  the 
vicinity  are  15  to  25  feet  deep,  mostly  less  than  20;  they  obtain  a  large  supply  of  excellent  water. 

C.  J.  King;  N.  E.  }  of  sec.  8:  well,  15  feet;  soil,  2  feet;  clayey  sand,  12;  quicksand,  1  foot  and 
extending  below;  water  abundant. 

Peter  Thimson;  also,  N.  E.  J,  sec.  8:  well,  26  feet;  soil,  2;  sand  to  water  at  the  bottom,  24  feet . 

S.  Peterson;  N.  W.  j,  sec.  9:  well,  40  feet;  soil,  2;  gravel  and  sand,  8;  yellow  and  blue  till,  30; 
water  rose  30  feet  from  sand  and  gravel  at  the  bottom. 

The  three  wells  last  described,  and  the  next  following,  situated  near  the  margin  of  the  east- 
ern terminal  moraine,  just  outside  the  area  that  was  overspread  by  ice,  are  in  the  modified  drift 
which  was  deposited  by  water  flowing  from  the  wasting  surface  of  the  ice-sheet.  These  beds  of 
stratified  sand  and  gravel  often  reach  a  half  mile  to  one  mile  away  from  the  moraine  upon  its  east 
side,  varying  in  depth  from  10  to  25  feet  or  more,  with  a  smooth  contour  inclined  slightly  eastward 

Aurora.  John  Bixby;  N.  E.  J  of  sec.  33,  about  thirty  rods  southeast  from  the  boundary  of 
the  moraine:  well,  29  feet  deep;  soil,  3  feet:  coarse  gravel,  2  feet;  sand,  20  feet;  blue  till,  4  feet,  and 
continuing  lower;  water  comes  in  sandy  veins  in  the  till,  not  rising.  Another  well  close  south- 
east, and  a  third,  one  mile  east,  are  likewise  in  gravel  and  sand,  which  here  extend  fully  a  mile 
from  the  edge  of  the  morainic  belt. 

Havana.  Wells  at  Havana  station  are  shallow.  J.  S.  Austin  here  went  to  a  depth  of  17  feet; 
the  order  being  soil,  2  feet;  sand,  4  feet;  yellow  till,  8  feet;  and  sand,  3  feet,  not  penetrated. 

George  L.  Chambers;  S.  W.  J  of  sec.  20:  well,  42  feet;  soil,  2  feet;  yellow  till,  8;  blue  till,  32, 
water  rose  from  quicksand  at  the  bottom  to  a  permanent  level  five  feet  below  the  surface  in  three 
hours.  A  few  wells  near  the  foregoing,  about  half  a  mile  south  of  Havana  station,  find  water  at 
a  depth  of  40  feet  that  is  offensive  to  smell  and  taste;  but,  excepting  these,  the  water  of  wells 
and  springs  through  all  this  region  is  good, 

29 


402  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Springs.     Pottery. 

At  the  south  side  of  the  southwest  quarter  of  section  29  are  two  flowing  wells,  the  only  ones 
learned  of  in  this  vicinity.  The  westmost,  in  the  corner  of  this  section,  dug  16  feet  and  bored  18 
feet  lower,  to  a  total  of  34  feet,  owned  by  Frank  Truhlar,  has  been  flowing  twelve  years.  The 
other,  about  a  third  of  a  mile  farther  east,  on  John  Chambers1  farm,  rented  to  L.  L.  Inman.  is 
thought  to  be  of  nearly  the  siur.e  depth. 

Mertan.  James  Gibson;  sec.  8:  well  47  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  10;  blue  till,  spaded,  35;  water 
stands  27  feet  deep,  rising  from  the  bottom. 

Somerset.  G.  Storer;  sec.  33:  well,  21  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  8;  harder  blue  till,  10;  sand,  1  foot 
and  extending  lower,  from  which  water  rose  11  feet. 

Lemond.  C.  G.  Hersey;  N.  E.  J  of  sec.  21:  well,  51  feet;  soil,  2  feet;  very  hard  yellow  till,  10 
feet;  sand,  4  inches,  containing  water;  blue  till,  picked,  about  equal  in  hardness  with  the  yellow  till, 
39  feet,  containing  no  layers  of  gravel  or  sand  and  no  water. 

Owatonna.  In  wells  about  Owatonna,  sticks  or  fragments  of  wood  are  occasionally  found 
in  the  till  30  to  50  feet  below  the  surface;  and  a  layer  of  peat  is  reported  to  occur  under  a  consid- 
erable depth  of  drift,  about  three  miles  south  of  the  city. 

Mineral  springs.  The  Owatonna  mineral  springs  should  be  mentioned. 
They  are  nine  in  number,  and  are  located  about  one  and  a  half  miles  north- 
east of  the  city.  They  lie  along  Maple  creek  at  the  base  of  a  low  clayey 
bluff.  Of  the  five  seen  by  the  writer,  four  deposited  iron.  The  water  of 
the  fifth  had  a  decidedly  bluish  tint.  Fountain  spring  comes  through  a 
pipe  that  was  put  down  twenty -two  feet;  the  water  flows  out  freely,  rising 
about  five  feet  above  the  surface.  The  others  are  natural  springs.  They 
are  all  undoubtedly  due  to  the  clay-floor  underlying  the  loose  material  of 
the  drift.  The  taste  of  the  water  in  the  five  visited  by  me  was  slightly 
mineral.  The  analysis  of  the  water,  published  by  the  Owatonna  Mineral 
Springs  company  is  appended.  To  which  of  the  springs  this  analysis  be- 
longed could  not  be  ascertained. 
In  one  gallon,  or  231  cubic  inches,  there  are: 

Chloride  of  sodium 1680  grains. 

Sulphate  of  sodium 2856  grains. 

Bicarbonate  of  sodium 1.8592  grains. 

Bicarbonate  of  calcium 13.1992  grains. 

Bicarbonate  of  magnesium 5.2920  grains. 

Bicarbonate  of  protoxide  of  iron 6160  grains. 

Alumina 280°  grains- 
Silica  !•  120°  grains. 

Organic  matter _          a  trace. 

Total 22.8200  grains. 

Pottery  and  brick.  Cornell  Brothers,  at  Owatonna,  manufacture  stone 
ware.  The  clay  employed  is  a  fine,  rich,  plastic,  blue  clay,  obtained  from 
Eldora,  Hardin  county,  Iowa.  This  bed  of  clay  is  being  exhausted,  and  its 
quality  is  deteriorating.  This  has  determined  the  firm  to  try  a  gray  clay 
found  about  one  mile  east  of  Owatonna.  This  is  the  same  layer  of  clay 
which  crops  out  at  the  mineral  springs  near  the  city.  It  has  been  found 


STEELE  COUNTY.  403 

Bricks.] 

to  work  well.  Excellent  fire-brick  are  also  made  from  this  clay.  This 
firm  manufactures  about  1.000  gallons  a  week  in  jars,  jugs,  &c. 

Dr.  E.  N.  Morehouse  makes  common  brick  from  a  bluish,  yellow 
washed  clay,  near  Owatonna.  He  puts  in  the  clay  about  one-third  sand. 
He  makes  225,000  bricks  a  year,  using  fifty  cords  of  wood  for  every  100,000 
of  bricks.  The  bricks  are,  like  all  of  those  made  from  the  washed  clay,  not 
first-class.  Dr.  Morehouse  has  experimented  on  making  unglazed  red  ware 
from  his  clay,  with  fair  results. 

Odell  and  Cornell  also  make  bricks  near  Owatonna.  Bricks  are  also 
made  on  the  farm  of  Mr.  Skinner,  near  Blooming  Prairie. 

Mounds.  A  series  of  large  mounds,  which  have  much  the  appearance 
of  being  artificial,  are  situated  on  the  east  side  of  the  slough  at  Aurora 
station;  and  several  others  lie  near  the  railroad  a  few  miles  farther  south. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  WASECA  COUNTY. 


BY   WARREN  CPHAM. 


Situation  and  area.  Waseca  county  (plate  15,  page  395)  lies  in  the  south 
part  of  Minnesota,  in  the  second  tier  of  counties  north  of  Iowa.  Its  largest 
town  and  county  seat  is  Waseca,  in  Woodville  township,  about  65  miles 
distant,  in  a  direction  a  little  west  of  south,  from  Saint  Paul  and  Minneapolis, 
93  miles  west  of  Winona,  and  40  miles  north  of  the  Iowa  line.  This  county 
is  a  rectangle,  twenty-four  miles  long  from  north  to  south  and  eighteen 
miles  wide  from  east  to  west,  including  twelve  townships  of  the  govern- 
mental surveys,  each  of  which,  six  miles  square,  is  an  organized  civil  town- 
ship. The  area  of  Waseca  county  is  437.01  square  miles,  or  279,685.91 
acres,  of  which  11,524.16  acres  are  covered  by  water.  v 

SURFACE  FEATURES. 

Natural  drainage.  The  Le  Sueur  river  has  its  farthest  sources  in  the 
southeast  part  of  Waseca  county  and  in  the  adjoining  edges  of  Steele 
and  Freeborn  counties.  This  stream  and  its  tributaries  drain  all  of  Wa- 
seca county  excepting  its  northeast  corner. 

The  main  Le  Sueur  river  runs  from  the  southeast  corner  of  this  county  northerly  six  miles 
through  the  east  part  of  New  Richland;  then  westerly  through  southern  Otisco,  into  the  south- 
east part  of  Wilton;  then  again  northerly  six  miles  to  Carr's  ford,  in  the  southeast  part  of  Saint 
Mary  township;  and  thence  westerly  eleven  miles  through  the  north  part  of  Saint  Mary  and  Al- 
ton. On  the  right  this  stream  receives  small  tributaries  in  sections  7  and  6,  Otisco,  the  latter  be- 
ing named  McDougal  creek,  and  in  sec.  34,  Saint  Mary.  Its  only  considerable  tributary  on  the 
left  in  this  county  is  Boot  creek,  which  comes  from  the  south,  approximately  coinciding  in  ita 
course  with  the  boundary  line  between  New  Richland  and  Byron. 

About  a  quarter  of  Waseca  county,  at  the  southwest,  sends  its  surplus  waters  to  the  Le 
Sueur  by  the  Big  Cobb  river,  which  flows  through  the  south  part  of  Vivian;  while  a  branch  of  it, 
the  Little  Cobb  river,  and  Bull  run,  tributary  to  the  last  and  the  outlet  of  Silver  lake  in  Wilton, 
flow  westerly  across  Freedom  township,  into  Blue  Earth  county. 

At  the  northwest,  nearly  all  of  Janesville,  western  losco,  and  the  north  part  of  Alton  are 
drained  by  the  way  of  lake  Elysian  and  its  outlet,  which  also  passes  into  Blue  Earth  county  and 


WASECA  COUNTY.  405 

Topography.] 

is  there  tributary  to  the  Le  Sueur  river,    losco  creek,  the  largest  stream  that  enters  lake  Elysian . 
receives  a  branch  from  the  southwest  named  Silver  creek. 

The  basin  of  the  Cannon  river  extends  into  the  northeast  part  of  Waseca  county,  including 
northeastern  losco,  Blooming  Grove,  and  the  north  part  of  Woodville,  in  all  about  sixty  square 
miles.  A.  considerable  creek  runs  from  losco  northward  to  Waterville,  and  there  empties  into 
the  west  part  of  lake  Sakata,  through  which  the  Cannon  river  flows;  and  Crane  creek,  tributary 
to  the  Straight  river  in  Steele  county,  and  by  that  to  the  Cannon  river,  has  its  source  in  Rice  and 
Watkins  lakes  at  the  north  line  of  Woodville. 

Lakes.  Lake  Elysian,  the  largest  body  of  water  in  this  county,  is  five  miles  long  and  from 
a  third  of  a  mile  to  one  mile  in  width.  It  has  a  north-northeast  trend,  and  lies  mainly  in  Janes- 
ville,  but  its  north  end  is  crossed  by  the  county  line.  Rice  lake,  one  and  a  third  miles  long  from 
west  to  east,  in  sections  5,  6,  7  and  8,  and  Willis  lake,  in  the  southwest  quarter  of  section  9, 
Janesville,  lie  west  of  lake  Elysian;  and  lake  Lily,  and  Reed's  and  Toner's  lakes,  each  about  a 
mile  long,  with  east-southeast  trends,  extend  in  a  series  southeastward  from  Okaman  at  the  head  of 
lake  Elysian,  lying,  except  the  northwest  end  of  lake  Lily,  within  the  northwest  quarter  of  loaco. 
Helena  lake,  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  long  from  west  to  east,  is  crossed  by  the  line  between 
section  31,  losco,  and  section  36,  Janesville.  Four  small  lakes,  a  quarter  to  a  half  mile  in  length, 
lie  in  Blooming  Grove  township.  Rice  lake,  covering  about  a  square  mile,  is  crossed  by  the  south 
line  of  Blooming  Grove,  its  greater  part  being  in  AVoodville ;  and  close  on  its  east  side  is  Wat- 
kins  lake,  half  as  large,  lying  mainly  in  section  3,  Woodville.  Four  other  lakes  lie  in  this  town- 
ship, within  view  from  the  Winona  &  St.  Peter  railroad.  The  first  of  these  seen  in  proceeding 
westward  is  Goose  lake,  about  one  and  a  half  miles  long  from  northeast  to  southwest,  lying  at 
the  north  side  of  the  railroad,  three  miles  east  of  Waseca.  Within  a  mile  east  of  Waseca,  this 
road  goes  between  Clear  lake,  one  and  a  half  miles  long  from  north  to  south  and  half  as  wide,  ly- 
ing en  the  north,  and  Gaiter  lake,  about  a  mile  long  from  north  to  south  and  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
wide,  on  the  south.  Close  west  of  Waseca,  Loon  lake,  lying  north  of  the  railroad,  has  about  the 
same  extent  as  Gaiter  lake,  but  with  trend  from  east  to  west.  Other  noteworthy  lakes  in 
this  county  include  lake  Canfield,  in  the  northeast  part  of  Otisco;  Thompson  lake,  two-thirds  of 
a  mile  long  from  east  to  west,  in  the  north  half  of  section  13,  New  Richland;  Silver  lake,  nearly 
two  miles  long  from  northeast  to  southwest  and  a  half  mile  wide,  in  the  west  part  of  Wilton; 
Wheeler  lake,  a  half  mile  long,  in  section  5,  Vivian;  another,  of  similar  size  with  the  last,  in  the 
north  part  of  see.  26,  Freedom;  Mud  lake,  also  of  small  size,  being  about  two-thirds  of  a  mile  long- 
with  trend  from  east  to  west,  in  section  11,  Alton;  and  Buffalo  lake,  the  largest,  excepting  lake 
Elysian,  in  this  county,  situated  near  the  center  of  Alton,  two  miles  long  from  northwest  to  south 
east,  having  an  area  of  about  a  thousand  acres. 

Topography.  The  minor  surface  features  of  this  county  have  been 
determined  by  the  conditions  attending  the  accumulation  of  the  glacial 
drift  or  till.  Its  contour  records  the  direction  in  which  the  ice-sheets 
moved,  and  their  boundaries,  the  form  given  to  the  surface  ot  this  deposit 
being  apparently  quite  independent  of  the  small  inequalities  of  the  under- 
lying rocks.  Upon  these  the  drift  rests  as  a  continuous  mantle,  filling  up 
their  depressions  and  making  a  more  even  expanse  than  those  rocks  prob- 
ably exhibited  before  the  glacial  period,  or  would  now  show,  were  the  cov- 
ering of  drift  removed.  The  great  slopes  of  the  country,  however,  which 
shape  its  basins  of  drainage  and  determine  the  general  course  of  its  rivers, 
are  due  to  the  gradual  changes  in  altitude  of  the  older  strata  on  which  the 
drift  lies.  Thus  the  southeast  part  of  Waseca  county  is  more  than  a  hun- 


406  'rHE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Terminal  moraines. 

dred  feet  higher  than  its  west  side  because  the  bed-rocks  underlying  the  till 
rise  highest  in  that  part  of  the  county. 

For  a  correct  understanding  of  the  origin  of  the  topographic  features  of  the  drift-sheet,  we 
need  to  review  briefly  the  history  of  the  glacial  period.  It  is  proved  that  this  included  several 
epochs  of  severe  cold  in  which  nearly  all  of  the  state  was  buried  beneath  a  thick  sheet  of  ice  like 
that  now  spread  upon  the  Antarctic  continent  and  the  interior  of  Greenland.  Between  these 
cold  epochs  were  others  when  a  milder  climate  reigned,  and  these  accumulations  of  ice  were  par- 
tially or  wholly  melted  away,  giving  place  to  animal  and  vegetable  life  upon  the  land,  remains  of 
which  are  preserved  in  fossiliferous  beds  enclosed  between  deposits  of  till.  At  least  two  glacial 
epochs  have  left  very  clear  records  of  the  extent  reached  by  the  ice-sheets.  The  earlier  carried  its 
drift  as  far  south  as  Saint  Louis,  and  nearly  to  the  Ohio  river  on  the  east,  even  crossing  this  river 
at  Cincinnati,  as  shown  by  Prof.  Wright,  and  beyond  the  Missouri  river  on  the  west;  but  left  a 
driftless  area,  which  was  surrounded  by  this  ice -sheet,  in  southwestern  Wisconsin  and  portions  of 
the  adjoining  states,  reaching  from  southeastern  Minnesota  eastward  to  the  Wisconsin  river  and 
southward  to  the  northwestern  corner  of  Illinois.  The  later  ice-sheet,  which  moulded  the  surface 
of  this  county,  was  of  less  extent.  Its  southern  portion  was  divided  into  great  lobes,  somewhat  as 
the  earlier  continental  glacier  had  been  parted  at  the  driftless  area,  though  again  confluent  farther 
south.  The  boundaries  of  this  lobed  ice-sheet  of  the  last  glacial  epoch  are  marked  by  very  distinct 
series  of  terminal  moraines,  or  belts  of  hilly  and  knolly  drift,  which  appear  to  have  been  deposited 
at  the  margin  of  the  ice,  corresponding  to  the  drift  heaped  at  the  termination  of  alpine  glaciers. 
These  moraines  have  been  traced,  in  a  very  irregular,  looped  course,  through  Wisconsin,  Minne- 
sota, Iowa,  and  Dakota.  The  glacial  lobe  whose  eastern  portion  covered  Waseca  county  stretched 
southeasterly  from  western  Minnesota  to  central  Iowa.  Its  eastern  border,  marked  by  moraine 
deposits,  reaches  from  the  Leaf  hills  in  southern  Otter  Tail  county  southeasterly  by  Glenwood  in 
Pope  county  to  lake  Minnetonka,  and  thence  southerly,  passing  through  Waseca,  Steele  and  Free- 
born  counties,  to  the  vicinity  of  Des  Moines ;  whence  its  western  border,  shown  by  the  continua- 
tion of  this  moraine,  joined  with  the  preceding  by  a  U-snaPed  curve,  extends  northwesterly  by 
Spirit  lake  and  through  southwestern  Minnesota,  to  the  Head  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies,  in  Dako- 
ta, twenty-five  miles  west  of  lake  Traverse.  The  large  area  within  this  looped  boundary  was  cov- 
ered by  ice  so  deeply  that  the  pressure  of  its  weight  caused  it  to  flow  slowly  outward  from  the 
center,  where  its  thickness  was  greatest,  toward  each  side,  accumulating  these  hillocks  of  drift  at 
its  margin.  At  the  same  time  a  glacial  current  from  the  thicker  northern  ice  was  pushed  south- 
easterly along  the  axis  of  this  vast  lobe  and  was  deflected  into  its  outward  currents,  as  the  trunk  of 
a  tree  sends  out  divergent  branches. 

The  moraines  formed  at  the  borders  of  this  ice-lobe,  both  on  its  east  and  west  sides,  are  mainly 
double,  showing  two  well-marked  bells  of  roughly  knolly  and  rolling  drift,  each  a  few  miles  in  width, 
divided  by  a  tract  of  smoother  surface,  from  two  or  three  to  twenty-five  miles  wide.  As  the 
course  of  this  formation  makes  a  loop  like  the  letter  U,  having  been  accumulated  by  ice-fields 
covering  the  district  enclosed,  the  outer  moraine  on  each  side  is  known  to  have  been  first  made ; 
and  then,  after  a  retreat  of  the  ice-sheet,  probably  followed  by  a  re-advance,  the  inner  moraine 
was  formed ;  for  the  latter  would  have  had  its  very  uneven  surface  planed  off  and  mostly  leveled, 
if  it  had  been  covered  by  a  moving  ice-sheet,  forming  terminal  deposits  beyond  it. 

South  from  Faribault  to  the  Iowa  line  the  moraine  accumulated  on  the 
east  side  of  this  ice-lobe  is  twofold,  and  consists  of  approximately  parallel 
belts  of  knolly  and  hilly  till,  from  one  to  several  miles  in  width,  extending 
from  north  to  south,  between  which  intervenes  a  tract  of  gently  undulat- 
ing till,  from  six  to  fifteen  miles  wide.  Of  these  the  eastern  or  outer  mo- 
rainic  belt  extends  through  the  eastern  range  of  townships  in  Steele  coun- 
ty. The  western  or  inner  moraine  lies  in  eastern  Waseca  county  and  the 
southwest  edge  of  Steele  county,  having  a  width  that  varies  from  three 


WASECA  COUNTY.  407 

Terminal  moraines.] 

to  ten  miles.  Its  hills  are  almost  universally  till  or  unmodified  glacial 
drift,  I'ising  in  smooth  but  variable  slopes,  and  exhibiting  no  parallelism  or 
system  in  their  trends.  From  Okaman,  at  the  north  line  of  Waseca  coun- 
ty, and  from  Waterville,  in  Le  Sueur  county,  southeastward  through  the 
northeast  part  of  losco  and  the  west  half  of  Blooming  Grove,  to  the  south- 
west corner  of  this  township,  two  miles  north  of  Waseca,  these  elevations 
are  30  to  50  feet  high.  Through  Woodville,  within  two  to  four  miles  east 
and  southeast  from  Waseca,  inconspicuous  scattered  drift  hills  and  mounds, 
constituting  a  generally  rolling  surface,  represent  the  morainic  series.  In 
Otisco,  the  next  township  south,  it  rises  to  its  usual  prominence  in  section 
5,  one  and  a  half  miles  east  of  Wilton,  where  we  find  numerous  steep 
ridges  and  round  or  irregular  hills,  more  strown  with  boulders  than  the 
other  portions  of  this  township,  which  are  moderately  rolling  and  occa- 
sionally hilly.  The  east  two  ranges  of  sections  in  New  Richland  are  in- 
cluded in  this  belt,  being  mainly  covered  by  morainic  mounds,  swells  and 
hills,  30  to  50  feet  above  the  intervening  hollows. 

In  the  northeast  corner  of  Waseca  county,  the  east  half  of  Blooming  Grove  and  the  north- 
east edge  of  Woodville  are  part  of  the  gently  undulating  area  between  these  morainic  belts.  The 
contour  is  approximately  level,  as  seen  in  any  extensive  view,  but  it  includes  occasional  broad 
hollows  which  are  depressed  20  to  25  feet. 

The  northwest  part  of  this  county,  west  of  its  moraine,  is  also  moderately  undulating  or  roll- 
ing, in  prolonged,  smooth  slopes,  the  highest  swells  being  10  to  30  or  40  feet  above  the  neighbor- 
ing sloughs  and  lakes.  This  description  applies  to  Janesville.  southwestern  losco,  Alton,  and 
Saint  Mary;  and  in  the  southeast  part  of  this  county  the  western  two-thirds  of  New  Bichland 
have  a  similar  surface. 

About  a  third  of  Waseca  county,  including  its  southwestern  townships 
of  Freedom,  Wilton,  Vivian  and  Byron,  is  a  very  flat  expanse  of  till,  in 
some  parts  imperfectly  stratified.  The  difference  in  elevation  between  the 
highest  and  lowest  portions  of  the  surface,  connected  by  slopes  from  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  to  one  mile  in  length,  is  only  five  to  ten  feet.  This  is  the 
eastern  margin  of  the  vast  intra-morainic  area  of  slightly  or  moderately 
undulating  till  which  extends  from  here  northwest  to  Big  Stone  and  Tra- 
verse lakes  and  the  Red  river  valley,  its  width  -being  from  the  moraine  of 
the  Leaf  hills  and  lake  Minnetonka  on  the  northeast  to  that  of  the  Coteau 
des  Prairies  in  southwestern  Minnesota.  The  very  smooth  and  often  al- 
most perfectly  flat  surface  of  these  townships,  and  of  a  large  part  of  Blue 
Earth  and  Faribault  counties  appears  to  have  been  due  to  the  leveling  ac- 


408  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Glad.l  lake. 

tion  of  a  lake  that  covered  this  district  during  the  departure  of  the  last  ice- 
sheet.  In  its  recession  northward  the  ice  was  a  barrier  which  prevented 
the  water  of  its  melting  from  flowing  away  in  its  present  course,  following 
the  northern  slope  of  the  land;  so  that  a  lake,  similar  in  its  origin  to  lake 
Agassiz  in  the  Red  river  valley,  extended  over  the  greater  part  of  the  basin 
of  the  Blue  Earth  and  Le  Sueur  rivers,  its  area  being  increased  as  fast  as 
the  border  of  this  ice-lobe  retreated  to  the  north,  till  it  was  so  far  melted 
as  to  permit  this  glacial  lake  to  be  drained  northward  by  the  Minnesota 
river.  Its  outlet,  while  it  remained  a  lake,  is  found  in  Iowa,  and  was  trib- 
utary to  the  East  fork  of  the  Des  Moines  river,  as  described  in  the  report  of 
Faribault  county. 

Channels,  ten  to  twenty-five  feet  in  depth  and  five  to  ten  rods  or  more  in  width,  which  may 
have  been  eroded  by  rills  and  streams  under  nearly  the  present  conditions  of  climate,  but  have 
no  water  now  running  in  them  through  the  greater  part  of  the  year,  cross  the  flat  area  of  south- 
western Waseca  county  in  irregular  courses.  This  area  also  contains  here  and  there  broad, 
bowl-like  depressions  of  similar  or  somewhat  greater  depth,  often  with  no  outlet  or  depression 
continuing  away  on  any  side,  and  occupied  by  sloughs  and  lakes.  These  hollows  sometimes  have 
steep  sides,  which  have  been  eroded  and  undermined  by  waves ;  but  generally  they  are  surrounded 
by  slopes  of  10°  to  15%  about  a  third  as  steep  as  are  produced  by  the  falling  down  of  a  bluff  of 
drift  that  has  been  undermined  by  water.  In  origin  they  seem  to  be  like  the  basins  of  the  ordi- 
nary small  lakes  that  are  scattered  irregularly  over  the  surface  of  the  moderately  undulating 
drift-sheet  of  this  state.  Variations  in  the  direction  or  force  of  the  glacial  currents,  and  conse- 
quent irregularities  in  the  amount  of  drift  deposited  or  eroded  by  the  ice-sheet,  have  commonly 
moulded  this  formation  in  swells  and  hollows,  the  latter  being  often  without  outlet.  Here  the 
surface  has  been  smoothed  by  an  extensive  glacial  lake,  and  the  drift  that  would  have  formed 
swells  has  been  swept  into  the  adjoining  hollows;  but  it  appears  that  occasionally  the  s..pply  of 
material  thus  carried  into  the  depressions  was  insufficient  to  fill  them,  and  their  deep  central 
portions  remain  empty,  constituting  very  remarkable  features  in  the  topography  because  of  the 
unusually  flat  tract  in  which  they  occur.  These  basins  vary  from  20  to  30  or  40  feet  in  depth, 
and  in  extent  they  are  from  thirty  rods  to  one  or  two  miles  long,  with  perhaps  half  or  two-thirds 
as  great  width,  the  largest  area  of  this  kind  being  that  of  Silver  lake  in  Wilton.  The  shallowest 
hollows  filled  by  sloughs  are  only  two  to  five  feet  lower  than  the  surrounding  land,  while  the 
deepest  are  twenty  feet  below  the  general  level. 

Streams  in  this  part  of  the  county,  as  the  Little  Cobb  river  and  Bull  run,  have  cut  valleys 
'20  to  30  feet  deep.  Boot  creek,  east  of  Byron,  lies  in  a  broad,  shallow  depression  of  slightly 
undulating  till,  two  or  three  miles  wide  and  20  or  30  fe«.t  below  the  average  surface  on  each  side. 
The  valley  or  channel  eroded  by  the  Le  Sueur  river  in  New  Richland  and  southern  Otisco  is  20  to 
30  feet  deep ;  and  in  the  remainder  of  its  course  through  this  county,  passing  by  Wilton  and 
Alma,  its  depth  is  about  40  feet. 

Elevations  on  the  Winona  &  Huint  Peter  division  of  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern  railway. 
.From  John  E.  Blunt,  engineer,  Winona. 

Mile*  from   Feet  ubove 
Winona.       the  t>ea. 

Meriden  (Steele  county),     -  ...      96.85  1149 

Waseca,  102.63  1158 

Janesville,  112.91  1063 

Eagle  Lake  (Blue  Earth  county),  122.56  1012 


WASECA  COUNTY.  401) 

Elevation*.    Soil  and  timber.; 

Elevations  on  the  Minneapolis  &  Saint  Louis  railway. 
From  Robert  Angst,  assistant  engineer.  Minneapolis. 

Milts  from      Feet  above 
^  Minneapolis,     the  sea. 

At  the  north  Hue  of  Waseca  county,  -      67.0  1049 

losco,  69.7  '1146 

Summit,  natural  surface,  1168;  grade,  -     70.3  1154 

Loon  lake,  water,  75.7  1134 

Crossing  Winona  &  Saint  Peter  railroad,  -      76.0  1154 

Waseca,  76.2  1151 

Creek  in  sec.  S,  Otisco,  water,  1071 ;  grade  on  bridge,    -  -     81.2  1077 

Le  Sueur  river,  water,  1103 ;  grade  on  bridge,  84.8  1116 

NewKichland,  -     88.7  1178 

The  highest  portion  of  this  county  is  the  east  half  of  New  Richland 
and  the  southeast  quarter  of  Otisco,  which  are  about  1200  feet  above  the 
sea.  Its  lowest  land  is  where  the  Le  Sueur  river  and  other  streams  cros* 
its  west  line,  at  hights  between  1000  and  1050  feet  above  the  sea.  the  ele- 
vation of  the  Le  Sueur  river  at  this  line  being  approximately  1010. 

Mean  elevation  of  the  county.  Estimates  of  the  average  bight  of  the 
townships  of  Waseca  county  are  as  follows  :  Blooming  Grove,  1150  feet 
above  the  sea;  Wood ville,  1150;  Otisco,  1160;  New  Richland,  1190;  losco, 
1100;  Saint  Mary,  1120;  Wilton,  1110;  Byron,  1150;  Janesville,  1060;  Alton 

j 

1060;  Freedom,  1070;  and  Vivian,  1100.     The  mean  elevation  of  the  county, 
derived  from  these  figures,  is  approximately  1120  feet. 

Soil  and  timber.  The  black  soil  varies  in  thickness  from  one  to  three 
feet,  being  least  on  swells  and  on  the  hillocks  of  the  moraine,  and  greatest 
in  depressions.  It  is  a  very  fertile  gravelly  clay,  with  occasional  boulders 
and  differs  from  the  subsoil,  both  of  which  are  till,  in  having  been  enriched 
and  colored  by  the  decay  of  vegetation  through  many  centuries.  This 
glacial  drift  includes  a  considerable  proportion  of  limestone,  both  as  boul- 
ders and  pebbles,  and  also  in  a  finely  pulverized  condition,  which  contrib- 
utes in  an  important  degree  to  the  productiveness  of  the  soil,  and  at  the 
same  time  makes  the  water  of  wells  hard.  Wheat,  oats,  corn,  potatoes, 
flax,  sorghum,  and  all  the  crops  that  belong  in  this  latitude,  are  successfully 
cultivated. 

Timber  covers  the  greater  part  of  Janesville,  the  west  half  of  Alton, 
and  northwestern  losco,  this  being  the  southeast  edge  of  the  Big  Woods. 
About  half  of  Blooming  Grove  is  also  wooded,  and  numerous  large  groves 
occur  in  the  townships  of  Saint  Mary,  Woodville  and  Otisco,  and  in  the 
northeast  part  of  New  Richland.  The  Le  Sueur  river  is  bordered  by  timber, 


410 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


I  Geological  structure. 


which  attains  a  width  of  one  to  one  and  a  half  miles  at  the  east  side  of  this 
stream  in  the  southeast  part%of  Wilton  and  the  adjoining  edge  of  Otisco. 
Southwest  from  the  Le  Sueur  river,  the  flat  expanse  which  reaches  thence 
to  the  limits  of  the  county  is  prairie,  and  its  green  mat  of  grass  sometimes 
bears  no  tree  nor  bush  within  an  area  several  miles  in  extent.  The  lakes, 
however,  within  this  tract  are  usually  bordered  by  wood,  and  belts  of 
timber  mark  the  course  of  its  streams. 

White  and  slippery  elm,  bass,  sugar  and  red  maple,  box-elder,  black  and 
bur  oak,  butternut,  white  and  black  ash,  ironwood,  wild  plum,  Juneberry, 
American  crab-apple,  common  poplar  or  aspen,  cottonwood,  and  willows, 
are  the  principal  species  of  trees  in  this  county. 

GEOLOGICAL   STRUCTURE. 

No  outcrop  of  the  strata  underlying  the  drift  occurs  in  Waseca  county, 
but  they  have  been  reached  by  wells  at  three  localities.  One  of  these  wells, 
reported  by  Prof.  L.  B.  Sperry,  "near  Janesville,  after  passing  through  200 
feet  of  blue  clay,  reached  a  sandstone  said  to  be  identical  with  the  St.  Peter 
in  appearance.  An  abundance  of  good  water,  which  rose  to  within  30  feet 
of  the  surface,  was  found  between  the  clay  and  the  sandstone." 

At  the  town  of  New  Richland,  a  well  at  Dunwoody  &  Corson's  mill 
reached  a  depth  of  110  feet,  finding  the  following  section:  soil,  2  feet; 
yellow  till,  with  streaks  of  sand,  yielding  water,  30  feet;  blue  till,  softer  and 
sticky,  66  feet;  sand,  2  feet;  and  hard,  straw-colored  sandstone,  10  feet.  At 
this  depth  water  was  struck,  and  rose  in  two  minutes  to  30  feet  below  the 
surface.  Another  well  at  this  mill,  149  feet  deep,  drilled  by  Mr.  C.  E. 
Whelpley,  is  reported  by  him  to  be  drift,  107  feet;  yellow  calcareous  sand- 
rock,  40  feet;  and  similar  rock  of  blue  color,  2  feet.  A  very  large  supply 
of  water  was  obtained,  rising  to  the  same  hight  as  the  last.  The  well 
at  the  depot,  about  forty  rods  north  of  the  foregoing  and  on  land  of  the 
same  hight,  is  129  feet  deep,  and  found  the  soil  2  feet  thick;  yellow  till, 
spaded,  10  feet;  blue  till,  mostly  very  hard,  picked,  115  feet;  and  yellowish 
sandstone,  similar  to  that  of  Dunwoody  &  Corson's  well,  2  feet  and  extend- 
ing lower.  Water,  found  in  this  sandstone,  rose  80  feet.  It  is  noteworthy 
that  the  top  of  the  bed-rock  in  these  wells,  only  an  eighth  of  a  mile  apart, 
differs  about  25  feet  in  hight,  probably  on  account  of  erosion  in  a  formation 


WASECA  COUNTY.  411 

Drift.    Well..] 

horizontally  stratified.  About  three  miles  northwest  from  New  Richland, 
a  well  110  feet  deep  on  S.  W.  Franklin's  dairy-farm,  went  10  feet  into  this 
rock,  after  penetrating  100  feet  of  drift,  obtaining  water  in  the  rock  which 
rose  to  ten  feet  below  the  surface.  At  Owatonna  on  the  northeast,  and  at 
Wells,  in  Faribault  county,  on  the  southwest,  similar  formations  of  sand- 
stone, with  associated  layers  of  shale  and  limestone,  encountered  by  deep 
wells,  appear  to  be  of  Cretaceous  age;  and  very  probably  these  beds  and 
the  sandstone  of  New  Richland  belong  to  the  same  horizon.  The  evidence 
pointing  to  these  conclusions  is  set  forth  in  the  report  of  Faribault  county, 
to  which  the  reader  is  referred. 

Drift.  Under  the  description  of  the  surface  features  of  this  county,  its 
glacial  drift  and  terminal  moraine  have  been  already  described  in  a  general 
manner.  The  thickness  of  the  drift  varies  from  one  hundred  to  two  hun- 
dred feet  over  this  county  and  a  large  adjoining  region.  This  formation  is 
principally  the  unstratified  gravelly  and  stony  clay  called  till,  boulder-clay, 
or  hardpan,  with  which  are  associated  beds  of  modified  drift,  which  were 
gathered  from  the  melting  ice,  assorted  and  deposited  by  water.  The  fol- 
lowing notes  of  wells  exhibit  in  detail  the  character  and  order  of  the  drift 
deposits. 

Wells  in  Waseca  county. 

Blooming  Orove.  William  Habine ;  sec.  3:  a  well  100  feet  deep  in  till  found  no  water;  while 
another  well  only  16  feet  deep,  six  rods  farther  east,  on  land  of  about  the  same  hight,  found  plenty 
of  water. 

I.  D.  Beeman;  sec.  10:  well,  24  feet;  soil,  2  feet;  yellow  till,  21  feet;  blue  till,  soft  and  sticky, 
1  foot  and  extending  deeper;  the  water  seeps. 

P.  Healy;  sec.  15:  well,  20;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  10  feet,  containing  veins  of  gravel,  two  to  four 
inches  thick;  harder  blue  till,  8  feet;  the  only  water  obtained  is  from  sandy  and  gravelly  veins  in 
the  upper  till. 

Waseca,  in  Woodville.  William  Everett:  well,  68  feet;  soil,  3  feet;  till,  yellowish  in  its 
upper  portion  and  bluish  below,  47  feet;  vein  of  sand,  6  inches;  blue  till,  15  feet;  sand  and  gravel, 
3  feet  and  reaching  lower;  from  this  bed,  water  rose  to  the  vein  of  sand  at  50  feet,  there  run- 
ning off. 

At  McCutchins'  elevator,  on  the  Winona  &  St.  Peter  railroad,  a  well  140  feet  deep  is  reported 
to  have  been  all  drift,  but  no  particulars  were  learned.  Water  rises  from  the  bottom  to  stand  ten 
feet  below  the  surface.  No  thick  beds  of  sand  are  found  here  enclosed  in  the  till,  and  no  bed-rock 
is  reached.  Most  of  the  wells  of  this  town  are  only  15  to  20  feet  in  depth,  and  find  water  hi  the 
lower  part  of  the  yellow  till. 

Otisco.  J.  A.  Canfield;  sec.  3:  well,  22  feet;  soil,  2  feet;  yellow  till,  14  feet,  shoveled,  con- 
taining streaks  of  sand;  blue  till,  harder  and  more  gravelly,  picked,  6  feet;  water  is  found  only  in 
the  yellow  till. 

Knut  II.  Esping;  sec.  13:  well,  24  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  shoveled,  12;  sand,  3  feet;  blue  till, 
picked,  much  harder  than  the  upper  till,  7  feet;  to  sand  at  the  bottom,  from  which  water  rose 
seven  feet,  ilowing  off  in  the  upper  sand. 


412  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


New  Ricldand.  Wells  in  this  towu.  penetrating  to  the  bed-rock,  are  described  on  the  pre- 
ceding pages. 

losco.  N.  N.  Norcutt;  S.  E.  }  of  sec.  30:  well,  30  feet;  soil,  2  feet;  yellow  till,  18  feet;  much 
harder  blue  till,  10  feet;  the  water  seeps  from  the  yellow  till,  and  is  excellent. 

Saint  Mary.  E.  Brossard;  sec.  2:  well,  16  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  10;  much  harder  blue  till, 
4;  water  seeps  from  the  upper  till. 

Wilton.  At  the  town,  in  sec.  1,  a  well  for  a  steam  saw-mill  went  90  feet,  its  lower  and 
greater  part  being  in  soft  blue  till,  finding  no  water. 

John  HcLin;  sec.  20:  well,  22  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  hard,  but  spaded,  18  feet;  softer  blue 
till,  2  feet  and  extending  deeper:  the  water  comes  in  seams  of  sand  in  the  lower  part  of  the  yel- 
low till. 

Hans  Krager;  sec.  36:  well,  30  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  shoveled,  6  ;  blue  till,  harder,  picked, 
22  feet;  no  sand  nor  gravel  was  found  in  the  blue  till,  and  no  water  was  obtained. 

Byron.  Garrett  Hope;  sec.  6:  well,  38  feet  deep,  the  only  ''fountain,''  or  flowing  well,  in 
this  township;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  10;  blue  till,  25;  very  hard,  dark  layer,  6  inches;  gravel  and 
sand,  1  foot,  and  extending  lower,  from  which  water  rose  instantly  to  the  top,  and  has  since 
flowed  away  from  the  mouth  of  this  well  during  four  years.  This  water  threw  up  the  auger  and 
shafting,  with  which  the  well  was  being  bored,  weighing  five  hundred  pounds  or  more,  fourteen 
feet,  and  filled  the  boring  with  gravel  to  that  bight.  The  site  of  this  well  is  about  fifteen  feet 
below  the  general  level  of  the  country. 

Janesville.  The  deepest  wells  learned  of  in  this  township  are  at  the  elevator  beside  the  rail- 
road near  the  depot,  said  to  have  been  bored  150  feet,  with  loss  of  two  sets  of  boring  tools,  but 
thought  not  to  have  reached  the  bed-rock;  the  well  at  the  Taopi  mills,  100  feet  deep,  in  which 
the  water  rises  to  60  feet  below  the  surface;  and  the  well  at  the  railroad  station,  7t>  feet  in  depth. 
The  latter  was  dug  twelve  feet  square  for  56  feet,  and  then  bored  20  feet  more,  finding  a  large 
supply  of  water,  which,  however,  does  not  rise  so  as  to  fill  the  bottom  of  the  portion  dug.  From 
all  that  could  be  gathered  respecting  these  wells,  they  appear  to  have  been  till,  with  no  notable 
layers  of  sand  or  gravel.  The  common  wells  of  this  town  and  its  vicinity  are  12  to  20,  or  sometimes 
40  feet  deep.  Mostly  they  get  water  by  its  seeping  from  the  yellow  till.  Wells  that  go  lower 
sometimes  find  layers  of  dry  quicksand  in  the  blue  till,  ready  to  drink  up  the  water  derived  from 
sandy  streaks  in  the  upper  till. 

Alton.  E.  F.  Nettleton;  S.  W.  J,  sec.  32:  well,  28  feet;  soil,  2  feet;  yellow  till,  24;  gravel, 
1  foot;  blue  till,  softer  and  more  sticky  than  the  upper  till,  1  foot  and  extending  lower;  water 
rose  five  feet. 

Alma.  W.  E.  Lockwood:  well,  46  feet;  soil,  2J  feet;  yellow  till,  17  feet;  harder  blue  till,  10 
feet;  sand,  6  inches;  blue  till,  as  before,  15  feet;  gravel,  1  foot,  from  which  water  rose  seventeen 
feet. 

Alma  City  flour-mill:  well,  63  feet,  the  deepest  in  this  vicinity;  soil,  3  feet;  yellow  till,  6  feet; 
harder  blue  till,  20  feet;  gravel  and  sand,  5  feet;  blue  till,  25  feet;  gravel  and  sand,  4  feet  and 
reaching  lower,  from  which  the  water  rises  thirty  feet. 

Freedom.  Chris.  Priem;  sec.  23:  well,  64  feet;  soil,  3;  yellow  till,  14;  soft  blue  till,  20;  darker 
till,  very  hard,  13;  soft  blue  till,  5  feet;  dry  sand  and  gravel,  containing  gas,  which  rose  with  such 
force  as  to  throw  up  the  gravel  and  sand  three  feet,  and  continued  "  blowing  "  three  days;  this 
stratified  drift  was  penetrated  to  a  thickness  of  9  feet,  and  extended  lower;  water  was  found  in 
the  last  four  feet. 

Henry  Converse;  S.  W.  J  of  sec.  27:  well,  107  feet,  the  deepest  in  this  part  of  the  county; 
soil,  3;  yellow  till,  16;  soft,  blue  till,  88  feet,  containing  a  layer  of  dry  sand  one  foot  thick  at  70 
feet  below  the  surface;  no  water  is  found  in  this  blue  till;  the  well  is  used,  but  has  only  "  surface 
water,"  which  seeps  from  the  upper  till. 

Vivian.  Henry  Laver;  sec.  3:  well,  95  feet;  soil,  3;  yellow  till,  16;  soft  blue  till,  30;  dark 
till,  very  hard,  20;  soft  blue  till,  25;  black  sand,  1  foot;  water  rose  to  five  feet  below  the  top  in 
three  hours. 

John  Bushou;  sec.  12:  well,  37  feet;  soil,  3  feet;  yellow  till,  13;  soft,  blue  till,  18;  darker 
very  hard  till,  2  feet;  gravel,  1  foot  and  extending  lower,  from  which  water  rises  and  flows  over 
the  top  of  the  well,  making  it  a  fountain. 

Mr.  Clarence  W.  Converse,  well-maker,  living  on  the  S.  W.  J  of  sec.  27,  Freedom,  thus  sums 


WASKCA  COUNTY.  413 

Material  resource*. 1 

up  his  experience  in  boring  some  two  hundred  wells  in  this  and  neighboring  counties:  The  yel- 
lowish upper  till  is  harder  to  bore  than  the  blue  till  next  below,  which  is  moist  and  sticky,  the 
auger  going  down  five  feet  in  the  latter  as  easily  as  two  feet  in  the  former;  but  a  third  kind  of  till, 
called  "  hardpan,"  darker  than  the  soft  blue  till,  is  generally  as  hard  as  the  yellow  till,  and  often, 
probably  in  half  the  instances  of  its  occurrence,  it  is  harder.  The  upper,  yellow  till  is  character- 
ized by  sandy  streaks,  and  crevices  which  yield  seep-water,  found  in  half  of  all  the  wells.  It  is 
almost  always  directly  underlain  by  the  soft  and  moist  blue  till,  which  has  no  crevices  with 
seeping  water,  but  bears  sand-veins  from  two  or  three  inches  to  four  feet  thick,  which  contain 
water.  The  very  hard,  darker  till  is  similar  in  yielding  water  with  the  last. 

The  maximum  thickness  of  the  yellow  till  found  by  Mr.  Converse  was  35  feet,  in  Spring  Lake, 
Scott  county.  The  greatest  thickness  of  the  soft  blue  till  found  is  88  feet,  at  his  home  in  sec.  27, 
Freedom.  The  thickest  bed  of  the  very  hard,  darker  till  was  40  feet,  occurring  at  French  lake, 
in  Bice  county,  six  miles  northwest  from  Faribault.  An  average  of  the  thickness  of  this  dark 
hardpan  may  be  eight  or  ten  feet;  and  about  a  quarter  or  a  third  of  its  beds  are  only  from  one  to 
five  feet  thick.  Fragments  of  lignite,  up  to  four  inches  in  diameter,  are  often  met  with  in  these 
drift  deposits,  most  frequently  in  the  dark  hardpan.  Pieces  of  wood,  up  to  one  foot  long,  are 
found  rarely,  but  no  shells  nor  other  organic  remains  have  been  noticed. 

MATERIAL   RESOURCES. 

The  agricultural  capabilities  of  Waseca  county,  its  fertile  soil,  and  its 
good  supply  of  timber,  have  been  spoken  of  on  page  409. 

No  water-powers  have  been  utilized  in  this  county. 

Drift  boulders  are  the  only  stone  found  for  the  construction  of  founda- 
tions, walls  of  cellars  and  wells,  culverts,  etc.  These  boulders  occur  quite 
commonly  upon  the  morainic  belt,  and  are  found  sparingly  in  all  parts  of 
the  county.  They  are  mostly  varieties  of  granite,  syenite,  and  gneiss,  with 
occasional  blocks  of  limestone.  In  size  they  reach  to  five  feet,  and  rarely 
to  ten  feet  in  diameter. 

Lime  has  been  burned  from  the  boulders  of  magnesian  limestone  in  the 
drift  by  E.  R.  Tuttle  in  Janesville,  during  the  last  twelve  years,  producing 
annually  from  100  to  200  barrels,  selling  it  at  about  SI. 25  per  barrel.  The 
greater  part  of  these  boulders,  estimated  to  be  three-fourths  or  more,  make 
white  lime;  while  the  remainder  yield  lime  of  yellowish  or  darkish  gray 
color. 

Brick  have  been  made  also  by  Mr.  Tuttle  about  a  third  of  a  mile  north- 
west from  Janesville  during  the  past  twelve  years,  producing  from  100,000 
to  400,000  yearly,  selling  at  about  $7  per  M.  He  uses  stratified  yellow  and 
gray  clay,  which  contains  sandy  layers  so  that  it  needs  no  intermixture  of 
more  sand.  Tt  is  excavated  to  a  depth  of  five  feet.  These  bricks  are  red 
and  of  good  quality. 

In  the  northwest  \  of  sec.  2,  losco.  close  to  the  north  line  of  this  county, 


414  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Bricks. 

and  one  and  a  half  miles  south  of  Waterville,  red  brick  have  been  made 
during  several  years  by  Mr.  David  Wood,  producing  200,000  to  300,000 
annually,  of  excellent  quality,  bringing  $7  to  $8  per  M.  The  clay  used  is 
stratified.  It  contains  no  sand  in  its  upper  four  or  five  feet;  but  its  layers 
below  are  separated  by  little  seams  of  sand,  occasionally  with  a  thin  film 
of  iron-rust.  This  clay-bed  extends  to  a  depth  of  at  least  13  feet,  and  is 
sufficient  to  make  many  millions  of  brick. 

A  kiln  of  red  bricks,  inferior  in  quality  because  cracked  after  burning 
by  particles  of  limestone  contained  in  the  clay  or  sand  used,  was  burned  by 
I.  C.  Trowbridge  several  years  ago  in  Woodville  beside  the  railroad  one  and 
a  half  miles  east  of  Waseca.  No  brick-making  has  since  been  undertaken 
in  that  vicinity.  Clay  suitable  for  this  use,  having  no  gravel,  is  said  to 
occur  on  two  or  three  acres  of  J.  A.  Canfield's  laud  in  section  3,  Otisco,  at 
about  sixty  rods  northeast  from  his  house. 

Springs,  chalybeate  and  also  supposed  to  be  salty  because  licked  by  cattle,  occur  in  section  9, 
Otisco,  south  of  the  creek,  being  near  the  middle  of  the  north  side  of  the  southwest  quarter  of  this 
section.  Another  irony  spring,  somewhat  resorted  to  by  the  people  of  its  vicinity  and  from 
Waseca  because  of  its  medicinal  properties,  alterative  and  tonic,  is  situated  northwest  of  the  fore- 
going, in  the  southeast  quarter  of  section  5,  Otisco. 

Aboriginal  earthworks.  The  only  mounds  which  seem  to  be  perhaps  artificial,  observed  or 
heard  of  in  Waseca  county,  are  two  or  three  low,  circular  and  dome-like  heaps  of  earth  20  or  30 
feet  in  diameter  but  only  one  to  two  feet  in  bight,  seen  in  and  beside  the  road  that  runs  from 
Wilton  southwest  to  Vivian,  occurring  nearly  at  the  south  line  of  section  10,  and  again  in  the 
northeast  quarter  of  section  20,  Wilton. 


CHAPTER  XI  El. 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  BLUE  EARTH  COUNTY. 


BY   WARREN    UPHAM. 

Situation  and  area.  Blue  Earth  county  (plate  16)  lies  in  the  central 
part  of  southern  Minnesota,  being  in  the  second  tier  of  counties  north  of 
Iowa.  Mankato,  its  largest  town  and  the  first  in  size  within  the  basin  of 
the  Minnesota  river,  is  distant  about  70  miles,  measured  in  a  straight  line, 
southwesterly  from  Minneapolis  and  Saint  Paul.  The  length  of  this  county 
from  east  to  west  is  five  townships,  or  30  miles,  and  its  breadth  from  north 
to  south  varies  from  21A  to  29  miles,  being  least  through  the  center  of  the 
county,  from  South  Bend,  and  greatest  upon  its  western  boundary  line. 
The  Minnesota  river  separates  this  from  Nicollet  county.  After  Mankato, 
the  towns  and  villages  of  most  considerable  size  are  Lake  Crystal,  Garden 
City,  Vernon  Center,  Good  Thunder,  Mapleton  and  Eagle  Lake.  The  area 
of  Blue  Earth  county  is  776.88  square  miles,  or  497,201.73  acres,  of  which 
21,619.39  acres  are  covered  by  water. 

SURFACE    FEATURES. 

Natural  drainage.  This  county  lies  wholly  within  the  basin  of  the 
Minnesota  river,  which  at  South  Bend  and  Mankato  turns  from  its  south- 
east course  and  thence  flows  northeastwardly  almost  at  right  angles  with 
its  upper  portion.  The  drainage  from  the  greater  part  of  Blue  Earth 
county,  as  also  of  Waseca,  Faribault,  Martin,  and  Watonwan  counties,  is 
discharged  into  the  Minnesota  by  the  Blue  Earth  river,  which  has  its  mouth 
about  one  mile  west  of  Mankato.  The  slopes  of  this  county  and  the  courses 
of  its  drainage  descend  from  three  sides,  east,  south  and  west,  toward  the 
middle  of  its  north  side.  In  general  the  county  is  to  be  described  as  a 


416  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Top.gr.phy. 

nearly  level,  slightly  undulating  expanse,  with  mostly  imperceptible  slopes, 
which  give  direction  to  its  streams.  These  at  first  flowed  upon  the  general 
surface,  50  to  200  feet  above  the  valleys,  now  enclosed  by  steep  bluffs,  which 
these  streams  by  their  long-continued  wearing  have  excavated. 

About  three  miles  above  its  mouth  the  Blue  Earth  river  receives  from  the  east  a  tributary 
of  nearly  equal  size  with  itself,  namely,  the  Le  Sueur  river.  This  also  has  two  large  tributaries, 
the  Maple  and  Big  Cobb  rivers,  which  unite  with  the  Le  Sueur  from  the  south,  respectively  four 
and  five  miles  above  its  junction  with  the  Blue  Earth.  On  its  west  side  the  only  important  trib- 
utary that  the  Blue  Earth  receives  in  this  county,  is  the  Watonwan  river,  which  has  its  mouth 
about  two  miles  above  Rapidan  Rapids,  and  includes  within  its  basin  of  drainage  all  of  Waton- 
wan county  and  parts  of  the  adjoining  counties.  Perch  creek  in  Ceresco  township,  is  a  consider- 
able tributary  to  the  Watonwan  from  the  south. 

Above  the  mouth  of  Blue  Earth  river,  the  Minnesota  in  this  county  receives  three  other 
tributaries  worthy  of  mention:  Lyons  or  Minneopa  creek,  which  forms  the  picturesque  Minneopa 
falls;  and  Morgan  creek  and  the  Little  Cottonwood  river,  which  have  their  mouths  about  a  half 
mile  apart  in  section  16,  Cambria,  the  most  northwestern  township  of  the  county. 

Lakes,  Many  lakes  occur  in  this  county,  of  which  the  largest  are  as  follows:  lake  Wita,  in 
the  east  part  of  Lime,  having  a  length  of  one  and  a  half  miles  and  an  area  of  about  one  square 
mile;  lake  Ballantyne,  and  Duck  and  Gilfillan  lakes,  in  Jamestown,  each  about  a  mile  long;  lake 
Madison  and  Eagle  lake,  at  the  north  side  of  Le  Ray,  each  about  three  miles  long  and  covering 
two  square  miles;  lake  Alice  and  Indian  lake,  each  about  a  half  mile  long,  in  the  southeast  part 
of  Le  Ray;  Rice  lake,  one  and  a  half  miles  long,  in  southwestern  McPhersou;  Perch  lake  at  the 
west  side  of  Medo,  and  Cottonwood  lake  in  the  southwest  part  of  this  township,  each  about  two- 
thirds  of  a  mile  long;  Rogers  lake,  of  similar  size,  at  the  west  side  of  Danville;  Lura  lake  and  lake 
Jackson,  in  Sterling,  the  former  three  and  a  half  miles  long,  reaching  south  into  the  edge  of 
Faribault  county,  and  the  latter  about  two  miles  long  and  from  a  half  to  one  mile  wide;  a 
series  of  four  lakes  in  the  north  part  of  Garden  City  township  and  the  south  edge  of  Judson, 
namely,  in  their  order  from  southeast  to  northwest,  Mills  lake,  Loon  lake,  Crystal  lake,  and  lake 
Lily,  of  which  the  third  is  the  largest,  being  one  and  a  half  miles  long  and  from  two-thirds  to  one 
mile  wide;  and  Dackins,  Stram,  and  Solberg  lakes,  the  last,  which  is  the  largest,  having  an  area 
of  about  a  square  mile,  in  Butternut  Valley. 

Nicollet  named  the  area  drained  by  the  Blue  Earth  river  (which  he  called  the  Mankato 
river)  and  its  tributaries  the  Undine  region,  because  of  its  great  number  of  streams,  "  spreading 
themselves  out  in  the  shape  of  a  fan,"  its  numerous  lakes  surrounded  by  woods,  and  its  wide, 
fertile  prairies.  The  name  was  "derived  from  that  of  an  interesting  and  romantic  German  tale, 
the  heroine  of  which  belonged  to  the  extensive  race  of  water-spirits  living  in  the  brooks  and  rivers 
and  lakes,  whose  father  was  a  mighty  prince.  She  was,  moreover,  the  niece  of  a  great  brook  (the 
Mankato)  who  lived  in  the  midst  of  forests,  and  was  beloved  by  all  the  many  great  streams  of  the 
surrounding  country."* 

Topography.  Nearly  all  of  Blue  Earth  county  has  a  smooth  and  flat  or 
only  slightly  undulating  surface;  but  this  is  deeply  channeled  along  the 
river-courses.  The  south  half  of  the  county  contains  two  small  tracts  of 
rolling  land,  in  the  northwest  part  of  Sterling,  and  in  the  southeast  of 
Pleasant  Mound.  In  general,  the  northeast  and  northwest  parts  of  the 
county  are  the  most  undulating.  The  Minnesota  river  at  the  north  occu- 
pies a  valley  200  to  225  feet  below  the  general  surface;  and  the  Blue  Earth 

•For  Nicollct'i  dworlptien  of  thiit  region,  see  page  71. 


BLUE  EARTH  COUNTY.  417 

Topography.    Eroded  valleys.] 

river  and  its  tributaries  have  cut  channels  that  increase  in  depth  from  50 
to  100  feet  along  the  upper  portion  to  150  and  200  feet  near  the  Minnesota 
valley. 

The  central  and  southern  portions  of  the  county,  embracing  about  three-quarters  of  its 
whole  area,  are  a  level,  or  only  slightly  undulating  sheet  of  glacial  drift,  except  that  the  rivers 
have  cut  deep  valleys,  which  may  be  properly  called  channels,  in  the  otherwise  unbroken  plain. 
This  expanse  includes  the  following  townships  in  their  order  from'  the  southeast:  Danville, 
Medo,  McPherson;  Mapleton,  Beauford,  Decoria,  Mankato;  Sterling,  Lyra,  Bapidan,  South  Bend; 
Shelby.  Vernon  Center,  Garden  City;  Pleasant  Mound,  Ceresco,  and  Lincoln. 

Exceptions  to  the  prevailing  flatness  of  this  area  are  the  rolling  tract  mentioned  in  the 
northwest  part  of  Sterling,  reaching  a  mile  or  two  north  from  the  north  end  of  lake  Jackson,  and 
rising  30  to  40  feet  above  the  general  level;  the  northwest  part  of  Lyra  westward  from  Good 
Thunder,  and  the  most  of  Vernon  Center  and  Garden  City  townships,  undulating  10  to  20  feet  in 
long  slopes;  and  section  25,  Pleasant  Mound,  where  a  group  of  katnes.  which  suggests  the  name 
of  the  township,  extends  about  a  mile  from  north  to  south,  with  a  width  of  one  fourth  to  one  third 
of  a  mile,  consisting  of  many  mounds,  knolls,  and  short  ridges,  from  30  to  75  feet  high,  of  no  very 
notable  parallelism  in  trend,  but  perhaps  most  frequently  elongated  from  north  to  south.  Their 
material  is  gravel,  containing  pebbles  up  to  six  inches  in  diameter,  irregularly  interstratified  with 
sand.  Boulders  up  to  two  or  three  feet  in  diameter  occur  rarely  upon  the  surface  of  the  mounds. 
In  the  south  part  of  this  section  the  contour  charges  to  a  more  smoothed,  rolling  surface,  with 
crests  20  to  30  feet  high.  The  material  here  is  the  unmodified  glacial  drift  or  till,  which  also  forms 
all  the  surrounding  land,  in  prolonged  low  undulations.  No  other  gravel  deposits  were  observed 
in  this  vicinity. 

Butternut  Valley,  Cambria,  and  Judsou,  including  the  part  of  Blue  Earth  county  northwest 
from  Lake  Crystal,  are  gently  undulating  till,  with  the  highest  portions  10  or  20  feet  above  the 
lowest,  the  slopes  occupying  from  one  fourth  of  a  mile  to  one  mile.  Isolated  knolls  of  fine  gravel 
and  sand,  5  to  15  feet  above  the  general  level,  occur  rarely  in  these  townships.  Like  the  group 
of  kames  in  Pleasant  Mound,  these  accumulations  of  modified  drift  are  believed  to  have  been 
formed  by  streams  that  descended  from  melting  ice-fields. 

In  the  northeast  part  of  this  county,  Mankato  is  nearly  level  from  the  top  of  the  bluffs  of  the 
Minnesota  river  at  the  east  side  of  the  city  through  five  miles  east  to  Eagle  Lake.  To  the  east 
and  north,  nearly  all  of  Le  Ray,  Jamestown,  and  the  east  part  of  Lime,  are  slightly  or  moderately 
undulating,  with  crests  10  to  25  feet  above  the  hollows  or  20  to  40  feet  above  the  numerous  lakes. 
Sections  19, 20, 29,  and  30  of  Le  Ray  are  in  massive  swells  30  to  40  feet  high.  The  northeast  part 
of  Jamestown,  and  the  vicinity  of  Marysburg,  are  quite  smooth,  only  undulating  5  to  15  feet  in 
long  distances. 

Eroded  valleys.  The  most  notable  topographic  features  of  this  county  are  the  trough-like 
valleys  that  have  been  excavated  by  its  rivers.  The  valley  of  the  Blue  Earth  river  through 
Shelby  and  Vernon  Center  is  from  75  to  100  feet  deep;  in  Rapidan  and  South  Bend,  before  joining 
the  Minnesota  valley,  its  depth  becomes  200  feet.  Its  exposures  of  rocks  underlying  the  drift 
begin  in  section  13,  Garden  City,  and  extend  interruptedly  to  its  mouth.  The  width  of  this 
valley,  between  the  tops  of  its  bluffs,  is  mainly  from  a  quarter  to  a  half  of  a  mile. 

Watonwan  river,  tributary  to  this  from  the  west,  has  a  valley  60  to  75  feet  deep  through 
Ceresco,  and  from  100  to  150  feet  deep  through  Garden  City.  Its  only  rock  exposures  are  a  few 
low  outcrops  of  Shakopee  limestone. 

Maple  river,  tributary  to  the  Le  Sueur  river,  flows  from  south  to  north ,  being  through  the  center 
of  the  county  nearly  parallel  with  the  Blue  Earth  river  and  three  miles  east  from  it.  In  Mapleton 
and  Sterling  the  valley  of  the  Maple  river  is  40  feet  below  the  general  level;  at  Good  Thunder,  75 
feet;  and  near  its  mouth  in  Rapidan,  150  feet.  The  last  two  miles  of  this  river,  in  sections  24,  13 
and  12,  Rapidan,  have  frequent  exposures,  and  good  quarries,  of  the  Shakopee  limestone. 

The  Big  Cobb  river  empties  into  the  Le  Sueur  about  one  and  a  half  miles  farther  east.  Its 
valley  increases  in  depth  fro"m  40  feet  in  the  southeast  part  of  the  county,  to  100  feet  at  the  quar- 
ries of  Shakopee  limestone  in  sections  19  and  18,  Decoria,  which  are  its  only  rock  older  than  the 
drift.  The  Little  Cobb  river  in  Medo  flows  about  40  feet  below  the  general  level, 

27 


41S  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Valleys.     Pre-glacial  erosion. 

The  valley  of  the  Le  Sueur  river  in  Blue  Earth  county  is  50  feet  below  the  average  surface  at 
Winnebago  Agency,  and  75  feet  below  the  highest  points;  thence  it  rapidly  deepens,  and  through 
Decoria,  Uapidan  and  South  Bend,  is  from  1 50  to  200  feet  deep.  Its  last  three  miles,  in  the  north- 
east part  of  Rapidan,  and  in  South  Bend,  have  numerous  exposures  of  rock.  Excepting  these 
and  the  other  outcrops  of  rock  before  mentioned,  the  material  through  which  the  valleys  of  the 
Blue  Earth  river  and  its  tributaries  are  eroded,  is  till,  which  encloses  only  few  and  thin  layers  of 
gravel  and  sand.  Their  bluffs  rise  steeply  from  narrow  bottom  lands  to  the  nearly  flat  expanse  of 
the  drift-sheet.  The  width  of  the  valleys  thus  enclosed  increases  with  their  depth  from  an  eighth 
of  a  mile  near  their  sources  to  a  third  or  half  a  mile  where  they  approach  the  Minnesota  river. 

Indian  lake,  three  miles  south  west  of  Mankato  and  one  mile  east  of  the  junction  of  the  Le  Sueur 
river  with  the  Blue  Earth,  occupies  an  old  valley  cut  by  the  Le  Sueur  river,  but  forsaken  because 
in  their  long-continued  erosion  the  barriers  bjtween  these  rivers  was  cut  through.  This  former 
valley  is  from  100  to  175  feet  below  the  general  level,  and  is  about  three  miles  long,  extending 
from  the  S.  W.  \  of  section  35  northeast  about  one  mile  to  Indian  lake  and  thence  two  miles  north 
to  the  west  part  of  the  city  of  Mankato.  Its  highest  point,  about  50  feet  iibove  the  present  Le  Sueur 
river,  is  southwest  of  the  lake,  which  outflows  northward.  West  of  this  valley  the  remnant  of  the 
drift-sheet  between  it  and  the  Blue  Earth  river  has  been  divided  by  erosion  into  two  plateaus,  and 
the  railroa  &  from  Mankato  to  Wells  passes  between  them  in  the  N.  E.  }  of  section  26.  A  third 
and  smaller  plateau  lies  a  half  mile  southwest  from  this  gap,  at  the  east  side  of  the  mouth  of  the 
Le  Sueur.  The  diversified  scenery  here  and  the  high  and  picturesque  bluffs  along  the  meandering 
courses  of  all  the  rivers  of  this  region  are  due  to  erosion.  Along  the  deeper  valleys  this  erosion 
has  usually  cut  through  the  thick  sheet  of  drift  and  reaches  a  considerable  depth  into  the  under- 
lying rocks. 

The  valley  of  the  Minnesota  river  in  Blue  Earth  county  is  bounded  above  Mankato  by  bluffs 
which  are  from  a  half  mile  to  one  miJe  distant  from  the  river.  Through  Mankato  this  distance 
is  about  a  mile,  but  below  this  city,  in  Lime  township,  it  becomes  fully  two  miles.  The  top  of 
these  bluffs  is  from  200  to  225  feet  above  the  river.  This  deep  val  ey  has  many  exposures  of  the 
rocks  that  underlie  the  drift.  About  a  third  part  of  Mankato,  including  Front  street,  is  on  the 
bottomland,  only  20  to  30  feet  above  the  river,  while  the  rest  of  the  city  occupies  a  gradual  slope 
that  rises  40  or  50  feet  to  the  base  of  the  bluffs  which  then  ascend  steeply  150  feet  to  the  general 
level  of  the  drift-sheet.  These  bluffs  of  boulder-clay  nowhere  present  a  smooth  front  like  that 
which  commonly  bounds  terraces  of  modified  drift;  but  they  are  seamed  and  gullied  into  deep  ra- 
vines by  frequent  rills  and  springs,  many  of  which  flow  only  at  times  of  snow-melting  or  of  large 
rains. 

At  the  quarries  and  lime-kilns  in  the  north  part  of  Mankato  the  thickness  of  the  limestone, 
varying  in  portions  to  calciferous  sandstone  and  shale,  all  of  light  buff  color,  is  about  65  feet,  and 
this  formation  i«  underlain  by  white  sandstone.  A  terrace  of  these  strata,  decreasing  from  two 
miles  to  one  mile  in  width,  and  averaging  75  feet  in  hight  above  the  river,  extends  thence  eight 
miles  north  to  Kasota;  beyond  which  it  continues  at  a  less  hight  on  the  other  side  of  the  river 
through  St.  Peter.  From  Mankato  to  the  north  line  of  Blue  Earth  county  this  terrace  is  nearly 
two  miles  wide,  and  is  bordered  on  the  east  by  bluffs  of  till,  about  150  feet  high,  their  tops  bejng 
approximately  225  feet  above  the  Minnesota  river. 

It  appears  that  the  excavation  in  the  old  rocks  along  the  Minnesota 
river  was  principally  the  work  of  pre-glacial  streams;  and  that  the  erosion 
which  has  been  effected  here  since  the  ice  age  has  been  mostly  limited  to 
clearing  away  a  part  of  the  drift  with  which  the  valley  was  then  filled. 
The  sheet  of  till  appears  to  be  spread  with  a  somewhat  uniform  thickness, 
averaging  about  150  feet,  upon  the  bed-rocks,  and  doubtless  at  first  pre- 
sented a  nearly  level  but  slightly  undulating,  unchanneled  expanse,  whose 
'owest  portions  coincided  approximately  with  the  pre-glacial  lines  of  drain- 


BLUE  EARTH  COUNTY.  419 

Elevations.] 

age.  The  river,  after  excavating  its  valley  through  this  sheet  of  glacial 
drift,  found  a  channel  in  the  underlying  rocks  which  was  eroded  before  the 
ice  age.  That  it  was  not  made  in  the  recent  epoch,  seems  to  be  proved  by 
the  fact  that  its  bordering  walls  of  rock,  varying  from  one  fourth  of  a  mile 
to  at  least  two  miles  apart,  are  through  long  distances  concealed  by  drift, 
which  alone  forms  one  or  both  sides  of  the  valley.  The  depth  of  the  pre- 
glacial  erosion  was  considarably  bslow  the  present  river,  as  is  shown  by 
the  boring  for  an  artesian  well  at  the  top  of  the  river-bluff  in  Mankato, 
where  the  bed-rock  was  reached  at  290  feet,  or  about  65  feet  lower  than 
the  river. 

Elevations.  The  following  hights  have  been  determined  by  railroad 
surveys  within  this  county;  the  reference,  unless  otherwise  stated,  being  to 
the  track  at  depots. 

St.  Paul  &•  Sioux  City  diviiion  of  the  Cliicago,  St.  Paul,  Minneapolis  &  Omaha  railway. 
Copied  from  profiles  in  the  office  of  T.  P.  Gere,  superintendent,  Saint  Paul. 

Miles  from  Feet  above 
St.  Paul.       Hie  sea. 

Mankato,  -      84.0  791 

Blue  Earth  river,  low  and  high  water.  86.2  753-774 

Blue  Earth  river,  bridge,  -      86.2  795 

South  Bend.  87.6  808 

Minneopa  bridge,  68  feet  above  water,  89.2  863 

Minneopa,  89.4  871 

Summit,  grade,  95.6  992 

Lake  Crystal,  97.3  994 

Summit,  grade,  -    102.2  1009 

Iceland,  104.1  998 

Winona  &  St.  Peter  division  of  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern  railway. 
From  John  E.  Blunt,  engineer,  Winona. 

Miles  from   Feet  above 
Winona.       the  sea. 

Eagle  Lake,  -    122.56        1012 

MankatD  Junction,  127.99          906 

Mankato,      -  -    131.00          781 

Mankato  branch  of  the  Southern  Minnesota  division,  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul  railway. 
From  George  B.  Woodworth,  assistant  engineer,  LaCrosse. 

Miles  frim    Feet  above 
l.a  Crosse.      tlie  sea. 

Mapleton,  161.4  1031 

Maple  river, -water,       -  168.5  935 

Good  Thunder,  169.3  974 

Rapidan,  175.6  979 

Le  Sueur  river,  water,  772;  bridge,                                                            -    177.9  825 

Crossing  St.  Paul  &  Sioux  City  railroad,  181.3  795 

Mankato,  -    182.5  770 

The  low-water  slope  of  the  Minnesota  river  descends  35  feet,  approxi- 
mately, along  the  north  side  of  Blue  Earth  county,  according  to  the 


420  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Elevations.    Soil  and  timber. 

following  elevations  from  the  United  States  engineer  corps.     Its  highest 
Hoods  rise  about  25  feet  above  this  line. 

Minnesota  river,  low  wati  i •. 

Feet  above 
the  sea. 

At  the  northwest  corner  of  Blue  Earth  county,  about 778 

At  Judson 760 

At  South  Bend  and  the  mouth  of  the  Bl  ue  Earth  river 756 

At  Mankato  .". 7">i> 

At  the  line  between  Blue  Earth  and  Le  Sueur  counties,  about 71:; 

At  the  points  of  crossing  the  boundary  of  the  county,  the  elevation  of  the  Watonwan  river 
is  about  960  feet;  of  the  Blue  Earth  and  Maple  rivers,  about  990;  and  of  the  Le  Sueur  river,  about 
1010.  The  hights  above  the  sea  of  the  various  townships  of  the  county,  excepting  their  portions 
which  have  been  deeply  excavated  by  rivers,  are  approximately  as  follows:  Lime,  the  terrace  of 
limestone  in  the  west  part  of  the  township,  reaching  about  two  miles  easterly  from  the  Minnesota 
river,  820  to  840,  and  the  remaining  two-thirds,  east  from  the  top  of  the  bluffs,  980  to  1020; 
Jamestown  and  Le  Ray,  1000  to  1060;  Mankato,  975  to  1020;  South  Bend,  plateaus  between  the 
valleys,  960  to  990;  Judson  and  Cambria,  975  to  1000;  Butternut  Valley,  980  to  1020;  Lincoln  and 
Garden  City,  990  to  1020;  Rapidan,  975  to  1000;  Decoria,  990  to  1040;  McPherson,  Medo,  and 
Danville,  1025  to  1075;  Beauford  and  Mapleton,  1000  to  1040;  Lyra.  975  to  1025;  Veruon  Center 
and  Ceresco,  1000  to  1040;  Sterling  and  Shelby,  1010  to  1060;  and  Pleasant  Mound,  1025  to  about 
1100.  The  southwest  part  of  the  last  named  township,  which  is  the  most  southwestern  of  this 
county,  appears  to  be  the  highest  portion  of  its  entire  area  of  flat  or  gently  undulating  drift;  and 
the  kames,  or  irregular  hillocks  and  short  ridges  of  gravel  and  sand,  in  section  25  of  this  town- 
ship, rising  30  to  75  feet  above  the  adjoining  region,  and  approximately  1100  to  1150  feet  above 
the  sea,  are  the  most  elevated  points  of  land  in  Blue  Earth  county.  These  hillocks  are  thus  about 
400  feet  above  the  lowest  land  of  the  county,  in  the  valley  of  the  Minnesota  river. 

The  mean  elevation  of  Blue  Earth  county  is  1,000  feet,  very  nearly,  above 
the  sea;  but  would  be  1,025,  without  the  reduction  for  its  eroded  valleys. 

Soil  and  timber.  The  soil  of  this  county  is  uniformly  very  productive, 
and  is  well  adapted  for  all  crops  which  can  be  cultivated  in  this  latitude. 
Though  the  land  is  mostly  level  or  only  slightly  undulating,  it  is  yet 
so  intersected  with  water-courses  that  nearly  all  portions  are  well  drained, 
giving  opportunity  for  early  sowing  and  planting,  and  preventing  damage 
to  crops  by  heavy  rains.  At  the  surface  is  a  stratum  of  black  earth  usually 
about  two  feet,  but  varying  from  one  to  four  feet  in  depth.  It  is  clay, 
with  more  or  less  intermixture  of  sand  and  gravel,  and  including  occa- 
sionally a  stone  or  boulder  of  considerable  size.  Its  black  color  has  been 
produced  by  the  decay  of  vegetation  through  all  the  years  since  this  de- 
posit was  spread  here  in  the  ice  age.  The  subsoil  is  the  same  glacial  clay 
or  till,  without  this  organic  matter,  and  of  light  yellowish-gray  color  to  a 
depth  of  ten  or  twenty  feet,  below  which  it  is  darker  and  bluish.  This  dif- 
ference has  been  produced  by  water  and  air,  which  to  these  depths  below 
the  surface  have  changed  the  carbonate  of  iron  in  this  formation  to  the 


BLUE  EARTH   COUNTY.  421 

Trees  an.l  shrubs.] 

hydrated  sesquioxide.  .A  considerable  proportion  of  carbonate  of  lime  is 
present  in  the  soil  of  all  this  region,  adding  much  to  its  fertility  and  mak- 
ing the  water  of  wells  hard;  but  no  appreciable  amount  of  the  bitterly 
alkaline  magnesic  and  sodic  sulphates  are  found. 

Aboiit  five-sixths  of  this  county  was  naturally  prairie,  and  supplied 
magnificent  pasturage  for  the  herds  of  the  first  immigrants.  This  region 
is  now  entirely  occupied  by  farms,  and  is  mainly  under  cultivation.  It 
generally  has  a  good  supply  of  timber,  which  fills  its  numerous  river  val- 
leys with  a  stately  growth,  and  forms  frequent  groves  on  the  shores  of  its 
lakes,  and  occasionally  upon  the  general  surface  of  the  country  at  some  dis- 
tance from  lakes  and  streams.  The  northeast  part  of  the  county  is  cov- 
ered by  a  heavy  forest,  which  was  originally  continuous  but  has  now  many 
clearings  and  excellent  farms.  The  soil  has  the  same  character  and  pro- 
ductiveness as  upon  the  prairies.  This  timbered  district  includes  the  town- 
ships of  Lime  (excepting  the  terrace  in  its  west  part),  Jamestown,  Le  Ray, 
Mankato,  and  portions  of  McPherson,  Decoria  and  Rapidan,  reaching  south 
to  the  Le  Sueur  river.  It  is  the  southern  end  of  the  Big  Woods,  which 
thence  extend  north  nearly  a  hundred  miles. 

The  trees  which  make  up  the  woods  of  Blue  Earth  county  are  mostly 
more  valuable  for  fuel  than  for  lumber  for  building  purposes  or  wooden 
manufactures.  The  white  pine,  which  supplies  the  greater  part  of  the 
lumber  used  in  this  region,  is  not  found  in  this  county.  The  principal  trees, 
according  to  Messrs.  Ellison  and  Ford,  owners  of  a  saw-mill  in  sec.  29,  Le 
Ray,  arranged  in  their  estimated  order  of  abundance,  are  the  white  or 
American  elm,  bass,  and  iron  wood,  very  plentiful;  bur  oak,  slippery  or 
red  elm,  black  ash,  box-elder  and  willows,  common;  sugar  maple,  white 
ash,  black  oak,  wild  plum,  June-berry.  American  crab-apple,  common  pop- 
lar or  aspen,  and  hackberry,  somewhat  common;  butternut,  and  bitternut, 
soft  or  red  maple,  black  cherry,  large-toothed  poplar,  cottonwood,  water 
beech,  yellow  or  gray  birch,  paper  or  canoe  birch,  red  cedar,  black  walnut 
and  the  Kentucky  coffee-tree,  rare;  but  no  red  nor  white  oak,  nor  tama- 
rack. Among  the  shrubs  of  the  county  are  the  frost  grape,  Virginia  creep- 
er, climbing  bitter-sweet,  hazel,  smooth  sumach,  prickly  ash,  choke  cherry, 
nine-bark,  meadow-sweet,  thorn,  rose,  red  and  black  raspberries,  high  black- 
berry, prickly  and  smooth  wild  gooseberries,  black  currant,  wolf  berry,  com- 


422  TnE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Geological  structure. 

mon  elder,  high-bush  cranberry,  and  species  of  honeysuckle  and  cornel. 

GEOLOGICAL  STRUCTURE. 

In  the  valleys  of  the  Minnesota  river,  and  of  the  Blue  Earth,  Waton- 
wan,  Le  Sueur.  Maple  and  Big  Cobb  rivers,  are  numerous  exposures  of  the 
middle  members  of  the  Lower  Magnesian  or  Calciferous  series,  these  being  in 
ascending  order  the  St.  Lawrence  limestone,  the  Jordan  sandstone  and  the 
Shakopee  limestone.  These  formations  are  nearly  horizontal,  and  they 
probably  underlie  the  drift  or  the  Cretaceous  throughout  the  whole  county; 
but,  because  of  the  great  depth  of  the  till,  they  outcrop  only  in  the  bot- 
tomlands and  lower  half  of  the  bluffs  of  these  deep  valleys.  Under  these 
strata,  the  deep  well  at  Mankato  penetrates  the  St.  Croix  shales  and  sand- 
stone, which  are  the  lowest  members  of  the  Lower  Magnesian  or  Calcifer- 
ous series,  and  a  great  thickness  of  the  Potsdam  sandstone  and  shales. 
Over  the  Lower  Magnesian  rocks,  and  often  filling  water-worn  cavities  in 
them,  Cretaceous  beds  of  clay,  and  sometimes  of  sand  and  gravel,  are  found 
at  several  places  in  the  county.  The  various  geological  formations  to  be 
described  in  the  order  of  their  age,  from  the  oldest  to  the  newest,  are: 
1.  Potsdam  sandstone  and  shales;  2.  St.  Croix  sandstone  and  shales;  3.  St. 
Lawrence  limestone;  4.  Jordan  sandstone ;  5.  Shakopee  limestone  ;  6.  Creta- 
ceous beds;  7.  Glacial  and  modified  drift. 

Potsdam  sandstone  and  shales.  One  of  the  deepest  drillings  ever  made  in 
the  United  States  or  the  world,  is  that  done  a  few  years  ago  at  Mankato, 
in  the  hope  of  obtaining  an  artesian  well.  This  was  in  the  southeast  edge 
of  the  city,  at  the  top  of  a  portion  of  the  bluffs  which  is  commonly  called 
"  Bunker  hill ".  Its  elevation  above  low  water  of  the  Minnesota  river  is 
about  225  feet,  making  its  hight  above  the  sea  approximately  975  feet.  The 
depth  of  this  drilling  is  2204  feet,  of  which  the  greater  part,  reaching  from 
about  900  feet  to  the  bottom,  is  in  red  sandstone  and  shales  that  are  believed 
to  belong  to  the  later  part  of  the  Potsdam  period,  being  intermediate  in  age 
between  the  St.  Croix  group  and  the  Cupriferous  or  Keweenawan  series, 
which  Prof.  Winchell  and  the  writer  refer  to  the  earlier  part  of  this  Pots- 
dam period. 

No  exact  record  can  be  found  to  show  the  character  of  all  the  strata  passed  through  and  the 
depths  at  which  each  began  and  ended;  but  two  sets  of  specimens  of  the  rock  encountered  at  suc- 
cessive depths  are  preserved,  one  by  Mr.  W.  Hodapp,  druggist,  showing  the  material  at  eighteen 


BLUE  EARTH  COUNTY.  423 

Deep  well  at  Mankato.] 

points  in  the  section,  and  the  other  by  the  city  council,  representing  twenty-nine  depths.  The 
second  of  these  series  of  drillings  was  divided  and  supplied  a  complete  duplicate  set,  which  has 
been  placed  in  the  state  museum.  Descriptive  notes  were  also  taken  of  Mr.  Ilodapp's  series,  and 
the  information  gained  from  both  is  presented  in  the  following  table.  Mr.  G.  C.  Hurt  states  that 
the  thickness  of  the  drift  here  was  290  feet,  consisting  mainly  of  the  ordinary  boulder-clay  or  till, 
excepting  occasional  layers  of  sand,  varying  from  a  few  inches  to  five  feet  in  thickness.  He  de- 
scribes the  first  stratum  of  rock,  reached  at  290  feet,  as  a  hard  limestone,  of  light  gray  color. 

Drillings  from  the  deep  well  at  Mankato. 

At  310  feet,  calcareous  clay  or  shale,  of  greenish  color. 

At  330  feet,  dolomite  (magnesian  limestone),  reddish  gray,  somewhat  siliceous. 

At  380  feet,  siliceous,  reddish  gray  dolomite,  containing  green-sand. 

At  390  feet,  sandstone,  with  calcareous  and  greenish  cement;  containing  much  green-sand; 
the  pulverized  portions  appearing  like  green  shale. 

At  450  feet,  pinkish,  somewhat  siliceous  dolomite. 

At  453  feet,  dull  red  quartzyte,  or  firmly  cemented  sandstone,  finely  granular,  containing 
minute  specks  of  green-sand. 

At  495  feet,  white,  friable  sandstone. 

At  560  feet,  fine  shale,  of  dull  pinkish  color;  not  arenaceous,  but  the  specimen  of  drillings 
includes  intermixed  sand,  probably  derived  from  a  higher  part  of  the  well. 

At  600  feet,  like  the  last. 

At  640  feet,  yellowish,  iron-rusted  sandstone,  with  rounded,  mainly  siliceous  grains;  also 
including  angular  particles  of  dark  red  quartzyte,  or  hard,  firmly  cemented  sandstone,  similar  to 
that  at  453.  Some  of  the  quartz  grains  are  covered  with  a  thick  scale,  which  on  the  outside  is 
iridescent  or  sometimes  black.  These  coated  grains  are  occasionally  aggregated  into  little  lumps 
which  seem  to  be  the  same  with  the  dark  red  particles  mentioned. 

At  645  feet,  similar  to  the  last,  but  with  less  of  the  hard,  dark  red  sandstone,  and  fewer 
coated  grains. 

At  650  feet,  fine-grained  sandstone. 

At  660  feet,  yellowish  sand  rock,  consisting  of  white  and  yellowish  siliceous  grains,  all  rounded; 
and  also  containing  occasional  particles  of  red  grit,  and  of  greenish  white,  kaolin- like  matter. 

At  800  feet,  coarse-grained,  light  gray  sandstone. 

At  850  feet,  light  gray  sandstone,  like  the  last,  but  less  coarse. 

At  915  feet,  shale,  slightly  gritty,  ocher-like,  of  dark,  dull  red  color. 

At  1010  feet,  sandstone,  composed  mainly  of  grains  of  quartz,  partly  white,  and  partly 
stained  with  the  dull  red  color  of  the  last. 

At  1060  feet,  iron-rusted,  somewhat  pinkish,  shaly  sandstone. 

At  1100,  1110, 1130,  and  1140  feet,  light  red,  medium-grained  sandstone,  consisting  mostly 
of  particles  of  white  quartz,  which  are  more  or  less  covered  with  pinkish  shale. 

At  1150  feet,  coarse  gray  sandstone,  with  mostly  angular  grains. 

At  1240  feet,  white  sandstone,  medium-grained,  slightly  red-stained. 

At  1265  feet,  fine,  light  pinkish  sandstone. 

At  1270  feet,  coarser  sandstone,  reddish  gray. 

At  1280  feet,  sandrock,  having  the  quartz  grains  covered  with  films  of  red  shale. 

At  1320  feet,  reddish,  shaly  sandrock. 

At  1327  feet,  very  fine-grained,  soft,  pinkish  gray  sandstone. 

At  1332  feet,  sandstone  like  that  at  1150. 

At  1340  and  1342  feet,  fine,  reddish  gray,  soft  sandstone,  partly  ochery  or  iron-rusted. 

At  1450  feet,  coarse,  somewhat  iron-rusted  sandstone,  made  up  largely  of  grains  of  white 
quartz,  party  water-worn,  but  often  angular,  of  all  sizes  up  to  an  eighth  or  sixth  of  an  inch  in 
diameter. 

At  1500  feet,  similar  to  the  last. 

At  1600  feet,  medium-grained  sandstone,  reddish,  in  part  ochery  and  shaly. 

At  1650  feet,  fine  sandstone,  whitish;  including  red  and  orange,  apparently  clayey,  grains. 

At  1700  feet,  arenaceous,  ochery  shale,  dull  red  in  color. 

At  1720  feet,  red  shale,  without  apparent  sand-grains. 


424  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Potsdam  and  St.  Croix  formations. 

At  1810  feet,  fine  sandstone,  with  grains  partly  light  gray,  and  partly  dusky  brown,  the 
latter  averaging  slightly  larger  than  the  former.  In  the  pulverized  drillings  these  differently 
colored  portions  remain  separate,  though  abundantly  shaken;  giving  the  powdered  stone  a  mottled 
and  streaked  appearance. 

At  1827  feet,  medium  grained,  reddish,  friable  sandstone. 

At  1860  feet,  fine-grained,  reddish  gray,  soft  sandstone. 

At  1872  feet,  ochery  and  siliceous,  very  fine-grained,  dull  red  shale. 

At  2000  feet,  red  shale,  with  occasional  grains  of  sand;  resembling  pipestone  in  color  and 
fineness;  but  with  scarcely  more  hardness  than  common  clay. 

At  2150  feet,  similar  red  shale,  slightly  arenaceous. 

At  2200  and  at  2204  feet,  was  the  same  red  shale,  containing  fine  grains  of  white  quartz. 

From  the  depth  of  915  feet  in  this  well,  to  its  bottom  at  2204  feet,  its 
section  thus  consists  of  sandstone  and  shale,  mostly  reddish  in  color,  and 
not  remarkably  indurated.  At  915  feet  and  again  at  1700  and  1720  feet  are 
beds  of  red  shale;  but  from  1010  to  1650  feet,  and  from  1810  to  1860  feet, 
the  specimens  are  siliceous,  principally  reddish  and  soft  or  friable,  ordinary 
sandstone,  with  water-worn  grains.  At  and  below  the  depth  of  1872  feet, 
the  remaining  332  feet  consist  largely  and  perhaps  wholly  of  dull  red, 
slightly  arenaceous  shale,  which  extends  below  the  bottom  of  the  well. 
This  formation  of  sandstone  and  shales,  thus  shown  to  have  a  thickness  of 
about  1300  feet,  appears  to  be,  stratigraphically  and  lithologically,  the  same 
with  the  .nearly  horizontal  red  sandstone,  including  frequent  beds  of  shale, 
which  borders  the  south  shore  of  lake  Superior  almost  continuously  from 
Fond  du  Lac  to  Grand  island  and  again  rises  into  view  at  the  falls  of  St. 
Mary. 

St.  Croix  sandstone  and  shales.  The  white  sandstone  in  this  well  at  495 
feet,  the  shale  at  560  and  600  feet,  and  the  light-colored  sandstone  from  640 
to  850  feet,  belong  to  the  St.  Croix  formation,  which  is  exposed  in  the  bluffs 
of  the  St.  Croix  and  Mississippi  rivers.  These  beds,  with  the  St.  Lawrence, 
Jordan,  Shakopee  and  St.  Peter  formations,  are  the  western  equivalents  of 
the  Calciferous,  Quebec  and  Chazy  rocks  in  the  northeastern  United  States 
and  Canada.  The  presence  of  the  Potsdam  sandstone  and  shales  beneath 
the  St.  Croix  in  this  and  several  other  artesian  wells  in  southeastern  Min- 
nesota, and  the  uniformity  of  the  sections  thus  shown,  demonstrate  that 
these  are  two  distinct  formations,  and  make  it  almost  certain  that  the  St. 
Croix  beds  lie  conformably  upon  the  latest  Potsdam  deposits. 

St.  Lawrence  limestone.  This  formation  is  the  lowest  of  the  three  mem- 
bers of  the  Lower  Magnesian  series  which  are  exposed  in  the  valley  of  the 
Minnesota  river  and  its  tributaries  in  Blue  Earth  county.  It  was  encoun- 


BLUE  EARTH  COUNTY.  425 

St.  Lawrence  limestone.] 

tered  in  the  Mankato  well,  according  to  Mr.  G.  C.  Burt,  at  290  feet,  and 
extended  163  feet  to  the  depth  of  453  feet  below  the  surface.  Besides  the 
magnesian  limestone  from  which  the  formation  takes  its  name,  it  includes 
beds  of  shale  and  sandstone,  mostly  calcareous;  and  in  all  these  deposits 
it  contains  green-sand,  sometimes  in  minute  scattered  grains,  but  often  in 
considerable  amount,  forming  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  rock  as  to  make 
it  appear  like  green  shale,  in  the  specimens  pulverized  by  drilling. 

The  only  outcrops  of  the  St.  Lawrence  limestone  in  this  county  are  in 
the  valley  of  the  Minnesota  river  in  Judson;  and,  with  the  ledges  of  the 
same  rock  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  at  Hebron,  in  Nicollet  town- 
ship and  county,  these  are  the  first  exposures  of  the  Lower  Magnesian 
series  found  in  descending  this  valley.  Along  all  the  lower  part  of  the 
Minnesota  river,  alternate  strata  of  limestone  and  sandstone  belonging  to 
this  series  are  frequently  exposed  in  the  bluff's  and  bottomland. 

In  Judson,  at  the  middle  part  of  the  north  side  of  the  township,  the  St.  Lawrence  limestone 
is  exposed  along  a  distance  of  about  one  and  a  half  miles,  and  has  been  considerably  quarried  at 
several  places.  It  rises  30  to  35  feet  above  the  river,  and  forms  the  border  of  a  terrace  covered 
by  modified  drift  of  the  same  hight  and  a  half  mile  wide,  which  lies  between  it  and  the  bluffs. 
Next  southeast,  at  the  east  line  of  section  3,  Judson,  the  road  ascends  to  a  terrace  60  feet  above 
the  river  and  a  quarter  of  a  mile  wide,  composed  superficially  of  drift  and  abundantly  strown  with 
granitic  and  gneissic  boulders  of  all  sizes  up  to  ten  feet  in  diameter.  Eastward  this  terrace  sinks 
a  little,  to  a  hight  about  45  feet  above  the  river,  and  near  the  middle  of  the  south  part  of  section 
2  it  shows  a  bed  of  reddish  arenaceous  limestone,  which  does  not,  however,  rise  above  the  surface 
of  the  drift.  It  is  believed  to  be  the  upper  part  of  the  St.  Lawrence  formation.  Leaving  this 
terrace  at  about  a  half  mile  farther  southeast,  the  road  next  climbs  about  125  feet  in  the  N.  W.  J 
of  section  12,  passing  an  unnamed  waterfall  in  the  Jordan  sandstone,  the  brink  of  which  is  about 
90  or  100  feet  above  the  river. 

At  Mrs.  G.  W .  Wolf's  house  (Judson  post-office),  in  the  S.  E.  J-  of  section  33,  this  limestone  has 
been  quarried  along  an  extent  of  about  twenty  rods,  exposing  a  vertical  thickness  of  four  to  eight 
feet,  the  top  being  30  to  35  feet  above  low  water  of  the  river.  Another  quarry  on  the  same  farm, 
about  sixty  rods  farther  southeast,  also  shows  a  thickness  of  eight  feet.  The  section  here  is  at 
top  5  or  6  feet  of  a  very  hard  and  durable,  flesh-colored  or  buff,  magnesian  limestone,  somewhat 
striped  or  mottled  with  greenish  tints,  in  layers  from  a  few  inches  to  one  foot  thick,  having  their 
planes  of  bedding  and  jointage  often  covered  with  green  films;  then  a  dark  greenish,  sandy 
shale,  much  of  it  finely  laminated,  crumbling  under  the  influence  of  the  weather,  1J  feet;  chang- 
ing below  to  a  yellowish  gray  calcareous  sandstone,  about  4  feet  thick;  underlain  by  sandy  shale, 
which  is  blue  for  its  first  foot,  becoming  yellowish  gray  below,  excavated  only  2  or  3  feet,  but 
reaching  deeper.  'All  these  beds,  and  their  other  exposures,  both  in  Judson  and  Nicollet,  are 
nearly  level,  but  appear  to  have  a  slight  general  dip,  in  some  portions  amounting  to  two  or  three 
degrees,  to  the  southeast. 

About  a  third  of  a  mile  west  of  Mrs.  Wolf's,  a  hard  calciferous  sandrock  is  exposed  along  a 
little  creek  for  a  distance  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  sometimes  showing  a  vertical  thickness  of  six  feet. 
It  is  green  when  first  uncovered,  but  weathers  to  a  mottled  buff,  of  yellowish  and  reddish  colors. 
It  is  probably  the  same  with  the  third  stratum  of  the  foregoing  section,  and  with  the  arenaceous 
limestone  and  crumbling  sandstone  seen  in  the  race-way  of  the  stone  mill  at  Hebron. 

Near  the  ferry,  about  a  mile  east  from  the  first  described  outcrops,  a  thickness  of  eight  feet 
of  this  limestone  is  seen  at  John  Goodwin's  qnarry,  lying  25  feet  above  the  river.  Professor 


426  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Jordan  sandstone. 

Wincliell  says  of  this:  "  The  beds  are  four  to  eight  inches,  although  the  uppermost  three  or  four 
feet  of  the  quarry  are  very  much  weathered  and  in  thinner  beds.  The  bedding  planes  are  usually 
entirely  covered  with  a  green  coating,  and  the  body  of  the  whole  is  specked  thickly,  and  some- 
times largely  made  up  of  green  particles." 

The  Jordan  sandstone  directly  and  conformably  overlies  the  St.  Law- 
rence formation,  but  their  contact  has  not  been  observed  in  Blue  Earth 
county.  From  the  waterfall  mentioned  in  section  12,  Judson,  this  sand- 
stone, gray  or  white,  sometimes  stained  in  small  portions  with  iron-rust, 
soft  and  often  friable,  has  many  exposures  eastward  along  the  Minnesota 
valley,  and  also  in  the  valleys  of  the  Blue  Earth  and  Le  Sueur  rivers. 

In  going  southeast  from  this  waterfall  the  road  soon  rises  about  75  feet  to  a  terrace  of  modi- 
fied drift,  upon  which  it  runs  one  and  one-fourth  miles  to  a  wind-mill  in  the  N.  E.  }  of  section  18, 
South  Bend,  where  this  terrace  is  called  "  Wind-mill  bluff."  Next  the  toad  descends  to  a  terrace 
of  the  Jordan  sandstone,  which  is  frequently  exposed  upon  a  width  that  varies  from  an  eighth  to 
a  fourth  of  a  mile  thro  it  gh  a  distance  of  two  and  a  half  miles  east-southeast  to  South  Bend,  its 
bight  above  the  river  being  about  100  feet.  The  beautiful  Minneopa  falls,  in  the  N.  W.  \  of 
section  21,  South  Bend,  four  miles  west  of  Mankato.  have  been  produced  by  the  excavation  of 
Lyons  creek  in  this  sandstone  which  here  contaii  s  hard  layers  near  its  top,  but  is  soft  below, 
being  readily  undermined  by  the  waterfall  and  crumbled  by  weathering.  The  brink  of  this  fall 
is  about  95  feet,  and  the  highest  exposure  of  the  rock  here  about  110  feet  above  the  river,  these 
hights  being  850  and  865  feet  above  the  sea. 

Of  Minneopa  falls  Prof.  Winchell  writes*:  "  The  perpendicular  fall  of  the  water  is  about  30 
feet,  but  45  feet  of  the  sandstone  can  be  made  out.  Before  reaching  the  point  where  the  water 
leaps  overr  the  stream  works  its  way  through  a  perpendicular  thickness  of  15  feet  of  sandstone 
beds.  It  then  comes  in  contact  with  a  harder  portion  of  the 'sandstone,  which  has  a  thickness  of 
about  six  feet.  This  resists  the  water  longer  than  the  underlying  layers,  and  maintains  a  pro- 
jecting shelf.  The  mist  that  ris.  s  keeps  the  walls  wet,  and  the  freezing  of  winter  crumbles  away 
the  soft  sandstone,  so  as  to  form  about  the  pool  where  the  water  strikes,  a  walled  amphitheater 
rising  about  40  feet  on  each  side.  This  glen  is  more  or  less  shaded  with  elms,  cedars,  birches, 
butternuts  and  oaks.  It  is  prolonged  in  the  form  of  a  rough  and  shaded  gorge,  worn  in  the  solid 
rock,  of  about  the  same  depth,  down  to  the  point  of  issue  of  the  stream  upon  the  Minnesota 
bottoms,  the  distance  of  about  half  a  mile.  The  gorge  below  the  fall  is  darkened  by  the  dense 
foliage,  Ihe  stream  in  its  course  being  much  of  the  time  hid  from  sight  but  for  a  few  rods.  This 
gorge  is  crossed,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  below  the  falls,  by  the  St.  Paul  and  Sioux  City  rail- 
road. At  the  foot  of  the  falls  a  little  lake  of  water  is  confined  by  the  upheaved  pebbles  in  front 
of  the  cascade.  The  gravel  of  the  surrounding  beach  is  hard  enough  to  admit  of  a  passage  on  all 
sides.  There  are  also  several  narrow  paths  along  the  walls  of  the  amphitheater,  where  the  fallen 
fragments  are  sufficiently  turfed  and  overgrown  to  permit  a  passage  up  or  down  the  stream.  An 
elm  tree  which  is  nearly  three  feet  in  diameter  grows  near  the  foot  of  the  cascade,  and  on  the 
right  bank.  Its  annual  rings  of  growth  would  indicate  at  least  some  part  of  the  time  elapsed 
since  the  retreat  of  the  fall  from  the  place  where  it  stands.  Within  six  feet  of  it  the  perpen- 
dicular sandstone  wall  rises  to  the  bight  of  over  forty  feet.  The  stream  is  subject  to  great 
fluctuations  of  volume,  sometimes  becoming  quite  dry.  In  passing  down  the  Minneopa  gorge  to 
its  union  with  the  Minnesota  river,  the  bluffs  become  more  and  more  wooded,  the  slone  only 
showing  alternately  in  patches  on  opposite  sides,  and  no  lower  view  of  the  Jordan  sandstone  can 
be  had,  at  least  none  that  can  be  proved  to  be  lower." 

The  unnamed  waterfall  in  the  N.  W.  j  of  section  12,  Judson,  three  and  a  half  miles  north- 
west from  Minneopa,  has  also  been  described  by  Prof.  Winchell.f  "A  little  creek,  which  is  dry  in 
summer  time,  exposes  first  about  two  feet  of  coarse  sandstone  in  its  bed.  Following  the  creek 


'Second  annual  report,  p.  ISO.     t dame,  p.  152. 


BLUE  EARTH  COUNTY.  427 

Jordan  sandstone.] 

down  a  few  rods,  there  is  a  perpendicular  fall  of  about  fourteen  feet,  which  in  time  of  high  watei 
must  make  a  handsome  cascade,  similar  to  the  Minneopa  waterfall.  The  immediate  cause  of  the 
fall  is  the  occurrence  of  a  layer  of  about  a  foot  with  a  harder  or  more  emluring  cement,  underlain 
by  crumbling  sandstone The  alternation  of  layers  here  is  as  follows: 

No.  1.    Closely  cemented  sandstone,  projecting  beyond  the  next 5  inches. 

No.  '2.    Coarse  white  sand,  in  water-worn  grains,  crumbling  out  easily 6  inches. 

No.  3.    Same  as  No.  1 6  inches. 

No.  4.    Same  as  No.  2 1  foot. 

No.  5.    Brink  of  falls.    Same  as  No.  1 1  foot. 

No.  6.    Same  as  No.  2,  seen 30  feet. 

"This  horizon  is  undoubtedly  the  same  as  that  at  Minneopa  falls.  The  appearance  of  the 
gorge  below  the  falls,  and  the  occurrence  of  a  cemented  part  giving  rise  to  the  perpendicular  fall 
of  the  water,  are  very  much  the  same.  The  beds  lie  here,  as  there,  nearly  horizontal.  The  grains 
of  sand  are,  perhaps,  somewhat  coarser  here  than  at  Minneopa. 

"This  sandstone  can  be  seen  in  the  bluffs  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Minnesota  river,  sur- 
mounted by  a  great  thickness  of  drift.  The  bluffs  are  mainly  wooded,  but  some^smooth  but- 
tresses and  slopes,  wrought  apparently  in  the  drift,  and  covered  with  grass,  yet  reveal  the  stone, 
large  slabs  and  blocks  from  which  lie  on  the  hillside." 

The  top  of  this  sandstone  in  the  foregoing  section  is  approximately  100  feet  above  the  river 
and  860  feet  above  the  sea.  About  50  feet  below  this  is  the  highest  outcrop  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
limestone,  and  this  is  probably  very  near  the  hight  of  the  line  of  junction  of  these  formations. 
East  from  Minneopa  falls  the  Jordan  sandstone  has  a  slight  dip  eastward,  and  in  one  and  a  half 
miles  sinks  to  a  hight  only  65  feet  above  the  river,  or  820  feet  above  the  sea,  at  David  P.  Davis' 
quarry  in  South  Bend,  where  the  southeast  end  of  its  terrace  before  described  (page  426)  shows  a 
vertical  exposure  of  20  feet,  from  65  to  85  feet  above  the  river,  of  the  overlying  Shakopee 
limestone.  Only  the  upper  one  or  two  feet  of  the  sandstone  is  exposed,  seen  at- nearly  the  same 
hight  with  the  railroad  track  and  on  each  side  of  it,  at  this  quarry.  At  the  former  South  Bend 
station,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  farther  east,  the  top  of  the  Jordan  sandstone  and  its  junction  with 
this  limestone  is  three  feet  above  the  railroad,  55  feet  above  low  water  in  the  river,  and  8 1 1  feet 
above  the  sea. 

A  mile  farther  east,  at  the  highway  bridge  crossing  Blue  Earth  river,  the  line  of  junction  of 
these  formations  is  40  feet,  very  nearly,  above  low  water  of  the  Minnesota  river.  At  the  quarries 
and  lime-kilns  in  the  north  part  of  Mankato,  this  line  is  about  10  feet  above  low  water,  the  river 
at  this  stage  being  there  750  feet  above  the  sea.  About  a  mile  and  three-quarters  below  Man- 
kato, at  a  point  on  the  river  sometimes  known  as  "Hurricane  bend,"  in  section  36  of  Lime  town- 
ship, the  Jordan  sandstone  reaches  45  feet  above  the  river,  being  overlain  by  the  Shakopee  lime- 
stone. 

The  thickness  of  the  Jordan  sandstone  in  Blue  Earth  county  appears  to  be  about  75  feet 
In  the  section  of  the  deep  well  at  Mankato,  this  formation  was  absent,  having  been  wholly  re- 
moved, with  perhaps  some  of  the  underlying  St.  Lawrence  limestone,  by  pre-glacial  erosion.  The 
top  of  this  sandstone  at  its  most  western  outcrops,  in  Judson  and  at  Minneopa,  has  a  hight  above 
the  sea  of  860  or  865  feet,  while  a  half  dozen  miles  eastward  in  Mankato  and  Lime,  its  top  is  at 
760  to  790  feet.  The  dip  eastward  thus  averages  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  per  mile,  but  in  some  por- 
tions, as  from  Minneopa  to  South  Bend,  it  is  as  much  as  thirty  feet  to  the  mile,  or  about  a  third 
of  a  degree. 

Along  the  Blue  Earth  river  the  Jordan  sandstone  and  the  overlying  Shakopee  limestone  are 
seen  at  many  places  in  the  two  and  a  half  miles  below  the  mouth  of  the  LeSueur  river;  and 
above  this  point  these  strata  are  frequently  seen  in  the  bluffs  of  the  Blue  Earth  river  along  a  dis- 
tance of  two  miles  from  the  new  bridge  in  section  27,  South  Bend,  westward  to  the  N.  W.  J  of 
section  29.  The  course  of  the  river  in  this  distance  passes  about  one  mile  south  of  Minneopa  falls. 
Farther  up  the  Blue  Earth  river  no  outcrops  of  the  Shakopee  limestone  are  found,  but  this  sand- 
stone continues  in  exposures  in  the  lower  part  of  the  bluffs,  being  in  sight  and  forming  vertical 
banks  on  one  side  or  the  other  along  nearly  the  entire  extent  of  four  and  a  half  miles,  measured 
in  a  straight  line,  to  the  N.  E.  }  of  section  13,  Garden  City,  ending  near  the  former  site  of  Cap- 
pel's  mill,  half  a  mile  below  the  mouth  of  the  Watonwan  river.  In  the  two  miles  above  the  new 


428  THE  UEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

jurtlan  sandstone. 

bridge,  in  South  Bend,  which  show  both  the  sandstone  and  limestone,  the  former  reaches  about 
50  feet  above  the  river,  being  capped  by  20  to  25  feet  of  the  latter.  In  sections  29  and  31,  South 
Bend,  this  Jordan  sandstone  declines  in  hight  from  50  to  40  feet;  at  Rapidan  Rapids  its  hight  is 
30  feet;  and  beyond  this  its  elevation  above  the  river  is  diminished  to  only  a  few  feet  at  its  last 
outcrops,  in  the  east  edge  of  Garden  City  township.  By  comparison  with  the  descent  of  the  river, 
it  appears  that  the  top  of  the  sandstone  is  nearly  level  in  these  exposures,  having  about  the  same 
hight  as  at  Minneopa  falls  and  in  Judson.  All  these  outcrops  have  the  ordinary  characters  of  the 
Jordan  sandstone,  being  white  or  gray,  soft  and  mostly  friable,  in  horizontal  beds  from  a  few 
inches  to  one  or  two  feet  thick.  At  the  bend  of  this  river,  in  the  south  edge  of  section  21,  South 
Bend,  where  this  formation  rises  on  the  north  side  to  a  hight  of  about  50  feet  and  is  overlain  by 
20  feet  of  Shakopee  limestone,  the  upper  part  of  the  Jordan  sandstone  contains  occasional  flat- 
tened masses,  two  or  three  inches  long  and  an  eighth  to  a  fourth  of  an  inch  thick,  of  a  white 
powder,  which  when  wet  becomes  a  sticky  paste. 

In  the  north  bluff  of  the  Blue  Earth  river,  within  a  short  distance  above  the  bridge  in  sec- 
tion 27,  South  Bend,  and  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  above  the  mouth  of  the  Le  Sueur  river, 
is  the  place  where  the  Sisseton  Indians,  as  stated  by  Featherstonhaugh,  obtained  a  bluish  green 
pigment  which  was  held  in  high  esteem.  Nicollet  says:  lilt  is  massive,  somewhat  plastic,  emits 
an  argillaceous  odor  when  breathed  upon;  color  bluish  green;  easily  scratched  with  the  nail,  when 
formed  into  hardened  balls.  The  acids  have  no  action  upon  it;  it  is  infusible  before  the  blowpipe, 
but  loses  its  color  and  becomes  brown.  This  color  is  due  to  the  peroxide  of  iron"  [otherwise  com- 
bined chemically  until  changed  by  the  blowpipe  flame],  "which  it  contains  in  the  proportion  of 
ten  per  cent,  at  least.  It  contains  no  potash,  and  but  a  small  proportion  of  lime."  This  was 
found  in  a  shaly  layer  at  the  line  of  junction  of  the  sandstone  and  limestone;  but  it  occurred 
here  only  in  small  amount,  and  had  been  nearly  exhausted  before  the  time  of  Featherstonhaugh 
and  Nicollet.*  In  our  exploration  it  was  carefully  looked  for,  but  nothing  of  this  kind  worthy  of 
note  was  seen.  Somewhere  in  this  neighborhood,  either  in  the  bluffs  of  the  Blue  Earth  or  Le 
Sueur  river,  as  much  as  four  thousand  pounds  of  a  similar  green  or  blue  earth,  perhaps  from  this 
horizon  of  the  Lower  Magnesian,  but  more  probably  from  the  Cretaceous  shales  or  clay  common 
in  this  region,  being  supposed  to  be  an  ore  of  copper,  was  gathered  and  shipped  to  France  by  Le 
Sueur,  in  the  years  1700  and  1701.  Further  reference  to  this  subject  will  be  found  on  a  following 
page,  in  the  description  of  the  Cretaceous  deposits.  From  this  earth,  the  location  and  nature  of 
which  remain  in  some  uncertainty,  the  name  of  the  river  and  thence  of  the  county  is  derived. 

On  the  Le  Sueur  river  the  Jordan  sandstone  is  frequently  exposed  along  a  distance  of  one 
and  a  half  miles  next  above  the  bridge  of  the  railroad  from  Mankato  to  Wells,  in  section  35,  of 
South  Bend  and  Mankato,  and  section  2,  Rapidan.  In  ascending  the  river  the  first  of  these  out- 
crops is  found  four  miles  southwest  from  Mankato, 'and  about  a  half  mile  south  from  the  site  of 
Red  Jacket  mill,  which  was  recently  burned.  Here  this  sandstone  forms  a  perpendicular  bank 
20  to  30  feet  high  and  an  eighth  of  a  mile  long,  lying  at  the  northeast  side  of  the  river  next  above 
the  railroad  bridge.  It  is  a  levelly  stratified,  but  often  obliquely  bedded,  friable,  white  sandstone. 
Its  top  here  is  800  feet  above  the  sea.  Overlying  it  is  a  thickness  of  about  60  feet  of  irregularly 
interbedded  clay  and  sand,  with  ochery  and  iron-rusted  layers,  probably  Cretaceous  deposits,  and 
above  these  glacial  drift  forms  the  upper  part  of  the  bluff.  The  Jordan  sandstone  here  presents 
a  notable  peculiarity  which  has  not  been  observed  in  its  outcrops  elsewhere,  excepting  at  the  point 
before  mentioned  on  the  Blue  Earth  river.  This  is  the  existence  of  frequent  cavities  in  the  sand- 
stone, filled  with  masses  of  white  friable  clay,  as  described  by  Prof.  Winchell,  ;'about  an  inch  in 
diameter,  usually  flattened,  or  pointed,  or  edged,  which  if  dry  crumble  to  powder  in  the  fingers, 
revealing  little  or  no  grit,  but  which  when  wet  are  sticky  and  plastic."  At  the  iron  bridge,  near 
the  south  line  of  section  35,  South  Bend,  about  half  a  mile  southeast  from  the  last,  this  sandstone 
rises  vertically  to  a  hight  of  about  20  feet  in  the  bank  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  and  is  overlain 
by  20  feet  of  Cretaceous  clay  and  sand,  succeeded  by  10  feet  of  somewhat  ferruginous  drift. 
About  a  half  mile  farther  southeast,  on  land  of  0.  Ilalberg,  near  the  center  of  the  east  half  of  sec- 
tion 2,  Rapidan,  a  short  ledge  of  Jordan  sandstone  rises  15  feet  or  more  above  the  river  in  its 
southwest  bank;  and  the  opposite  bank,  at  20  to  40  rods  up  stream  from  the  last,  shows  this  rock 
to  a  bight  of  6  or  8  feet,  overlain  by  20  to  25  feet  of  Cretaceous  clays,  and  capped  by  drift,  the 

•See  historical  notes  respecting  this  locality,  pp.  60  and  72;  and  of  Le  Sueur's  copper  mine,  pp.  16,  5',  and  71. 


BLUE  EARTH  COUNTY.  429 

bhakopec  limestone.] 

whole  bluff  being  50  to  75  feet  high.  The  Shakopee  limestone,  next  in  geological  order  above  this 
sandstone,  was  not  found  in  place  on  this  part  of  the  river,  but  about  six  rods  northwest  from  the 
sandstone  outcrop  on  O.  Halberg's  land,  large  blocks  of  this  limestone  lie  at  the  base  of  the  bluff 
beside  the  river,  and  have  probably  fallen  from  a  ledge  above;  yet  the  steep,  wooded  face  of 
the  bluff  now  exhibits  only  drift. 

Xo  fossils  have  been  detected  in  the  St.  Lawrence  limestone  or  Jordan  sandstone  in  Blue 
Earth  county. 

Shakopee  limestone.  This  member  of  the  Lower  Magnesian  series,  and 
the  sandstone  just  described,  which  it,conformably  overlies,  both  having  a 
very  nearly  level  stratification,  together  make  the  rock-bluff's  of  the  Min- 
nesota and  Blue  Earth  rivers  in  the  townships  of  South  Bend,  Mankato, 
and  Lime.  Other  outcrops  of  the  Shakopee  limestone,  without  exposures 
of  the  underlying  formation,  occur  on  the  Watonwan  river  at  and  close 
below  Garden  City,  and  on  the  Maple  and  Big  Cobb  rivers  within  their  last 
two  miles.  This  limestone  has  been  quarried  at  many  places,  and  has  a 
high  value  for  building  purposes  and  for  the  manufacture  of  lime  and  hy- 
draulic cement.*  It  is  mainly  a  compact  and  hard,  thick-bedded,  some- 
what siliceous  dolomite  or  magnesian  limestone,  of  light  buff  color,  often 
mottled  with  slightly  contrasted  reddish  and  yellowish  tints.  The  layer 
which  is  burnt  for  lime  at  Mankato,  situated  in  the  upper  part  of  this  for- 
mation, is  sparingly  fossiliferous.f  Professor  Winchell,  from  an  examina- 
tion of  the  Mankato  quarries  and  of  the  river  bluffs  for  several  miles  below, 
gives  the  following  general  section,  in  descending  order::}: 

Section  of  the  Shakopee  limestone  in  Mankato  and  Lime. 

1 .  Porous  magnesian  limestone,  not  used 4-6  ft. 

2.  Loose,  friable  sandstone 2-4  ft. 

3.  Magnesiau  limestone  burned  for  lime 2  ft. 

4.  Calciferous  sandstone,  in  heavy  beds,  of  various  grain  and  texture,  sometimes 

mottled,  quarried  for  building 30  ft. 

5.  Upper  shale  bed,  arenaceous  and  mottled  with  red 2-3  ft. 

6.  Calciferous  sandstone,  generally  used  as  a  cut  stone,  compact  and  even  grained,  4  ft. 

7.  Rough  and  irregular  magnesisn  limestone,  somewhat  arenaceous,  but  unfit  for 

cutting 10  ft. 

8.  Lower  shale  bed;  very  much  the  same  as  the  upper 2  ft. 

9.  One  heavy  bed,  generally  good  for  cut-stone,  becoming  light  blue  on  deep  quar- 

rying  , 3  ft. 

Id.  Irregular  and  sandy  bed;  more  or  less  cavernous  and  porous,  with  lenticular  strati- 
fication, its  lower  three  or  four  inches  apparently  broken;  fine-grained,  and 
stained  with  iron 3  ft. 

11.  Jordan  sandstone,  seen  about 45  ft. 

Total  of  the  Shakopee  limestone,  about 65  ft. 

•See  the  chapter  on  building  stones,  p.  166.  The  quarries  of  this  stone,  and  analyses  of  it,  are  noted  in  a  later  part 
of  the  present  chapter. 

tin  the  quarries  ut  Mankato.  and  e-tpecially  in  that  of  the  Standard  Cement  company,  which  is  in  the  lower  part  of 
the  formation,  a  handsome  Lingula  is  occasionally  found.  This  shall  is  about  half  an  Inch  long,  of  acuminate-ubovalc 
outline,  with  concentric  striae. 

tSecond  annual  report,  p.  115. 


430  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Shakopce  limestone. 

This  is  approximately  the  thickness  of  this  formation  exposed  to  view  in  its  outcrops 
through  its  whole  extent  of  sixty  miles  along  the  Minnesota  river.  The  quarries  at  the  north  end 
of  Front  street  in  Mankato  exhibit  the  first  nine  numbers  of  the  foregoing  section,  with  a  very 
slight  dip  northeast.  The  terrace,  75  feet  above  the  river,  one  to  two  miles  wide  and  ten  miles 
long,  made  by  the  Shakopee  limestone,  underlain  by  the  Jordan  sandstone,  extending  from  Man- 
kato north  through  Lime  and  Kasota  to  St.  Peter,  has  been  described  in  speaking  of  the  surface 
features  of  this  county. 

Opposite  to  Mankato  this  limestone  and  the  underlying  sandstone  form  the  lower  half  of  the 
river-bluff  in  Belgrade.  Nicollet  county.  A  mile  west  of  Mankato,  the  Shakopee  limestone  makes 
the  small  plateau  called  Sibley  mound,  which  lies  at  the  east  side  of  the  Blue  Earth  river  close  to 
its  mouth;  and  the  similar  plateau  just  opposite,  on  the  west  side  of  this  river,  to  which  the  name 
L'Huillier  mound  has  been  given,  consists  of  the  same  limestone  with  a  considerable  thickness  of 
Jordan  sandstone  at  the  base.  These  mounds  together  reach  about  a  third  of  a  mile  from  east  to 
west.  The  hight  of  the  former  is  approximately  50  feet,  and  of  the  latter  75  feet,  above  the  bot- 
tomland, which  is  five  to  ten  feet  above  the  Minnesota  and  Blue  Earth  rivers.  Channels  cut  here 
by  these  streams,  perhaps  since  the  ice  age,  bave  separated  these  mounds  from  the  Belgrade  bluffs 
and  from  each  other.* 

Professor  Wincbell  reports  the  following 

Section  of  L'Huillier  mound. 

1.  Pebbles  and  soil  at  the  brink  of  the  bluff 2  ft. 

2.  Dislodged,  broken  layers  of  Shakopee  limestone 35  ft. 

3.  Crust  of  iron  and  manganese 2-4  in. 

4.  Green  clay,  or  shale,  becoming  white  toward  the  top  and  on  the  outer  surface; 

evenly  laminated,  the  laminae  passing  up  into  the  white  color.  This  is  uncon- 
formably  overlain  by  masses  of  dislodged  Shakopee  limestone,  the  under  sur- 
face of  which  is  crusted  and  rounded  by  water  action.  It  also  ascends 
between  openings  in  these  masses 3  ft. 

5.  Perpendicular  cliff  of  Jordan  sandstone,  showing  irregular  seams  and  laminae  of 

green  shale,  also  small  balls  and  bunches  of  curious  shapes,  sometimes  con- 
forming to  the  general  sedimentation,  and  somewhat  also  to  the  false  bedding, 
so  called.  These  thin  deposits  of  green  clay  are  fourteen  feet  below  the  gen- 
eral bed  of  green  clay  (No.  4)  above 10-1 5  ft. 

6.  Talus,  covering  the  Jordan  sandstone,  and  reaching  to  the  alluvial  flood-plain. .      25  ft. 
The  same  strata  outcrop  in  many  places  through  a  distance  of  six  miles  west-southwest  from 

Mankato,  occurring  in  the  bluffs  of  the  old  channel  of  the  Le  Sueur  river  between  three-fourths  of 
a  mile  and  one  and  a  half  miles  north  of  Indian  lake,  in  the  bluffs  of  Blue  Eirtli  river  a  half  mile 
farther  west,  in  the  terrace  at  South  Bend,  as  before  mentioned,  thinly  covered  by  modified  drift, 
and  again  in  the  bluffs  of  the  Blue  Earth  river  a  mile  south  of  South  Bend  and  Miuneopa.  The 
top  of  the  Shakopee  limastone  in  these  exposures  has  a  hight  75  to  100  feet  above  the  Minnesota 
river,  or  about  825  to  850  above  the  sea;  and  the  glacial  drift,  lying  on  this  limestone  and  forming 
the  higher  part  of  the  bluffs,  has  its  top  2i)0  to  225  feet  above  the  river,  at  which  elevation  its 
slightly  undulating  expanse  forms  table-lands  on  each  side  of  the  valleys  and  thencs  reaches  with 
imperceptibly  ascending  slopes  to  the  east,  south  and  west,  beyond  the  boundaries  of  the  county. 

Like  this  sheet  of  drift,  the  underlying  rocks  appear  to  have  a  nearly  level  but  slightly  sloping 
top,  which  may  have  been  the  surface  of  this  region  before  the  ice  age,  but  more  probably  was 
planed  and  brought  to  its  comparative  uniformity  in  hight  by  glacial  erosion.  In  Blue  Earth 
county  the  rock-surface,  uncovered  along  the  Minnesota  valley,  makes  the  terrace  of  Jord..n  sand, 
stone  in  Judson  and  thence  toMinneopa  falls,  and  its  continuation  capped  by  Shakopee  limestone 
at  South  Band;  is  exposed,  overlain  by  drift,  in  the  bluffs  of  the  Blue  Earth  and  Le  Sueur  rivers, 
and  of  the  Minnesota  river  in  Belgrade;  forms  the  L'Huillier  and  Sibley  mounds;  and,  below  Man- 
kato, reaches  in  a  broad  terrace  to  Saint  Peter.  The  Minnesota  river,  after  cutting  through  the 
overlying  125  to  150  feet  of  till,  found  here  an  old  valley  which  had  been  channeled  in  these  rocks 
by  pre-glacial  streams. 

"The  east  mound  derives  its  name  from  the  encampment  near  it  of  the  troops  under  the  command  of  Gen.  H.  H. 
Sihley,  on  tlieir  return  fro  n  auppresitng  tua  Indian  outbreak  in  1852.  L'Huillier  was  tuu  assayer  who  examined  LeSueur's 
copper  ore,  aud  from  whom  his  fort  was  named  (see  page  17). 


BLUE  EARTH  COUNTY.  43] 

Shakopee  limestone.] 

At  Garden  City  the  Shakopee  limestone  is  exposed  on  a  small  island  and  in  the  left  bank  of 
the  Watomvan  river,  close  below  the  dam  and  mill.  The  area  of  these  exposures  is  about  four  rods 
square,  and  their  hight  three  to  five  feet  above  the  water.  Professor  Winchell  records  the  occur- 
rence of  a  species  of  Euomyhalus  in  this  stone,  apparently  the  same  fossil  that  was  described  and 
named  Stmparollus  Minnesotensis  by  Owen.  This  rock  has  nearly  the  same  aspect  as  at  Shakopee, 
having  frequent  cavities,  and  being  sometimes  a  breccia.  It  lies  in  thick  beds  which  are  irregu- 
larly tilted  and  dip  syncliually  10'  to  20;  from  both  north  and  south  into  the  river.  The  probable 
explanation  of  this  is  that  this  limestone,  at  first  horizontally  stratified,  has  been  fractured  by  the 
removal  of  a  part  of  the  underlying  friable  Jordan  sandstone,  through  pre-glacial  drainage  into  a 
river  lower  than  that  of  the  present  time.  Another  outcrop  of  this  limestone  is  found  a  third  of  a 
mile  northeast  from  Garden  City,  on  land  of  the  S.  M.  Folsom  estate.  It  is  at  the  northwest  side 
of  the  Watonwan  river,  and  is  principally  covered  with  drift,  being  seen  at  only  a  few  small  ex- 
cavations upon  an  area  fifty  feet  long  and  fifteen  to  thirty  feet  wide,  adjoining  the  river  and  grad- 
ually rising  about  five  feet  above  it.  It  has  layers  one  foot  or  more  in  thickness,  and  has  been 
somewhat  quarried. 

The  valley  of  the  Le  Sueur  river  has  an  outcrop  of  this  limestone  on  land  of  Andrew  Algren. 
in  the  N.  E.  J  of  section  1 1 ,  Kapidan,  being  on  the  southwest  side  of  the  Le  Sueur  about  two-thirds 
of  a  mile  below  the  mouth  of  Maple  river.  The  ledge  seen  here  reaches  five  feet  vertically,  and  is 
in  level  beds  six  inches  to  one  foot  or  more  in  thickness.  It  is  about  twenty  rods  from  the  river 
and  fifteen  to  twenty  feet  above  it. 

On  the  Maple  river  the  Shakopee  limestone  is  quarried  at  many  places  within  a  mile  above 
its  mouth,  and  occasional  low  outcrops  of  it  are  found  along  the  next  mile,  to  the  south  part  of  the 
N.  W.  }  of  section  24,  Ilapidan.  At  these  quarries  the  stone  is  a  compact,  light-buff  dolomite,  of 
nearly  uniform  texture  and  color,  in  horizontal  layers  one  to  three  feet  thick,  reaching  from  the 
level  of  the  river  to  nights  twenty  to  thirty  feet  above  it. 

On  the  Big  Oobb  river  this  formation  outcrops  and  is  slightly  quarried  three-fourths  of  a 
mile  and  one  and  one-fourth  miles  above  its  mouth.  The  first  of  these  localities  is  on  land  of 
Matthew  Ryan,  in  the  S.  E.  J  of  section  18,  Decoria,  where  this  stone  makes  a  terrace  which  ex- 
tends about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  the  bottom  land,  being  twenty  to  twenty- five  feet  above  the 
liver  and  seventy-five  feet  below  the  top  of  its  bluffs  and  the  general  surface  of  the  drift.  The 
highest  points  of  the  limestone  here  are  fully  thirty  feet  above  the  river,  and  have  the  form  of 
isolated  mounds  of  horizontal  strata,  which  have  been  spared,  while  the  continuation  of  the  snme 
beds  has  been  removed,  by  the  agenciesof  weathering  and  erosion.  These  mounds  rise  ten  to  fifteen 
feet  perpendicularly  or  often  with  overhanging  sides.  A  similar  picturesque  weathering  of  this 
limestone,  forming  many  such  mounds  five  to  ten  feet  high,  was  also  seen  four  miles  north  of 
Mankato,  on  land  of  Joseph  Kunz,  in  the  S.  E.  J  of  section  19,  Lime.  At  Mr.  Ryan's  quarries, 
near  the  south  end  of  the  exposures  of  rock  on  his  land,  its  night  at  the  east  side  of  the  river  is  about 
twenty  feet  and  at  the  vfest  side  ten  feet,  their  distance  apart  being  ten  or  twelve  rods.  This 
stone  has  the  same  characters  as  in  the  quarries  of  Mankato  and  Maple  river.  It  lies  in  beds 
which  are  from  one  to  four  feet  thick,  their  stratification  on  the  east  side  of  the  river  being  nearly 
level,  but  on  the  west  side  dipping  5°  to  10?  west.  About  a  half  mile  farther  south,  on  land  of 
A.  W.  White,  in  the  N.  E.  J  of  section  19,  Decoria,  the  Shakopee  limestone  is  again  exposed, 
forming  a  vertical  cliff  which  rises  from  the  level  of  the  river  to  about  thirty-five  feet  above  it,  in 
its  left  (here  the  northern)  bank.  It  holds  this  hight  for  an  extent  of  nbout  ten  rods,  and  contin- 
ues with  decreasing  hight  as  much  farther  westward.  At  its  west  extremity  this  limestone  is 
overlain  by  Cretaceous  beds;  but  mainly  this  ledge  is  covered  by  till,  which  reaches  seventy-five 
feet  above  the  river. 

The  elevation  above  the  sea  of  the  outcrops  of  Shakopee  limestone  on  the  Watonwan  river 
at  Garden  City  and  on  the  Maple  and  Big  Cobb  rivers  is  875  to  900  feet,  being  about  fifty  feet 
higher  than  the  top  cf  this  formation  in  Mankato  and  Lime,  eight  to  twelve  miles  farther  north. 

Cretaceous  beds.  The  only  deposits  found  in  Blue  Earth  county  above 
the  foregoing  Lower  Magnesian  strata  and  below  the  drift  are  beds  of  clay, 
sand  and  sandstone,  and  rarely  gravel,  which  are  believed  to  have  been 


432  THE  OOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Cretaceous  beds. 

formed  in  the  Cretaceous  age.  Similar  formations,  containing  character- 
istic Cretaceous  fossils,  occur  in  other  portions  of  this  state,  toward  the 
east,  north  and  west,  and  have  a  great  development  farther  west  in  the 
region  drained  by  the  upper  Missouri  river.  No  fossils  have  been  found, 
however,  in  any  of  these  deposits  in  this  county,  though  they  are  exposed 
in  many  localities  and  present  much  diversity  in  material.  They  often 
occur  in  the  ordinary  manner  of  stratified  sediments,  unconformably  over- 
lying eroded  surfaces  of  the  Jordan  and  Shakopee  formations;  but  another 
frequent  mode  of  occurrence  is  in  large  water-worn  cavities  and  fissures 
of  these  rocks,  principally  of  the  Shakopee  limestone.  Before  the  deposi- 
tion of  the  beds  here  called  Cretaceous,  these  Cambrian  rocks  at  many 
places  in  the  Minnesota  valley  had  become  channeled  by  rivers  and  sculp- 
tured into  irregular  basins,  pot-holes,  and  hollows,  from  five  to  twenty-five 
feet  in  depth,  often  partly  covered  by  overhanging  walls.  These  pocket- 
like  cavities  are  smoothly  water-v/orn,  and  their  surface  is  often  thinly 
coated  with  iron  ore.  Within  them  clay  has  been  sifted  and  packed  so 
as  to  fill  their  irregular  spaces,  frequently  covered  in  part  by  the  limestone. 
The  crust  of  iron  ore  Qimonite  with  a  little  manganese  oxide)  was  probably 
formed,  however,  since  the  clay  was  deposited.  It  should  be  added  that 
the  clay  was  doubtless  of  greater  depth  and  extent  at  some  former  time; 
so  that  all  the  ore-covered  surfaces  observed  may  have  become  thus  en- 
crusted while  enveloped  in  the  clay.  This  deposit  is,  more  strictly  speaking, 
a  very  fine  sandy  and  clayey  silt,  greenish  or  bluish,  weathering  white,  hori- 
zontally bedded,  or  conforming  somewhat  to  the  shape  of  the  hollow  that 
holds  it. 

The  following  descriptions  of  these  Cretaceous  beds  are  given  in  geo- 
graphic order,  as  they  are  found  in  descending  the  Minnesota  valley,  and 
afterward  their  exposures  on  the  Blue  Earth,  Watonwan,  Le  Sueur,  Maple 
and  Big  Cobb  rivers  are  successively  noted. 

Within  the  Minnesota  valley,  in  this  county,  the  first  occurrence  of  deposits  probably  of 
Cretaceous  age  is  on  land  of  Edward  Howe,  in  the  west  part  of  section  23,  Cambria,  where  a  con- 
glomeritic  sandstone,  much  broken  into  masses  of  various  sizes  up  to  eight  or  twelve  feet  long 
and  five  or  six  feet  thick,  covers  a  small  area  beside  the  river,  having  about  the  same  hight  with 
the  flood-plain.  It  is  underlain  by  a  fine  blue  clay,  without  gravel  or  pebbles.  Comparing  these 
with  the  other  beds  of  similar  character  in  this  region,  we  find  outcrops  of  the  sandstone  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  river,  in  Nicollet  county,  one  mile  below  and  about  two  miles  above  this 
point.  At  the  second  of  these  localities  some  of  its  layers  contain  fragments  of  wood,  or  lignite, 
and  aiigiospermous  leaves.  The  underlying  clay  appears  to  be  the  same  with  that  which  else- 


BLUE  EABTH  COUNTY. 


Cretaceous  beds.] 


433 


where  fills  cavities  in  the  Shakopee  limestone.    This  order  of  deposition,  first,  clay,  and  later, 
sand  and  sandstone,  is  also  found  in  these  beds  on  the  Maple  river. 

In  South  Bend,  at  David  P.  Davis'  quarry,  the  section  on  the  north  side  of  the  railroad  is,  at 
the  top,  fifteen  to  twenty  feet  of  Shakopeo  limestone,  in  layers  only  a  few  inches  thick,  because  of 
weathering,  for  its  upper  three  to  five  feet,  but  below  forming  beds  from  one  to  three  or  four  feet 
in  thickness;  containing  many  crevices  and  hollows  up  to  twenty  feet  in  diameter  and  ten  to 
twenty  feet  deep,  filled  with  a  compact  clay,  mainly  white  or  gray,  but  in  a  few  places  of  a  brick-red 
and  elsewhere  bluish  green  color  (Fig.  23).  Next  below,  this  limestone  appears,  deceptively,  to 


FIG.  23.    CRETACEOUS  CLAY  IN  HOLLOWS  OP  THE  SHAKOPEE  LIMESTONE,  SOUTH  BEND. 

a.  Shakopee  limestone.       'b.  Cretaceous  clay.        c.  Drift. 

be  underlain  by  a  nearly  levelly  stratified  bed  of  this  clay,  four  to  five  feet  thick,  lying  on  the 
Jordan  sandstone,  which  forms  the  lowest  one  to  two  feet  of  the  section.  The  horizontal  bed  of 
clay  here  is  probably  of  small  extent,  filling  a  space  from  which  the  upper  part  of  the  friable  sand- 
stone had  been  excavated  by  running  water.  South  of  the  railroad  track,  this  stratum  of  gray 
and  green  clay,  two  feet  thick,  becoming  gray  sand  below,  also  two  feet  thick,  is  seen  along  a 
distance  of  fifteen  rods,  overlain  by  limestone  debris,  and  underlain  by  the  Jordan  sandstone. 

Professor  Winchell  has  described*  an  instructive  section  of  the  Shakopee  limestone  and  its 
associated  deposits  of  this  clay,  as  observed  in  a  cut  near  the  railroad  bridge  which  crosses  the 
Blue  Earth  river  about  a  mile  above  its  mouth.  "This  cut  is  perhaps  70  feet  above  the  river,  the 


FIG.  24.    SECTION  NEAR  THE  RAILROAD  BRIDGE,  MANKATO. 

a.  Shakopee  limestone,  cut  by  the  grading  of  the  railroad.    &.  Weathered  surface  of  same. 

c.  Cretaceous  clay,  greenish  blue,  bedded.  d.  Drift. 

bank  of  which  is  composed  entirely  of  rock,  the  lower  portion  of  which  is  the  Jordan  sandstone, 
and  the  upper  the  Shakopee  limestone,  the  latter  comprising  about  20  feet.     In  general  this  raij- 

•Seoond  annual  report,  p,  178, 

38 


434  '^HE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

•  [Cretaceous  beds. 

road  cut  shows  a  mixture  of  Cretaceous  clay  with  the  Cambrian,  the  top  of  the  whole  being  thinly 
and  irregularly  covered  over  and  chinked  up  with  coarse  drift.  The  Cambrian  is  more  or  less 
broken  and  tilted,  at  least  the  bedding  seems  to  have. been  cut  out  into  huge  blocks  by  divisional 
planes,  which,  either  by  weathering  or  water- wearing,  were  widened,  the  blocks  themselves  being 
subsequently  thrown  to  some  extent  from  their  horizontally,  tipping  in  all  directions.  The 
opened  cracks  and  seams  were  then  filled  with  the  Cretaceous  clay,  which  is  deposited  between 
these  loosened  masses,  and  sometimes  even  to  the  depth  of  twenty  feet  below  the  general  surface 
of  the  top  of  the  rock.  The  clay  sometimes  occupies  nooks  and  rounded  angles,  sometimes  shel- 
tered below  heavy  masses  of  the  Cambrian  beds.  The  clay  is  uniformly  bedded,  about  horizon- 
tally, with  some  slope  in  accordance  with  the  surface  on  which  the  sedimentation  took  place. 
But  the  most  interesting  and  important  feature  is  t/ie  condition  of  these  old  Cambrian  surfaces. 
They  are  rounded  by  the  action  of  water,  evidently  waves.  The  cavities  and  porous  spots  are 
more  deeply  eroded,  making  little  pits  on  the  face  of  the  rock;  or  along  the  lines  of  section  of  the 
sedimentation  planes  with  the  eroded  surface,  there  are  furrows  due  to  the  greater  effect  of  water. 
The  rounded  surface  of  these  huge  masses  of  limestone  is  coated  with  a  thickness  of  about  a  half 
inch,  or  an  inch  and  a  half,  of  iron  ore,  which  scales  off  easily,  and  is  easily  broken  by  the  ham- 
mer. While  this  scale  of  iron  ore  is  thicker  near  the  top  and  on  the  upper  surface  of  the  blocks, 
yet  it  runs  down  between  the  Cretaceous  clay  and  the  body  of  the-rock." 

Another  deposit  of  greenish  clay  (Fig.  25)  similar  to  the  two  last  described,  enclosed  in  a 
cavity  of  the  Shakopee  limestone  and  in  part  appearing  to  be  a  stratum  overlain  by  it,  was  noted 
beside  the  carriage  road  from  South  Bend  to  Mankato  close  east  of  its  bridge  over  the  Blue  Earth 
river. 


Surface. 


iH 


FIO.  25.    CRETACEOUS  CLAY  BENEATH  THE  SHAKOPEE  LIMESTONE,  MANKATO. 

a.  Shakopee  limestone.     6.  Bedded  greenish  clay,  weathering  white,  but  little  sandy,    c.  Sandy, 
bedded  greenish  clay.    d.  Drift,  mostly  coarse  fragments  of  Shakopee  limestone. 

In  the  S.  \V.  }  of  section  20,  Lime,  the  quarry  of  J.  R.  Beatty  &  Co.  exhibits  a  thickness  of 
twenty  to  twenty-five  feet  of  the  Shakopee  limestone.  The  top  of  this  ledge  is  waterworn  and 
hollowed  in  shallow  pot-holes.  Near  the  middle  of  the  quarry  face,  as  it  was  at  the  time  of  exam- 
ination, these  waterworn  cavities  reach  to  a  depth  of  fifteen  feet,  their  sides  being  in  part  en- 
crusted with  an  iron-rusty  scale,  an  eighth  to  a  half  of  an  inch  thick.  They  are  filled  with  very 
coarse  ferruginous  gravel,  much  waterworn,  so  that  sometimes  its  pebbles  up  to  three  or  four 
inches  in  diameter  are  almost  perfectly  spherical.  In  some  of  these  crevices  scanty  traces  of  white 
clay  occur  witli  the  gravel,  the  former  being  probably  Cretaceous,  while  the  latter  seems  to  be 
older  than  the  glacial  drift,  and  may  be  Cretaceous  or  of  earlier  date,  possibly  representing  the 
period  in  which  these  hollows  were  eroded.  Close  west  of  this  quarry  is  found  a  thick  bed  of 
whitish,  very  fine  earth  (analysis  2,  page  438),  containing  too  little  clay  for  brick-making. 

Professor  Winchell  writes  as  follows  respecting  these  probably  Cretaceous  deposits  at  locali- 
ties recently  examined  by  him  near  Mankato.  "At  the  quarry  of  the  Standard  Cement  company, 
lately  opened  in  the  east  bank  of  the  Blue  Earth  river  about  a  third  of  a  mile  south  of  the  rail- 
road bridge,  the  Shakopee  limestone  is  separated  from  the  Jordan  sandstone  by  a  course  of  light 
green  or  often  nearly  white  shale  or  clay,  highly  siliceous  and  aluminous,  having  a  thickness  of 
about  three  feet.  The  hydraulic  qualities  of  the  Shakopee  limestone  seem  to  be  associated  with 
the  occurrence  of  this  bed  of  shale,  and  to  be  altogether  an  accidental  and  local  character.  The 
formation  has  before  been  known  to  be  somewhat  hydraulic,  but  here  this  quality  is  so  far 
extended  as  to  make  a  valuable  source  of  hydraulic  lime.  In  the  Shakopee  limestone  here  are 
also  numerous  pita  and  gorges,  rounded  off  with  age  and  crusted  over  with  a  ferruginous  scale 


BLUE  EARTH  COUNTY.  435 

Cretaceous  beds.] 

that  is  sometimes  as  much  as  three  inches  thick.  These  old  crevices  cut  across  the  strata  and 
pass  from  top  to  bottom  of  the  formation.  They  are  filled  with  the  same,  or  a  very  similar,  light- 
colored  clay,  the  same  being  continuous  from  the  clay  between  the  Shakopee  and  Jordan  upward 
through  the  openings  to  the  top  of  the  limestone  strata,  and  there  spreading  out,  in  imperfectly 
laminated  beds,  over  the  similarly  rusted  upper  surface  of  the  Shakopee.  The  bed  of  clay  under 
this  limestone  is  known  to  extend  back  from  the  bluff  of  the  river  about  eighty  feet,  and  seems  to 
be  in  situ  and  of  Cambrian  age.  Yet  it  seems  not  to  be  confined  to  this  place  between  the  Jordan 
and  Shakopee  formations,  where  the  most  of  it  is  seen;  and  as  it  occupies  eroded  cavities  and  all 
seams  and  small  openings  within  the  Shakopee,  and  also  overlies  that  formation,  apparently 
unconformably,  it  has  been  considered  of  Cretaceous  age.*  Prof.  A.  F.  Bechdolt,  of  Mankato, 
regards  it  as  a  result  of  chemical  change  in  the  overlying  St.  Peter  sandstone  and  the  underlying 
Jordan  sandstone;  but  it  more  probably  resulted  from  a  local  degradation  of  the  hydraulic  Shak- 
opee limestone,  through  long  sub- aerial  exposure,  if  its  origin  be  at  all  attributable  to  such  agents." 

"This  white  clay  appears  frequently  at  the  same  horizon,  overlying  the  Jordan  sandstone, 
at  points  in  the  Le  Sueur  valley.  It  was  examined  on  the  land  of  S.  F.  Alberger,  along  the  banks 
of  the  Le  Sueur  in  section  35,  Mankato,  where  it  lies  about  twenty  feet  above  the  river  at  the 
railroad  crossing,  and  is  overlain  by  a  series  of  confused,  concretionary  and  lenticular  beds  of 
sandstone,  with  alternations  of  clay,  passing  upward  into  a  rusty  conglomerate  and  crag-like 
rock,  and  into  a  sandstone  containing  traces  of  wood,  similar  to  that  seen  in  Fillmore  and  Mower 
counties,  and  at  Fritz'  quarry  in  Nicollet  county,  evidently  of  Cretaceous  age.  In  ascending  the 
river  from  the  railroad  crossing,  the  water  line  rises  over  the  underlying  sandstone,  and  reaches 
this  clay  bed.  It  is  seen  to  become  red  in  some  places,  and  often  somewhat  gritty.  The  valley 
of  the  Le  Sueur  in  this  vicinity,  and  its  tributary  valleys,  also  the  deserted  channel  through  In- 
dian lake,  to  which  Prof.  Bechdolt  has  called  attention,  are  wrought  principally  in  Cretaceous 
strata,  overlain  by  a  deposit  of  drift  clay  which  shows,  in  numerous  instances,  the  effect  of  water 
in  its  deposition." 

Professor  Winchell  summarizes,  in  descending  order,  the  following 

General  section  of  the  Cretaceous  in  the  Le  Sueur  valley,  sec.  35,  Mankato. 

1.  Conglomerate  and  sandstone;  with  traces  of  woody  fiber;  in  oblique  and  lenticular 

stratification;  the  probable  equivalent  of  fossiliferous  strata  at  Fritz'  quarry  in 
Nicollet  county,  and  of  the  sandstone  a  few  miles  southwest  of  New  Ulm 20-30  ft. 

2.  Potter's  clays  and  fine  sand,  irregularly  and  lenticularly  interbedded 20-30  ft. 

3.  Rusty  and  confused,  concretionary  sandrock 20-30  ft. 

4.  White  (kaolinic?)  clay;  within  of  a  light  greenish  color;  becoming  red  and  arena- 

ceous in  some  places 6-8  ft. 

5.  Jordan  sandstone,  seen     20  ft. 

Professor  Bechdolt  states  that  a  slab  of  rusty  sandstone  was  found  some  years  ago  on  the 

bluff  back  of  Mankato,  containing  fossil  leaves  resembling  Salix;  also,  that  a  small  shark's  tooth 
was  picked  up  in  the  alluvium  at  the  mouth  of  the  Blue  Earth  river;  and  that  at  any  time  small 
pieces  of  lignite  coal  may  be  found  in  the  alluvium  at  the  mouth  of  the  Blue  Earth,  brought  down 
by  the  latest  freshet  from  the  valley.  All  these  were  doubtless  derived  from  Cretaceous  forma- 
tions. 

On  the  Blue  Earth  river  above  the  localities  already  mentioned,  Cretaceous  beds  are  reported 
by  Mr.  John  Leiberg  in  the  left  (north)  bank  of  the  river  about  twenty  rods  below  the  new  bridge 
in  section  27,  South  Bend,  being  a  somewhat  sandy,  deep  green  shale,  exposed  along  an  extent  of 
about  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  rising  in  a  flattened  anticlinal  about  five  feet  above  the  line  of  low 
water;  overlain  by  a  bed  of  dark,  ferruginous  gravel,  about  ten  feet  thick,  containing  concretionary 
iron  ore  (limonite1;  above  which  is  light  gray  or  white,  friable  sand  or  sandstone,  about  thirty  feet 
thick;  succeeded  by  till,  which  forms  the  upper  part  of  the  bluff,  f 

At  the  east  end  of  the  Rapidan  Rapids  bridge,  the  cliff  of  Jordan  sandstone,  thirty  feet  high, 
is  overlain  by  ten  feet  or  more  of  interstratified  clay,  sand  and  fine  gravel,  referred  to  the  Creta- 


Ihe  second  annual  report,  pp.  176 — 181;  also  the  eighth  annual  report,  p.  109. 
tit  seems  quite  likely  that  this  is  the  site  of  Le  Sueur's  copper  mine,  as  it  agrees  well  with  Penicaut'a  dncriDtion 

„„  17  nnH  42H1. 


*See 
(See  pages  17  and  428). 


436  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Cretaceous  beds. 

ceous  age.  The  layers  of  clay  are  mostly  white,  but  sometimes  red;  and  the  sand  and  gravel  are 
occasionally  cemented  with  iron  ore.  Above  these  the  bluff  consists  of  till,  and  rises  to  a  bight 
about  150  feet  above  the  river. 

A  sandstone,  which  may  belong  to  either  the  Jordan  or  St.  Peter  formations  of  the  Lower 
Magnesian  group,  but  seems  quite  likely  to  be  Cretaceous,  and  other  beds  more  certainly  referred 
to  this  later  age,  occur  in  the  banks  of  the  Watonwan  river  at  Garden  City,  southwest  and  north 
of  the  fair-ground,  rising  fifteen  to  thirty  feet  above  the  river.  Of  these  deposits  Prof.  Wiiichell 
writes*:  "  It  [the  sandstone]  is  here  associated  with  more  or  less  clay,  crag,  and  iron  and  lime 
cement.  A  heavy  deposit  of  drift  crag  [cemented  gravel,  probably  Cretaceous]  may  be  seen  on 

E.  T.  Norton's  place,  and  also opposite  Mr.  Norton's.  Under  the  crag  is  clean 

white  sand.  A  little  further  up  in  the  bluff  is  red  and  blue  clay,  belonging,  undoubtedly,  to  the 
Cretaceous.  This  crag  is  sometimes  made  up  of  this  white  sand  cemented,  with  little  gravel. 

It  lies  in  a  continuous  layer  along  the  bluff,  and  projects  like  a  bed  of  rock,  the 

incoherency  of  the  underlying  white  sand  causing  it  to  crumble  out.  This  is  also  shown  on  the 
north  side  [of  the  fair-ground],  along  the  bluff  where  the  current  of  the  river  has  kept  the  surface 
fresh.  This  sandstone  is  again  exposed  in  the  banks  of  the  river  about  two  miles  above  Garden 
City." 

On  the  Le  Sueur  river  close  above  the  railroad  bridge  the  Jordan  sandstone,  described  on 
page  428,  is  overlain  by  about  sixty  feet  of  clay  and  sa:;d  or  sandrock  layers,  irregularly  inter- 
stratified.  In  the  lower  portion  the  clay  is  mostly  white,  but  at  one  place  is  red  and  by  being 
washed  down  paints  a  portion  of  the  bluff  a  few  feet  in  width.  This  is  about  a  hundred  feet 
southeast  of  "chalk  run,"  a  gap  in  the  bluff  which  has  its  name  in  allusion  to  these  white  and  red 
clays.  The  sand  is  mostly  ferruginous,  and  is  cemented  by  iron-rust.  These  beds  rise  from 
thirty  to  forty  feet  above  the  railroad  bridge,  which  is  825  feet  above  the  sea.  The  clay  which  is 
used  at  Mankato  for  the  manufacture  of  pottery  is  obtained  at  this  place,  southeast  of  the  railroad 
and  about  fifteen  feet  above  the  level  of  the  railroad  grade.  In  the  bank  four  rods  east  of  the 
railroad  bridge,  the  following  descending  section  was  noted.  It  is  embraced  in  No.  2  of 
Prof.  Winchell's  general  section  already  given. 

Section  of  Cretaceous  beds  near  the  Le  Sueur  river  railroad  bridge,  sec.  35,  Mankato. 

1.  Coarsely  rocky  drift 4-10  ft. 

2.  Stratified  gravel  and  sand,  ferruginous,  farther  eastward  iron-cemented  . . .     3-5  ft. 
8.    Dull  gray,  horizonally  stratified  clay 1-2  ft. 

4.  Dull  gray,  horizontally  stratified  sand 4  ft. 

5.  Second  layer  of  clay,  like  No.  3 1  j-2  ft. 

6.  Second  layer  of  sand,  like  No.  4 4  ft. 

7.  Third  layer  of  clay,  like  No.  3 1  j-2  ft. 

8.  Third  layer  of  sand,  like  No.  4,  seen 1  ft. 

The  top  of  the  last  of  these  layers  is  six  feet  above  the  railroad,  and  is  higher  than  the,  white 
and  red  strata  which  overlie  the  Jordan  sandstone  in  the  adjacent  river-bluff.  At  the  iron  bridge, 
about  a  half  mile  farther  up  this  river,  the  Jordan  sandstone  is  overlain  by  twenty  feet  of  clayey 
and  sandy,  nearly  levelly  stratified  Cretaceous  strata,  of  gray  and  whitish  color,  in  many  portions 
containing  small  lumps  of  white  clay.  In  the  east  part  of  section  2,  Rapidan,  the  northeast  bank 
of  the  Le  Sueur  river  shows  a  few  feet  of  Jordan  sandstone  at  the  base,  on  which  rest  white  and 
gray  Cretaceous  clays,  closely  like  the  deposits  which  fill  cavities  of  the  Shakopee  limestone  in 
South  Bend  and  Mankato,  nearly  horizontal  in  stratification,  having  a  thickness  of  twenty  to 
twenty-five  feet  and  exposed  along  a  distance  of  about  twenty-five  rods.  These  strata  are  reddish 
in  a  few  small  and  inconspicuous  portions.  Above  them  the  upper  part  of  the  bluff  is  drift. 
Again,  an  eighth  of  a  mile  farther  south,  Cretaceous  strata  of  similar  character  form  the  bank  on 
the  southwest  side  of  this  river  along  a  distance  of  nearly  twenty  rods,  but  at  the  time  of  obser- 
vation were  much  obscured  by  falling  down.  This  blnff  is  40  to  75  feet  high,  with  ascent  toward 
the  south,  all  above  30  to  40  feet  being  drift. 

On  the  Maple  river  are  numerous  exposures  of  sand  or  sandstone  and  clay,  which  closely 


•Second  annual  report,  p.  lit. 


BLUE  EARTH   COUNTY.  437 

Cretaceous  beds.) 

i 

resemble  the  beds  described  in  Garden  City.  At  Columbus  Ballard's  quarry,  on  the  west  side  of 
the  river  near  its  mouth,  in  the  N.  E.  J  of  the  8.  W.  i  of  section  12,  Kapidan,  the  west  part  of 
the  ledge  of  Shakopee  limestone  which  is  worked,  is  overlain  by  twenty  feet  of  Cretaceous  clays, 
mostly  whitish,  in  some  parts  irony,  and  rarely  reddish.  Here  the  limestone  has  a  bight  of  only 
ten  feet,  but  it  rises  twenty  feet  above  the  river  a  hundred  feet  farther  east.  Along  the  last  two 
miles  of  this  river,  in  the  northeast  part  of  Eapidan  township,  Prof.  Winchell  describes*  "a  fri- 
able, white  sandstone.  ....  underlain  by  about  two  feet  of  a  greenish  blue  clay,  and  as- 
sociated with  concretionary  and  irregular  sheets  of  brown  hsematite.  In  the  banks  of  the  Maple, 
where  the  Shakopee  limestone  is  exposed  and  somewhat  quarried,  there  are  occasional  missing 
places  in  the  beds  of  that  formation.  If  by  the  action  of  the  river  the  section  is  kept  clear,  so  as 
to  remove  th<-  drift,  this  bed  of  clay  can  be  seen  lying  with  distorted  and  dishing  strata  in  these 
intervals.  The  strata  are  sometimes  not  preserved,  but  the  masses  appear  as  if  thrust  into  the 
excavation  in  the  Shakopee  limestone,  and  are  very  sandy.  In  other  cases  the  clay  seems  to  have 
been  shaped  in  layers  conformable  to  the  surface  of  the  limestone,  but  unconformable  with  its 
bedding.  At  one  place  the  following  section  can  be  made  out: 

1.  Alluvium 15  feet. 

2.  Irony  crag  and  impure  iron  ore 2  feet. 

3.  Greenish  bedded  clay 2  feet. 

4.  Strata  of  Shakopee  limestone,  more  or  less  stained  and  encrusted  with  iron    4  feet. 
"These  parts  are  arranged,  relatively  to  each  other,  as  shown  in  Fig.  26. 


Allurium    iSf'r 


FIG.  26.     SECTION  IN  THE  BANK  OF  MAPLE  EIVEB,  KAPIDAN. 

"The  white  sand  .  .  .  is  in  some  way  associated  with  the  iron  ore.  It  seems 
to  lie  in  patches,  sometimes  just  below  the  iron,  and  in  other  places  where  the  iron  is  wanting. 
It  seems  to  lie  above  the  clay  or  shale.  ...  At  other  places,  a  little  above  the 
point  of  the  foregoing  section,  the  iron  and  sand  are  found  irregularly  mingled,  the  iron  occur- 
ring in  the  form  of  concretionary  sheets,  at  least  in  sheets  that  enclose  cavities.  As  much  as  four 
feet  of  this  sand  can  here  be  made  out,  but  the  clay  layer  cannot  be  seen. 

"At  a  point  a  few  rods  farther  up,  the  white  sand  can  be  seen  in  a  bluff  on  the  left  bank  of 
the  river  (probably  on  sec.  13),  rising  40  or  50  feet,  its  exact  upward  limit  being  hid  by  the  drift. 
At  the  bottom  of  this  bluff  the  Shakopee  limestone  is  exposed  in  the  form  of  a  rounded  water- 
worn  buttress,  rising  in  a  solid  mass  about  twelve  feet  above  the  river.  About  this  bare  rock, 
which  exposes  not  more  than  a  square  rod  of  surface,  or  200  square  feet,  are  fallen  pieces  of  the 
iron  ore  mentioned.  The  rock  itself  seems  coated  with  thin  layers  of  the  irony  stone,  which  yet 
appear  calcareous.  No  clay  or  shale,  the  equivalent  of  No.  3,  of  the  last  section,  can  be  seen. 
Overlying  this  iron  and  mingled  with  it,  is  a  deposit  of  white  sand,  rising,  as  already  stated, 
about  fifty  feet.  This  sand  is  so  incoherent  that  one  cannot  ascend  it.  It  slides  like  drift  sand, 
yet  is  perfectly  homogeneous  as  sand,  without  any  resemblence  to  any  drift  sand.  It  is  purely 
white.  It  is  mainly  massive;  yet  irregular  lines  of  sedimentation  can  be  seen  in  it.  Also  vari- 
ously arranged  in  it  are  little,  thin  deposits  of  shale  which  probably  were  green  till  faded  and 
oxydized.  These  are  sometimes  an  inch  thick,  but  usually  not  more  than  one-fourth  of  an  inch. 
They  are  in  detached,  lenticular  patches,  and  not  now  plastic,  but  soapy.  No  fossils  can  be  seen. 
It  seems  to  lie  unconformably  on  the  Shakopee  limestone,  separated  only  by  a  thin  bed  of  greenish 
blue  shale.  .  .  .  At  a  point  a  little  further  along,  this  sand  is  more  persistent,  and 
shows  horizontal  bedding,  by  reason  of  the  manner  of  its  falling  down  from  the  bluff.  Beds,  3- 
8  inches." 

At  the  quarries  of  Shakopee  limestone  on  the  Big  Cobb  river  in  sections  18  and  19,  Decoria, 
about  one  and  a  half  miles  east  from  the  last,  are  other  Cretaceous  beds.  In  two  hollows  of  this 


*S«cond  annual  report,  p.  132. 


438  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Cretacaout  bed«. 

limestone  on  the  west  side  of  the  river  at  Ryan's  quarry  are  deposits,  one  of  white,  and  the  other 
of  red  clay,  each  two  to  three  feet  thick.  The  west  end  of  White  &  Curtis'  quarry  is  covered  by 
Cretaceous  accumulations  which  are  in  turn  overlain  by  drift.  The  section  from  top  to  base  of 
the  bluff  here  is  as  follows: 

Section  in  ilix,  bank  of  the  Big  Cobb  river,  N.  E.  J  of  sec.  19,  Decoria. 

1.  Yellowish  sandy  till 10-15  ft. 

2.  Dark  bluish  till 30  ft. 

3.  lied  and  yellow  clay,  seen  at  two  places,  each  having  an  extent  of  only  a 

few  feet 2  ft. 

4.  Ferruginous,  sandy  shale,  with  much  interstratifled  loose  sand,  some  of 

these  beds  being  mainly  white,  others  dark,  while  the  greater  part  have 
an  iron-rusted  color,  and  are  more  or  less  cemented  by  limonite;  visible 
along  a  distance  of  25  rods,  from  the  extremity  of  the  Shakopee  lime- 
stone southwesterly  to  the  ford  and  foot-bridge;  in  thickness,  about 10  ft. 

6.  Incoherent,  irregularly  stratified  sandstone,  straw-colored  or  nearly  white, 
containing  infrequent  specks  of  a  snowy  white  powder;  exposed  at  12 
to  18  feet  above  the  river,  for  a  distance  of  only  25  feet,  being  ob- 
scured below  and  elsewhere  by  the  fallen  talus 6  ft. 

6.    Shakopee  limestone,  farther  east  rising  35  feet  in  a  perpendicular  cliff  from 

the  river,  here 10-15  ft. 

Numbers  3,  4  and  5  are  believed  to  be  Cretaceous,  but  no  fossils  were  seen  in  any  of  these 
strata. 

Analyses  of  Cretaceous  clays  from  the  vicinity  of  Mankato. 

Five  analyses,  shown  in  the  table  below,  have  been  made  for  this  survey,  of  samples  of  the 
very  fine,  more  or  less  clayey  silt  which  has  been  described  in  the  foregoing  pages  in  respect  to 
its  manner  of  occurrence. 

The  first  of  these  analyses  (No.  67,  eighth  annual  report)  was  made  by  Prof.  S.  F.  Peck- 
ham,  and  is  the  clay  or  shale  filling  hollows  of  the  Shakopee  limestone  in  the  west  part  of  Man- 
kato. Prof.  Peckham  remarks:  "Its  composition  places  it  with  orthoclase,  although  it  has  the 
physical  properties  of  kaolin.  It  is  chemically  a  slightly  decomposed  feldspar,  while  it  has  the 
appearance  and  some  of  the  properties  of  clay.  It,  however,  appears  to  contain  too  much  iron  to 
admit  of  its  being  used  for  white  ware,  although  a  practical  test  is  often  required  to  definitely 
settle  the  value  of  clays  for  such  purposes." 

The  second  analysis  (No.  75,  tenth  annual  report)  was  by  Prof.  J.  A.  Dodge,  and  is  from  a 
nearly  white  clayey  bed  of  considerable  extent,  which  has  been  tried  unsuccessfully  for  brick- 
making,  near  the  quarry  of  J.  E.  Beatty  &  Co.,  in  section  20,  Lime.  "This  was  pulverized, 
without  grinding  up  the  particles  of  gritty  matter  that  were  to  some  extent  intermixed  with  it; 
the  powder  was  then  mixed  with  distilled  water,  the  suspended  portion  poured  off  and  allowed 
to  settle  for  a  day  or  two;  the  settled  portion  was  then  collected,  dried  at  212°,  and  submitted  to 
analysis  by  the  common  methods  for  silicates." 

The  third  (No.  138,  twelfth  annual  report)  was  by  Mr.  C.  F.  Sidener,  and  is  a  nearly  white, 
very  fine-grained,  somewhat  friable  earth,  in  the  lower  part  of  the  succession  of  Cretaceous  strata 
in  section  35,  Mankato  (from  the  east  bluff  of  the  Le  Sueur  river  close  above  the  railroad  bridge, 
in  No.  4  of  page  435). 

The  fourth  (No.  139,  twelfth  annual  report),  by  Mr.  Sidener,  is  from  the  same  locality  with 
the  last,  and  is  the  red  ochery  clay  which  was  mentioned  on  page  436. 

The  fifth  analysis  (No.  146,  twelfth  annual  report),  also  by  Mr.  Sidener,  is  the  clay  or  shale 
observed  between  the  Shakopee  limestone  and  the  Jordan  sandstone  in  the  L'lluillier  mound 
(No.  4,  page  430).  Like  No.  1  of  this  table,  but  in  less  degree,  "it  is  rather  remarkable  for  con- 
taining so  much  potash,  which  probably  exists  in  it  in  the  form  of  finely  divided  potash  feldspar." 

1.  2.  3.  4.  5. 

Silica,  Si  O2 70.10        8770        93.65        73.34        68.70 

Alumina,  Al,  O3 16.99          7.24          2.15        14.75        18.04 

Lime,  CaO 0.67          0.20          0.28          1.24 

Magnesia,  MgO 0.07          0.12          0.05          0.56 

Potassa,  Ka  0 10.69         0.49      traces     traces         5.28 


BLUE  EARTH  COUNTY.  439 

Glacial  drift.  J 

Soda,  Na>  0 3.17       traces      traces         0.24 

Ferric  oxide,  Fe..  Oj traces      traces         0.25         5.45          1.53 

Sulphuric  oxide,  8  d    0.23  

Phosphoric  oxide,  Pi  O; 0.09 

Organic  matter traces        traces 

Water,  H2  0 1.98       traces          2.25          4.71          1.40 

99.99         99.34        98.02        98.58        97.08 

In  the  absence  of  palaeontological  evidence,  it  is  impossible  to  deter- 
mine to  which  part  of  the  Cretaceous  series  these  beds  in  Blue  Earth  county 
should  be  referred ;  but  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  they  belong  some- 
where in  this  age.  Scanty  exposures  of  Cretaceous  strata  are  found  in  many 
parts  of  the  western  two  thirds  of  Minnesota,  enclosing  sometimes  marine 
fossils,  sometimes  impressions  of  leaves,  and  at  a  few  places  thin  layers  of 
lignite. 

Before  the  Cretaceous  age,  during  which  western  Minnesota  and  the 
region  of  the  upper  Missouri  were  depressed  and  covered  by  the  sea,  deep 
channels  had  been  cut  by  rivers  in  the  Lower  Magnesian  strata  of  this 
county;  and  the  slopes  and  course  of  drainage  seem  then  to  have  been  partly 
like  those  of  the  present  day.  At  least  we  find  where  the  Minnesota  river 
now  flows  a  remarkably  water-worn  and  deeply  excavated  valley,  in  which 
these  Cretaceous  beds  of  clay  and  sand  were  deposited. 

Glacial  drift.  The  drift  in  Blue  Earth  county  has  the  same  characters 
in  its  composition  and  sources  of  material,  manner  of  formation,  diverse 
deposits,  and  topography,  as  are  found  generally,  except  in  its  belts  of  ter- 
minal and  medial  moraines,  throughout  a  very  large  area  of  southern  and 
western  Minnesota  and  upon  much  of  Iowa  and  Dakota.  In  describing  the 
surface  features  of  the  county,  the  topography  of  the  drift-sheet,  in  its 
gently  rolling  or  undulating  and  partly  quite  flat  expanse,  and  the  deep, 
trough-like  valleys  which  intersect  it,  have  been  already  sufficiently  noticed. 
The  thickness  of  this  sheet  of  glacial  drift  is  principally  from  100  to  200  feet, 
but  in  the  Mankato  well  it  was  found  to  be  290  feet.  Its  average  upon  the 
whole  county  is  probably  150  feet.  Before  its  erosion  by  rivers,  this  was  a 
mantle  entirely  concealing  the  bed-rocks,  which  had  no  exposure  in  this 
region. 

The  formation  of  the  drift,  including  removal,  intermixture  and  depo- 
sition, took  place  in  the  last  completed  period  of  geological  history,  and  is 
found  to  have  been  accomplished  by  the  agency  of  a  vast  ice-sheet  that 


440  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Glacial  drift. 

-rested  upon  the  land  and  moved  slowly  forward  because  of  the  pressure  of 
its  own  weight,  covering  the  northern  half  of  North  America,  as  now  the 
Antarctic  continent  and  the  interior  of  Greenland  are  buried  beneath  ice 
thousands  of  feet  deep.  In  Blue  Earth  county  and  generally  through  the 
greater  part  of  Minnesota,  the  material  of  the  drift  is  principally  the  un- 
modified deposit  of  the  ice-sheet,  composed  of  clay,  sand  and  boulders, 
mixed  indiscriminately  in  an  unstratified  mass.  Very  finely  pulverized 
rock,  forming  a  stiff,  compact,  unctuous  clay,  is  its  principal  ingredient, 
whether  at  great  depths  or  at  the  surface.  This  formation  is  denominated 
till,  boulder-clay,  or  hardpan.  Layers  of  stratified  gravel  and  sand  are 
enclosed  in  this  deposit,  and  are  the  source  of  the  sudden  inflow  and  rise  of 
water  frequently  found  in  digging  wells. 

In  this  county  and  upon  the  western  two-thirds  of  this  state,  the  till  has 
a  dark  bluish  color,  except  in  its  upper  portion,  which  is  yellowish  to  a 
depth  that  varies  from  five  to  fifty  feet,  but  is  most  commonly  between 
fifteen  and  thirty  feet.  This  difference  in  color  is  due  to  the  influence  of 
air  and  water  upon  the  iron  contained  in  this  deposit,  changing  it  in  the 
upper  part  of  the  till  from  protoxide  combinations  to  hydrous  sesquioxide. 
Another  important  difference  in  the  till  is  that  its  upper  portion  is  com- 
monly softer  and  easily  dug,  while  below  there  is  a  sudden  change  to  a  hard 
and  compact  deposit,  which  must  be  picked  and  is  far  more  expensive  in 
excavating.  There  is  frequently  a  thin  layer  of  sand  or  gravel  between 
these  kinds  of  till,  which  have  their  division  line  at  a  depth  that  varies  from 
five  to  thirty  or  very  rarely  forty  feet.  Owing  to  the  more  compact  and 
impervious  character  of  the  lower  till,  the  change  to  a  yellow  color  is  usu- 
ally limited  to  the  upper  till.  The  probable  cause  of  this  difference  in 
hardness  was  the  pressure  ot  the  vast  weight  of  the  ice-sheet  upon  the 
lower  and  older  till,  while  the  upper  till  was  contained  in  the  ice  and 
dropped  loosely  at  its  melting. 

Again,  in  numerous  places  the  upper  till  as  here  described  is  directly 
underlain  by  a  softer  till,  moist  and  sticky,  and  dark  bluish  in  color.  This 
is  usually  of  considerable  thickness,  or  between  twenty  and  fifty  feet.  It 
often  encloses  or  is  underlain  by  beds  of  water-bearing  sand;  but  occasion- 
ally it  has  been  penetrated  and  is  found  to  lie  directly  upon  a  bed  of  very 
compact  till,  such  as  usually  comes  next  below  the  upper  till.  In  some 


BLUE  EARTH  COUNTS.  441 

Glacial  drift,] 

cases  this  soft  and  moist  deposit  is  evidently  stratified  clay,  free  from  gravel 
or  only  holding  here  and  there  a  stone,  and  all  varieties  appear  to  be  found 
between  this  and  an  unstratified  and  very  pebbly  till;  as  indeed  it  may  be 
that  the  latter  in  different  localities  shows  all  gradations  from  its  occasion- 
ally very  soft  character,  where  a  shovel  can  be  easily  thrust  into  it  to  the 
depth  of  a  foot  or  more,  to  the  hardest  deposits  of  the  lower  till  in  which 
a  pick  can  be  driven  only  an  inch  or  two  at  one  blow. 

The  few  beds  found  in  this  district  which  contain  shells  or  trees  that 
nourished  in  interglacial  epochs,  lie  beneath  two  distinct  beds  of  till,  the 
lower  sometimes  showing  its  usual  hard  and  compact  character,  but  else- 
where being  even  softer  than  the  upper  till. 

Excepting  the  division  into  beds  as  before  described,  the  till  is  an  en- 
tirely unstratified  deposit.  There  has  been  no  assortment  of  its  materials 
by  water,  and  the  coarsest  and  finest  are  mingled  confusedly  in  the  same 
mass.  Often  a  thickness  of  fifty  feet  or  more  exhibits  no  evidence  of 
stratification. 

The  motion  of  the  ice-sheet  upon  this  part  of  the  state  was  from  north- 
west to  southeast,  as  is  shown  by  the  direction  in  which  the  boulders  of  the 
drift  in  this  region  have  been  carried,  and  by  the  courses  of  the  glacial 
striae,  or  the  scratches  and  grooves  worn  on  the  surface  of  the  bed-rock  by 
stones  and  boulders  carried  along  in  the  ice.  Small  rock  fragments,  vary- 
ing in  size  up  to  the  dimension  of  six  inches,  are  usually  numerous  and 
scattered  through  all  parts  of  the  till;  they  are,  however,  seldom  abundant, 
and  are  sometimes  so  few  that  in  well-boring  none  might  be  encountered. 
Boulders  of  large  size  are  less  frequent,  and  often  a  well  or  even  a  railroad 
cut  in  till  fails  to  display  any  of  greater  dimension  than  two  or  three  feet. 
Again,  several  may  be  found  ot  various  sizes  up  to  five  or  perhaps  seven  or 
eight  feet.  They  appear  to  be  usually  more  numerous  on  the  surface  of 
the  till  than  below.  The  number  of  boulders  over  one  foot  in  size  to  be 
found  generally  upon  the  surface  of  moderately  undulating  tracts  of  till  is 
estimated  to  vary  from  one  or  two  to  ten  on  an  acre;  but  often,  and  espec- 
ially on  smooth  or  flat  areas,  they  are  more  scarce,  so  that  perhaps  a  dozen 
could  not  be  gathered  on  a  square  mile. 

The  very  smooth,  and  in  many  portions  flat,  surface  of  the  southern 
two-thirds  of  Blue  Earth  county,  and  of  the  township  of  Mankato  east  from 


442  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[tilicial  drift. 

the  top  of  the  river  bluff,  indicates  the  extent  of  a  lake  which  covered  this 
area  during  the  departure  of  the  ice-sheet.  In  its  recession  from  south  to 
north  the  ice  became  a  barrier  here,  as  with  lake  Agassiz*  in  the  Red  river 
valley,  preventing  free  drainage  northward,  and  forming  a  lake  which 
found  its  outlet  southward  in  Iowa  to  the  East  fork  of  the  Des  Moines 
river,  until  the  ice-sheet  was  melted  upon  the  region  covered  by  the  Min- 
nesota river  from  Mankato  to  its  mouth.  Besides  its  smooth  or  flat  con- 
tour, the  till  upon  the  area  occupied  by  this  lake  is  distinguished  by  slight 
differences  of  its  material  from  that  of  the  more  undulating  districts  sur- 
rounding it,  in  having  a  somewhat  scantier  intermixture  of  boulders  and 
gravel,  and  occasionally  in  its  imperfect  stratification.  Yet  even  where  it 
shows  distinct  lamination,  it  usually  is  more  like  till  than  like  ordinary 
modified  drift,  and  contains  stones  and  gravel  through  its  entire  mass. 
Rarely  may  be  seen  small  areas  of  true  laminated  clay  destitute  of  gravel. 
In  the  report  of  Faribault  county,  the  outlet,  boundaries,  area  and  depth 

of  this  lake  are  treated  of  more  fully. 

Near  Mankato  Junction  on  the  Winona  &  St.  Peter  division  of  the  Chicago  &  Northwest- 
ern railway,  in  section  32,  Lime,  a  cut  eighty  feet  deep  (figures  27  and  28)  as  made  in  till  at  the 
edge  of  the  valley-bluff.  The  upper  forty  feet  here  is  yellowish,  and  the  lower  forty  feet  dark 
bluish.  Their  line  of  contact  forms  a  narrow  shelf  or  bench  in  the  cut.  six  to  eight  feet  wide, 
apparently  due  to  the  greater  hardness  of  the  lower  till;  but  their  outlines  and  position  make  it 
probable  that  here  their  differences  both  in  color  and  hardness  have  resulted  from  weathering. 
At  the  southeast  end  of  this  cut  the  yellow  till  for  an  extent  of  two  or  three  rods  and  a  hight  of 
thirty  feet  is  intersected  by  many  nearly  vertical  banded  veins  which  form  an  intricate  network 
(figure  29,  representing  a  space  ten  feet  square)  upon  the  steeply  sloping  face  of  the  excavation. 
These  veins  or  seams  (figure  30)  are  two  or  three  inches  wide,  and  consist  of  films  of  ferric  oxide, 
parted  by  lamina?  of  clay,  often  including  near  the  middle  a  white  or  gray  calcareous  band  from 
an  eighth  to  a  third  of  an  inch  wide.  They  appear  to  be  veins  of  segregation,  of  somewhat  similar 
origin  with  the  tubular  irony  concretions  which  are  often  met  in  stratified  clay  and  sand,  and 
more  rarely  in  till.  Nowhere  else  have  such  vertical  veins  been  found  during  all  my  exploration 
of  the  glacial  drift. 


FIG.  27.  FIG.  28.  FIG   29.  FIG.  30. 

ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  THE  GLACIAL  DRIFT,  SEC.  32,   LI.MK. 

Wells  in  Blue  Earth  county.  ^     , 

The  material  and  general  character  of  the  drift  are  illustrated  by  the  following  rec- 
ords of  wells,  including  examples  in  most  of  the  townships  of  this  county.  For  the  better  ex- 
hibition of  the  succession  of  glacial  deposits,  this  list  is  principally  selected  from  the  deeper  wells 
of  the  county.  Commonly  an  ample  supply  of  excellent  water,  hard  because  of  the  presence  of 
dissolved  carbonate  of  lime,  but  not  alkaline,  is  obtained  from  fifteen  to  forty  feet  below  the  sur- 

•Compare  the  eighth,  tenth  and  eleventh  annual  reports. 


BLUE  EARTH  COUNTY.  443 


face,  seeping  into  the  well  from  the  lower  part  of  the  yellow  till,  or  furnished  by  springs  from 
thin  seams  of  sand  or  gravel  next  below  this  or  within  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  in  the  blue  till. 

Jamestown.  Volk  &  Co.;  Volksville,  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Washington,  sec.  20:  well,  120 
feet  deep;  yellow  till,  25  feet;  blue  till,  30;  gravel  and  yellow  sand,  15;  ash-colored  fetid  clay, 
stratified,  10;  sand,  40;  no  water.  Another  well,  twenty  rods  from  this,  is  5D  feet  deep,  being 
yellow  till,  25;  blue  till,  33;  a  dark,  cemented  gravel,  mainly  composed  of  waterworn  pebbles  up 
to  four  inches  in  diameter,  6  inches;  and  common  gravel,  6  inches,  with  water  rising  from  it  four 
feet. 

William  H.  Bapley;  sec.  30:  well,  100  feet  deep;  yellow  till,  45  feet,  containing  veins  of 
gravel  from  six  inches  to  two  feet  wide  and  from  four  to  twelve  inches  thick;  yellow  sand,  55 
feet;  no  water. 

Le  Bay.  At  Eagle  Lake  the  wells  are  16  to  25  feet  deep,  the  deeper  going  through  the  yel- 
low* till  and  far  enough  into  the  blue  till  for  a  reservoir. 

Mr.  A.  W.  Kedner,  of  Eagle  Lake,  a  well-maker,  states  from  an  experience  of  about  fifty 
wells  in  this  and  adjoining  townships,  that  the  yellow  till  is  usually  more  filled  with  rock-frag- 
ments than  the  blue  till,  and  is  harder  to  bore  or  to  dig  with  a  spade.  The  blue  till  is  more  sticky. 
Lignite  is  frequently  found,  in  pieces  up  to  four  inches  long,  mostly  shaly  and  only  half  an  inch 
or  less  in  thickness. 

Charles  &  William  Macbeth;  sec.  20:  well,  55  feet  deep;  yellow  till,  20;  blue  till,  30;  quick- 
sand, 1  foot;  gravel,  1  foot;  blue  clay,  containing  small  gasteropod  shells,  3  feet. 

McPherson.  Charles  Dittman;  S.  W.  J,  sec.  5,  one  mile  north  of  Winnebago  Agency  (Hilton): 
well,  75  feet  deep;  yellow  till,  15;  at  its  base  a  gravel  vein,  nearly  round  and  about  a  foot  in 
diameter,  was  found  running  across  the  well;  blue  till,  55;  quicksand,  5  feet  and  extending  below; 
a  small  amount  of  water  came  in  the  gravel  at  fifteen  feet,  but  this  was  lost  in  the  quicksand  at 
the  bottom. 

Mankato.  Michael  Bienbold;  sec.  30  :  well,  30  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  all  below;  water 
seeps,  being  six  feet  deep  in  dry  seasons. 

Mrs.  Mary  Stuck;  also  sec.  30:  well,  80  feet;  yellow  till,  about  35;  sand,  2  feet;  blue  till, 
softer  than  the  yellow,  43;  water  rose  forty  feet  from  sand  at  the  bottom. 

Decoria.  Henry  Lortz;  sec.  20:  well,  33;  yellow  till,  14;  sand,  1J  feet:  yellow  till  again,  17; 
water  rose  three  feet  from  sand  at  the  bottom. 

Adam  Lortz;  sec.  21:  well,  90;  yellow  till,  about  20;  blue  till,  about  25;  light-colored  sticky 
clay,  10  feet;  with  probably  stratified  sand  and  gravel  below.  This  well  has  only  surface  water; 
none  in  a  dry  season. 

Kapidan.  Fred  Griffith;  sec.  22:  well,  24  feet;  soil,  2  ;  yellow  till,  spaded,  15;  blue  till, 
harder,  but  yet  spaded,  7  feet;  water  seeps  at  the  top  of  the  blue  till. 

Lyra.  Graham  House;  Good  Thunder:  well,  48  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  16;  soft  blue  till,  26; 
gravel  and  sand,  4  feet,  witli  water  issuing  in  this  stratum  but  not  rising  above  it. 

B.  L.  Potter;  sec.  33:  well,  70;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  15;  blue  till,  53;  water  rises  from  gravel 
at  the  bottom  to  a  hight  six  feet  below  the  surface.  This  is  the  deepest  well  of  its  vicinity;  it  is 
at  the  general  level  of  the  country,  about  fifty  feet  above  the  Maple  river.  Nine  rods  farther 
east,  a  well  14  feet  deep  found  a  good  supply  of  water,  rising  four  feet  from  the  bottom. 

Sterling.  W.  Wells;  sec.  4:  well,  16£  feet  deep,  being  all  yellow  till;  water  rose  ten  feet  in 
four  hours  from  sandy  streaks  at  the  bottom. 

Garden  City.  At  Lake  Ciystal,  in  the  north  edge  of  this  township,  the  common  wells  are 
15  to  30  feet  deep.  The  well  for  the  railroad  and  elevator  here  has  a  depth  of  110  feet,  of  which 
the  last  50  feet  were  bored.  Its  section  is  soil,  2  feet;  yellow  till,  spaded,  15;  softer  and  moister 
blue  till,  becoming  more  gravelly  in  the  last  6  or  8  feet,  90;  gravel,  3  feet;  water  rose  from  the  bot- 
tom only  twenty-five  feet,  but  the  well,  when  not  pumped  from,  becomes  filled  with  surface  water. 

Vernon  Center.  C.  C.  Washburn;  N.  W.  i  sec.  26,  close  east  of  Edgewood  station:  well  22 
feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  20  feet;  water  seeps.  At  his  barn,  twelve  rods  to  the  south',  is 
another  well,  34  feet  deep,  having  soil,  2  feet;  yellow  till,  18;  harder  blue  till,  10;  sand  and  gravel, 
4  feet,  from  which  water  rose  twenty-four  feet  in  a  half  day,  and  stands  permanently  at  this  hight! 
The  wells  of  this  region  average  20  to  30,  and  are  occasionally  40  to  50  feet  in  depth.  Lignite, 
in  fragments  up  to  four  inches  long,  is  found  sparingly  in  the  till  in  nearly  all  these  wells. 


444  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Modified  drift. 

Pleasant  Mound.  F.  O.  Marks;  S.  E.  },  sec.  25:  well,  55  feet;  soil,  2;  gravel,  6;  light-gray 
"  hardpan,"  very  hard,  18;  blue  till,  soft  and  moist,  29;  water  rose  thirty-five  feet  in  a  few  hours 
from  a  dark  mud  at  the  bottom. 

William  Robinson;  sec.  26:  well,  64:  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  18;  sand  and  gravel,  1  foot; 
soft  and  moist  blue  till,  43;  with  quicksand  at  the  bottom,  from  which  water  rose  thirty  feet  in 
six  hours.  • 

Ceresco.  L.  A.  Pratt;  sec.  24:  well,  48;  soil,  3;  yellow  till,  spaded,  15;  softer  and  moister 
blue  till,  28;  sand  and  gravel,  2  feet,  reaching  deeper;  water  rose  four  feet  from  this  sand.  Small 
fragments  of  lignite  occur  frequently  in  the  wells  of  this  region. 

Lincoln.  W.  G.  Bundy;  sec.  30:  well,  30  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  24;  harder  blue 
till,  4  feet,  and  reaching  deeper;  water  comes  in  sandy  and  gravelly  veins  in  this  blue  till,  becom- 
ing four  or  five  feet  deep. 

Butternut  Valley.  Thomas  Wilson;  sec.  28:  well,  58  feet;  soil,  3;  yellow  till,  spaded,  15; 
blue  till,  soft  and  moist  for  the  first  five  feet,  then  mostly  very  hard  and  compact,  requiring  to 
be  picked,  in  all,  40  feet,  containing  a  piece  of  lignite,  nearly  a  cubic  foot  in  size,  at  a  depth  of 
about  thirty  feet  from  the  surface;  no  sand  nor  gravel,  and  no  good  supply  of  water;  this  well  has 
therefore  been  filled  up. 

Martin  Osten;  sec.  21:  well,  28  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  and  blue  till,  26;  with  gravel  and  sand  at 
the  bottom,  from  which  water  rose  to  six  feet  below  the  surface. 

Cambria.  David  T.  Davis;  sec.  26:  well,  40;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  18  feet,  containing 
gravelly  streaks  in  its  lower  part,  with  a  little  water;  much  harder  blue  till,  picked,  20;  enclosing  a 
vein  of  gravel  and  sand  at  the  bottom,  from  which  water  rose  two  feet. 

William  E.  Jenkins;  sec.  34:  well,  24  feet ;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  18 ;  harder  blue  till,  4  feet 
and  extending  lower;  water  seeps.  Several  small  pieces  of  lignite  were  found  in  each  of  these 
wells. 

Modified  drift.  In  addition  to  the  beds  of  modified  drift  enclosed  in  the 
till  or  lying  below  it,  other  accumulations  of  this  kind  of  drift,  derived  di- 
rectly from  the  ice-sheet  but  deposited  by  water,  occur  on  the  surface  of 
areas  which  are  mainly  till.  They  consist  of  interstratified  gravel  and 
sand  in  knolls  or  mounds  that  rise  ten  to  twenty  feet,  and  rarely  fifty  to 
seventy-five  feet,  above  the  general  level.  These  are  seldom  very  numer- 
ous in  western  Minnesota,  and  are  rarely  extended  in  ridges  or  in  any 
notable  series.  Their  origin,  however,  was  probably  similar  to  that  of  the 
gravel  ridges  or  kames  which  often  form  long  series  in  other  drift  regions, 
being  the  deposits  formed  between  walls  of  ice  by  glacial  rivers  that  were 
poured  down  from  the  surface  of  the  melting  ice-fields.  The  only  notable 
accumulations  of  this  class  in  Blue  Earth  county  are  the  group  of  hillocks 
before  described  in  section  25,  Pleasant  Mound,  and  occasional  knolls  of 
fine  gravel  arid  sand,  ten  to  fifteen  feet  in  hight,  in  Butternut  Valley  and 
Cambria  townships. 

The  valley  of  the  Minnesota  river  at  the  north  side  of  the  county  has 
been  filled  with  modified  drift  to  a  depth  ol  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
feet,  but  it  has  since  been  nearly  all  excavated  and  carried  away  by  the 
river. 


BLUE  EARTH  COUNTY.  445 

Modified  drift.] 

At  and  opposite  New  Ulra.  and  four  to  eight  miles  farther  down  the  valley,  in  Courtland, 
which  adjoins  Cambria,  are  conspicuous  terraces  of  sand  and  gravel  belonging  to  this  formation, 
having  bights  from  100  to  150  feet  above  tbe  river.  Opposite  to  the  southeast  end  of  the  Court- 
land  terrace,  a  remnant  of  the  same  deposit  lies  in  section  22  and  the  N.  E.  }  of  section  21,  Cam- 
bria, between  the  Minnesota  river  and  the  lower  part  of  Morgan  creek,  having  a  hight  of  100 
feet  or  more  and  a  length  of  about  a  mile. 

Between  Judson  and  Mankato,  close  southeast  from  the  unnamed  waterfall  formed  by  the 
Jordan  sandstone  in  section  12.  Judson,  the  road  rises  about  75  feet  higher,  to  a  terrace  composed 
mainly  at  its  surface  of  coarse  gravel  and  sand,  irregularly  and  obliquely  interstratified,  upon 
which  the  road  runs  one  and  one-fourth  miles  southeast  to  the  wind-mill  in  the  N.  E.  }  of  section 
18,  South  Bend,  where  it  is  called  the  "Wind-mill  bluff."  This  terrace  of  modified  drift  is  two 
and  a  half  miles  long,  reaching  from  the  N.  W.  i  of  section  12,  Judson,  to  the  S.  E.  J  of  section 
17,  South  Bend;  its  greatest  width  is  about  a  third  of  a  mile;  its  hight  is  estimated  at  from  170 
to  150  feet  above  the  river,  declining  toward  the  southeast,  the  bluffs  of  till  at  its  southwest  side 
being  30  to  50  feet  higher,  or  200  feet  above  the  river. 

In  the  farther  descent  of  the  valley,  no  other  remains  of  this  great  deposit  of  stratified  drift 
are  found  in  the  next  ten  miles;  but,  beginning  again  one  mile  beyond  the  north  line  of  Blue 
Earth  county,  they  are  found  thence  commonly  on  one  or  the  other  side  of  the  valley  through  its 
lower  sixty  miles,  from  Kasota  and  Saint  Peter  to  its  mouth.  The  depth  of  this  valley  drift, 
consisting  of  horizontally  stratified  gravel  and  sand,  sometimes  with  thick  beds  of  clay,  is  found 
by  wells  to  be  from  50  to  100  feet.  This  is  at  the  side  of  the  valley,  in  which  this  formation  ap- 
pears to  have  been  a  continuous  flood-plain,  gradually  raised  by  the  deposition  of  sediment,  till 
its  thickness  along  the  middle  of  the  valley,  from  which  it  has  now  been  eroded,  was  from  75  to 
150  or  175  feet,  having  a  slope  down-stream  of  about  two  feet  per  mile.  The  floods  which  brought 
this  deposit  and  flowed  over  its  broad  plain  were  supplied  from  glacial  melting. 

The  comparatively  thin  deposits  of  similar  stratified  gravel  and  sand,  which  cover  the  ter- 
races of  the  Shakopee  limestone  and  Jordan  sandstone  within  the  Minnesota  valley,  in  this  coun- 
ty and  below,  and  the  alluvium  of  the  bottomlands,  which  are  composed  of  fine  silt,  sand  and 
occasional  beds  of  gravel,  have  been  worn  and  assorted  by  water  nearly  like  the  modified  drift; 
but  their  origin  seems  attributable  to  the  ordinary  action  of  the  river  in  the  processes  of  excava- 
tion and  sedimentation,  and  may  be  accounted  for  without  reference  to  glacial  conditions. 

MATERIAL  RESOURCES. 

The  principal  resources  of  Blue  Earth  county  are  the  products  of  its 
invariably  fertile  soil,  and  the  water-powers  afforded  by  many  of  its 
streams,  which,  by  using  their  lakes  for  reservoirs,  may  be  made  nearly 
uniform  in  flow  throughout  the  year.  The  valuable  areas  of  timber  and 
the  prairies  of  natural  grassland  in  this  county  both  possess  rich,  deep, 
and  well  drained  soil,  bountiful  and  never-failing  in  its  productiveness. 
Besides  the  agricultural  capabilities  of  Blue  Earth  county,  which  have 
been  before  noticed,  we  have  to  enumerate  here  its  water-powers,  its  quar- 
ries of  building  stone,  the  manufacture  of  lime,  hydraulic  cement,  bricks, 
drain  tiles  and  pottery,  and  artesian  wells  and  fountains. 

Water-powers  in  Blue  Earth  county.    . 

The  following  water-powers  are  utilized  in  this  county,  all  being  employed  for  the  manu- 
facture of  flour,  excepting  two  saw-mills,  of  which  one  is  situated  on  the  Le  Sueur  river,  in  the 
southeast  part  of  Mankato  township,  and  the  other  in  Le  Ray  on  the  outlet  of  Eagle  lake. 

Blue  Earth  river.  Champion  mills;  V.  II.  Thompson;  in  the  north  part  of  sec.  IB,  Shelby; 
fall  or  head,  seven  feet;  three  run  of  stone. 


446  THE  GEOLOGY  OP  MINNESOTA. 

[Water-power* 

Standard  mills;  Berry  &  Crow;  Vernon  Center,  west  of  road,  and  north  of  river;  head,  seven 
feet;  three  run  of  stone. 

Cable  mills;  Turner  &  Redfern;  at  middle  of  east  half  of  sec.  18,  Lyra;  head,  about  seven 
feet. 

Union  mill;  N.  E.  J  of  sec.  31,  Rapidan;  head,  about  six  feet;  grist-mill. 

Rapidan  mills;  Rapidan  Mill  Co.;  at  Eapidan  Rapids;  head,  ten  feet;  mostly  a  custom  mill. 

Watomcan  river.  C.  F.  Butterfield's  mill;  in  S.  W.  J  of  sec.  32,  Garden  City;  head,  eight 
feet,  as  now  located;  owner  expects  to  remove  mill  to  a  point  about  an  eighth  of  a  mile  northeast, 
there  to  have  a  head  of  nineteen  feet,  four  of  it  being  gained  by  raising  the  present  dam. 

Wa  ton  wan  mills;  F.  T.  Enfield;  upper  mill  in  Garden  City;  head,  seven  feet;  three  run  of 
stone. 

Northwestern  mills;  Andrew  Friend;  lower  mill  at  Garden  City;  head,  seven  feet;  three 
run  of  stone;  custom  (exchange)  and  merchant  mill. 

Moore  &  Richardson's  mill  (formerly  Folsom's);  in  S.  E.  i  of  sec.  23,  one  mile  below  Garden 
City;  head,  about  nine  feet;  two  run  of  stone. 

Maple  river.  Sterling  mill;  Mrs.  M.  Furman;  just  below  mouth  of  Jackson  creek,  in  the 
S.  E.  J  of  sec.  9,  Sterling;  head,  six  feet;  obtains  water  for  dry  season  by  raising  and  drawing 
four  feet  from  lake  Jackson  at  the  west  side  of  this  township,  and  the  same  from  Rice  lake  in  Del- 
avan,  Faribault  county. 

Good  Thunder  mills;  Palmer  &  Miller;  two-thirds  of  a  mile  southeast  from  Good  Thunder, 
beside  the  Mankato  branch  of  the  Southern  Minnesota  railroad;  head,  seven  feet. 

H.  B.  Doty's  mill;  in  (or  near)  the  N.  E.  J  of  sec.  3,  Lyra,  one  and  a  half  miles  north  of 
Good  Thunder;  head,  ten  feet. 

Maple  River  mills;  George  Gerlich;  in  the  southeast  part  of  Rapidan,  four  miles  north  of 
Good  Thunder;  head,  twelve  feet.  All  these  are  small  custom  flouring  mills. 

Outlet  of  Eagle  lake  and  lake  Madison.  On  this  tributary  of  the  Le  Sueur  river  mills  are 
owned  by 

Cate  &  Zimmerman;  N.  \V.  J  of  sec.  20,  Le  Ray;  one  and  a  half  miles  southeast  from  Eagle 
lake;  flour  and  grist  mill;  head,  twenty-one  feet. 

Ellison  &  Ford;  one  mile  south  of  the  last,  in  sec.  29,  Le  Ray;  saw-mill;  head,  fourteen  feet. 

Le  Sueur  river.  Harvey  &  Bennett;  Tivoli  post-office,  in  sec.  25,  southeast  part  of  Mankato 
township;  saw-mill;  head,  about  nine  feet. 

Red  Jacket  mills*;  Hillyer  &  Biugham;  S.  W.  J  of  sec.  26,  Mankato,  three  and  a  half  miles 
southwest  from  the  city;  head,  twelve  feet;  canal,  a  third  of  a  mile  long;  four  run  of  stone;  wholly 
a  merchant  mill. 

Quarried  stone.  The  St.  Lawrence  limestone  in  Judsoii  has  been  worked 
at  several  places.  On  land  of  Mrs.  G.  W.  Wolf  it  is  quarried  both  at  the 
south  and  north  sides  of  a  small  lake  which  is  close  northeast  of  her  house 
(Judson  post-office);  and  also  about  sixty  rods  farther  southeast.  Work 
was  begun  here  fifteen  years  ago;  and  sales  have  averaged  about  a  hundred 
cords  yearly.  Only  rough  stone  of  small  dimension  is  obtained,  bringing 
from  $2  to  $4  per  cord.  At  C.  G.  Swanson's  quarry,  a  half  mile  southeast 
from  the  foregoing,  the  excavation  is  twenty  rods  long  and  exposes  a  ver- 
tical  thickness  of  four  or  five  feet.  The  sales  at  present  are  about  twenty- 
five  cords  annually,  at  $2.50  to  $3  per  cord.  John  Goodwin's  quarry,  about 
a  half  mile  farther  southeast,  has  not  been  worked  during  the  last  five  years. 

The  Shakopee  limestone  is  much  quarried  in  Blue  Earth  county.     It 

•Burned  since  thi«  report  was  written. 


BLUE  EARTH  COUNTY  .  447 

Quarries.] 

is  strong  and  durable,  of  attractive  buff  color,  easily  wrought  to  any  desired 
form,  and  usually  thickly  bedded,  supplying  the  largest  sizes  of  dimension 
stone.*  Its  quarries  here  noted  lie  within  the  Minnesota  valley  in  South 
Bend,  Mankato  and  Lime  townships,  and  in  Belgrade,  opposite  Mankato; 
on  the  Blue  Earth  river,  near  the  west  part  of  the  city  of  Mankato,  and  in 
the  K  W.  |  of  section  27,  South  Bend;  on  the  Watonwan  river  close  below 
Garden  City;  within  the  valley  of  the  Le  Sueur  river  in  sections  2  and  11, 
Rapid  an;  along  the  last  mile  of  Maple  river;  and  on  the  Big  Cobb  river  in 
the  west  part  of  Decoria.  The  character  of  the  formation  at  these  locali- 
ties has  been  already  stated,  and  the  ownership,  situation,  and  extent  of 
business  of  its  quarries  remain  to  be  briefly  mentioned. 

At  South  Bend,  beside  the  railroad,  this  limestone  has  been  considerably  quarried  by  David 
P.  Davis,  but  little  has  been  done  here  within  the  last  few  years. 

In  the  north  part  of  Mankato  quarries  are  owned  by  J.  R.  Beatty,  George  Maxfleld,  the 
Chicago  &  Northwestern  railway  company,  Adam  Jefferson,  and  others.  J.  R.  Beatty 's  east  quarry 
reaches  about  thirty  rods  west  from  the  north  end  of  Front  street.  It  has  been  operated  about 
fifteen  years,  formerly  supplying  some  eight  hundred  cords  yearly  at  $3  per  cord;  but  was  not 
worked  in  1879  and  1880.  At  present  (1883)  it  supplies  a  large  amount  of  stone  both  for  building 
and  for  quicklime.  In  the  bottom  of  the  quarry  the  stone  is  blue. 

George  Maxlield's  quarry,  extending  thence  a  quarter  of  a  mile  west,  was  leased  from  1878 
to  1880  to  O.  R.  Mather,  whose  annual  sales  amounted  to  about  $8000.  This  quarry  supplied  the 
masonry  of  the  bridge  at  Shakopee,  and  the  trimmings  of  the  high  school  building  at  Le  Mars, 
Iowa.  The  section  here  is  given  on  page  429,  the  bluff  of  these  quarries  reaching  from  the  top 
of  the  formation  as  there  described  to  No.  9.  Some  portions  of  No.  3  are  fossiliferous.  In  No.  4,  a 
layer  three  feet  thick,  twelve  to  fifteen  feet  above  No.  6,  is  reddish,  having  about  the  same  tint 
as  in  the  Kasota  quarries,  and  is  a  good  stone  for  cutting.  Next  above  this  is  a  thickness  of  eight 
feet  used  for  common  masonry.  Another  layer  in  No.  4,  which  is  somewhat  used  for  cut-stone, 
lies  about  six  feet  above  No.  5;  it  is  light  straw-colored,  and  is  finely  laminated  with  curving  con- 
cretionary films  of  ferric  oxide.  No.  6,  called  the  best  cutting  stone,  has  a  brownish  buff  color. 

Adjoining  the  last  and  continuing  northwesterly  is  another  quarry  owned  by  J.  R.  Beatty, 
from  which  the  sales  up  to  1880  were  about  $1000  yearly.  A  third  of  a  mile  farther  north,  in  the 
S.  W.  J  of  section  6,  this  bluff  has  been  quarried  by  Stephen  Lamm  &  Co.,  who,  jointly  with 
Sullivan  and  Duffee,  quarrying  in  Belgrade,  supplied  the  stone  for  the  Mankato  bridge.  These 
quarries,  or  others  recently  opened  near  them,  are  at  present  extensively  worked  by  the  Chicago 
&  Northwestern  railway  companyt,  and  for  supplying  the  stone  of  the  arched  railroad  bridge 
built  in  1882  and  1883  at  Minneapolis. 

Half  a  mile  farther  north,  in  the  N.  W.  J  of  section  6,  Adam  Jefferson  has  quarried  since 
1877,  selling  about  $1000  worth  of  stone  yearly,  at  $3.50  per  cord,  and  from  fifteen  to  fifty  cents 
per  foot  for  cut  stone,  as  window  caps  and  sills.  He  supplied  the  masonry  of  the  Le  Sueur  bridge. 
This  quarry  and  that  of  Lamm  &  Co.  expose  a  vertical  thickness  of  fifteen  to  twenty  feet,  being 
in  No.  4  of  Prof.  Winchell's  section. 

About  a  quarter  of  a  mile  farther  north,  yet  in  Mankato,  a  small  quarry  has  been  worked 
by  Nathan  Brooks. 

In  Lime  township  J.  R.  Beatty  &  Co.  quarry  extensively  at  the  south  side  of  a  little  creek 
in  the  S.  W.  J  of  section  20.  The  working  extends  about  fifteen  rods  on  the  face  of  a  bluff  which 

*Consult  th?  chapter  on  building:  stones,  p.  168. 

fAt  this  quarry  the  workmen  have  the  following  designations  for  the  different  parts  of  the  quarry,  adopted  for 
their  own  convenience.  They  are  in  descending  order.  1.  White  ledge  (very  flne-2rained  stone).  2.  Heel  ledge  (harder 
and  pinkish).  3.  Gray  ledge  (course-grained).  4.  Soft  ledge  (crumbled  by  freezing).  5.  Bridge  stone  (coarse). 


448  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Quarries.     Lime. 

exposes  twenty  to  twenty-five  feet  of  this  limestone,  vertically,  in  beds  from  one  to  three  or  four 
feet  thick.  Quarrying  was  begun  here  in  1878,  aud  in  1879  furnished  the  stone  used  for  the 
Belle  Tlaine  bridge,  the  sales  of  that  year  being  $2500.  Within  a  third  of  a  mile  southwestward, 
Joseph  Kunz  has  quarried  considerably  at  several  places  on  his  farm  in  the  S.  E.  J  of  section  19. 

Valuable  quarries  of  this  limestone  are  worked  upon  the  west  bluff  of  the  Minnesota  river 
in  Belgrade,  Nicollet  county,  opposite  to  Mankato. 

The  St.  Paul  &  Sioux  City  railroad  company  have  quarried  upon  both  sides  of  the  Blue 
Earth  river  near  their  railroad  bridge.  The  stone  for  the  new  bridge  crossing  this  river  in  section 
27.  South  Bend,  was  being  quarried  in  1880,  about  a  sixth  of  a  mile  above  it,  from  the  Shakopee 
limestone  which  forms  the  upper  part  of  the  bluff  north  of  the  river. 

The  quarrying  mentioned  beside  the  Watonwan  river,  close  below  Garden  City,  on  land  of 
the  S.  M.  Folsom  estate,  has  been  of  small  amount,  perhaps  supplying  in  all  fifty  cords  of  stone. 

In  the  valley  of  the  Le  Sueur  river,  the  fallen  blocks  of  Shakopee  limestone  before  spoken 
of  on  land  of  O.  Halberg,  in  the  east  half  of  section  2,  Bapidan,  have  been  somewhat  used  for 
masonry;  but  this  rock  was  not  seen  in  place  in  the  bluff  above,  which  rises  to  a  hight  of  severity- 
five  feet.  Andrew  Algren  quarries  this  limestone  slightly  at  its  outcrop  on  his  farm,  less  than  a 
mile  above  the  last,  in  the  N.  E.  }  of  section  11,  Rapidan,  getting  out  ten  to  twenty  cords  yearly. 

Quarries  on  the  Maple  river  within  a  mile  above  its  mouth,  in  sections  12  and  13,  Rapidan, 
are  owned  as  follows:  by  Columbus  Ballard,  at  the  west  side  of  the  river,  in  the  N.  E.  \  of  the 
S.  W.  \  of  section  12,  leased  to  John  C.  Roland  through  several  years  past,  considerably  used  for 
bridges,  house-building,  &c.;  by  Swan  Larson,  west  of  the  river,  in  the  S.  W.  }  of  the  S.  W.  i  of 
section  12,  selling  ten  to  twenty  cords  yearly  at  $3  per  cord;  by  A.  C.  Wood,  east  of  the  river,  in 
theS.E.  J  of  the  S.W.  }  of  section  12,  yielding  excellent  stone  and  considerably  quarried;  and  by 
P.  H.  Kelly,  in  the  N.  J  of  the  N.  W.  J-  of  section  13,  also  good,  but  not  recently  worked.  The 
west  pier  of  the  bridge  at  Garden  City  was  from  Ballard's,  aud  the  east  pier  from  Kelly:s  quarry. 

In  Decoria  the  Shakopee  limestone  on  the  lower  part  of  the  Big  Cobb  river  has  been  quar- 
ried since  1875  by  Matthew  Ryan,  in  section  18,  selling  some  seventy-five  cords  yearly,  at  $3  per 
cord;  and  since  1877  by  A.  W.  White  and  Samuel  Curtis,  in  section  19,  selling  annually  ten  or 
twenty  cords.  These  quarries  only  supply  the  demands  of  their  vicinity,  and  are  scantily  worked 
because  they  lack  a  sufficient  market;  but  the  stone  here  and  on  Maple  river  seems  to  be  equal  in 
quality  to  that  of  Mankato. 

Lime.  The  St.  Lawrence  limestone  in  Judson  appears  never  to  have 
been  used  for  lime-burning.  From  the  Shakopee  limestone  on  the  Maple 
river  lime  was  manufactured  about  fifteen  years  ago,  but  not  since,  be- 
cause its  cheapness  at  the  Mankato  kilns  prevents  competition. 

At  Mankato  lime  is  burned  by  J.  E.  Beatty  and  O..R.  Mather,  from  the 
layer  No.  3  of  Prof.  Winchell's  section  of  the  Shakopee  formation  here. 
This  buff  dolomite  produces  a  dark  lime  which  slacks  to  a  brown  or  cream 
color.  It  is  magnesian,  with  a  little  admixture  of  sand,  and  is  burned 
more  easily,  slacks  with  less  heat,  and  sets  more  slowly,  than  pure  lime. 

It  is  preferred  by  masons  for  brick  and  stone  work,  and  for  plastering  ex- 

• 

cept  the  finishing  coat. 

J.  R.  Beatty's  kiln,  at  the  west  side  of  the  north  end  of  Front  street,  has  been  in  operation 
ten  years,  averaging  7,000  barrels  of  lime  yearly.  It  is  a  continual  burner,  with  annual  capacity 
of  12,000  barrels.  O.  R.  Mather  since  1878  has  leased  George  Maxfield's  kiln  at  the  east  side  of 
the  street,  opposite  to  the  foregoing,  and  burns  about  6,000  barrels  per  year.  This  lime  varies  in 
price  from  fifty  to  seventy-five  cents  per  barrel  of  about  225  pounds. 

One  and  a  third  miles  northwest  from  these  kilns,  in  the  X.  W.  \  of  section  6,  Mankato, 


BLUE  EARTH  COUNTY.  449 

Hydraulic  cement.] 

Adam  Jefferson  has  burned  two  thousand  to  three  thousand  barrels  of  lime  yearly  since  1868. 
The  upper  five  to  eight  feet  of  the  quarry  worked  by  J.  R.  Beatty  &  Co.,  in  Lime  township, 
are  excellent  for  lime,  of  which  they  here  burned  2,000  barrels  yearly  in  1878  and  1879.    Joseph 
Kunz,  in  the  adjoining  section  19.  has  also  burned  lime. 

Hydraulic  ceriient  is  manufactured  by  the  Standard  Cement  company, 
on  the  east  bank  of  the  Blue  Earth  river  about  a  mile  southwest  from  the 
west  part  of  the  city  of  Mankato.  The  discovery  of  the  hydraulic  quality 
of  the  Shakopee  limestone  at  this  place  is  to  be  accredited  to  Mr. 
J.  R.  Beatty.  The  cement  is  made  from  the  regular  layers  of  the  Shako- 
pee,  the  whole  exposed  thickness  of  the  strata,  amounting  to  about  twenty- 
two  feet,  being  involved  in  the  process.  The  rock  varies  somewhat  from 
top  to  bottom,  being  too  siliceous  in  one  part  and  too  calcareous  in  an- 
other, but  when  mingled  in  the  process  of  manufacture  makes  a  good  hy- 
draulic cement.  Samples  of  the  strata,  selected  for  their  excellence,  have 
been  analyzed  by  Mr.  C.  F.  Sideuer  under  the  direction  of  Prof.  Dodge,  with 
the  following  result:* 

No.  144.  The  powdered  rock  was  digested  in  hydrochloric  acid,  whereby  the  greater  part  of 
it  was  dissolved  with  effervescence  due  to  the  escape  of  carbonic  acid  gas.  The  composition  of 
the  soluble  and  the  insoluble  portions  is  as  follows: 

Soluble  in  hydrochloric  and. 

Calcium  carbonate,  CaO  CO; 40.00 

Magnesium  carbonate.  MgO  CO*    31.50 

Ferric  oxide,  FeaOi 2.73 

Silica,  SiO2 traces 

Alumina,  A12O ., 0.85 

Potassa,  K2O 0.22 

Soda.  NajO 0.54 

—75.84 
Insoluble  in  hydrochloric  acid. 

Silica 16.00 

Alumina 5.00 

Potassa traces 

Soda traces 

21.00 

Water 0.43 


97.27 

The  soluble  portion  is  seen  to  be  mainly  carbonate  of  lime  and  carbonate  of  magnesia,  with 
some  oxide  of  iron,  while  the  insoluble  portion  is  silicate  of  alumina. 

The  chemical  characters  of  the  manufactured  cement  have  been  de- 
termined by  Mr.  Sidener  as  follows:* 

3vTo.  145.  This  material  was  found  to  effervesce  very  little  witli  hydrochloric  acid,  [t  was 
accordingly  analyzed  as  a  silicate,  by  fusion  in  the  usual  manner.  The  result  of  the  analysis  is 
as  follows: 


'Twelfth  annual  report. 

29 


450  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Hydraulic  cement. 

Lime,  CaO 38.53 

Magnesia,  MgO 22.73 

Ferric  oxide,  Fe2O3 , 4.71 

Silica,  SiOi 16.24 

Alumina.  A12O3 5.35 

Potassa,  K2O ' 1.81 

Soda,  NajO 0.57 

Water,  II2O '. 0.51 

Carbonic  acid,  CO.. 9.26 


99.71 

This  company,  beginning  operations  here  in  1882  and  1883,  have  erect- 
ed extensive  buildings  for  carrying  on  the  business,  using  the  same  rock  in 
their  construction.  The  Shakopee  formation  at  this  place  has  a  different 
grain  and  texture  from  the  strata  seen  at  the  quarries  in  the  north  part  of 
Mankato  and  elsewhere.* 

It  seems  to  have  more  nearly  the  characters  of  the  lower  part  of  the  Shakopee  limestone 
quarried  by  J.  K.  Beatty  &  Co.  in  section  20,  Lime,  which  on  analysis  showed  a  similar  compo- 
sition, being  reported  by  Prof.  Dodge  as  follows:! 

No.  74.  Rock  a  siliceous  limestone.  Digested  with  hydrochloric  acid,  a  residue  was  left, 
amounting  to  19.67  per  cent.  The  dissolved  portion  was  therefore  80.33  per  cent. 

Analysis  of  portion  dissolved  by  hydrochloric  acid: — 

SiOi 27  per  cent.,  being    .21  per  cent,  of  whole  rock. 

AljOj 15    "      "        "          .11'"      "    "        "        " 

FeaO3 3.03     "       "         "         2.43     "       "'" 

CaOCO2 o5.62    "      "        "      44.68    "      "    " 

MgOCOi 39.13    "       "         "       31.59     "       "     '• 

98.20  79.02 

Analysis  of  portion  not  dissolved  by  hydrochloric  acid:— 

SiOi 78.27  per  cent.,  being  15.29  per  cent,  of  whole  rock. 

Al.Os 18.33     "      "        "        3.61    "      "     "      " 

CaO 48    "      "        "          .09    "      

MgO 23    "      "        "          .04    "      "    "       " 

Alkalies traces. 

Organic  matter traces. 

97.31  19.03 

A  determination  of  water  in  the  dried  powder  gave  4  per  cent,  (of  whole  rock.) 
Tliis  is  therefore  a  magnesian  limestone,  containing  about  15  per  cent,  of  silica,  and  but  a 
moderate  quantity  of  oxide  of  iron.    It  would  appear  likely  to  make  a  good  hydraulic  lime.    No. 
71  might  also  serve  that  use. 

No.  71  is  described  by  Prof.  Winchell  as  •'  light  blue  calciferous  sandrock,  from  the  lower 
part  of  the  quarry  of  Maxfleld  and  Matlier,  Mankato,  showing  non-hydrated  (un-oxidized)  natural 
condition  of  the  deeper  beds  of  the  Shakopee  formation."  Prof.  Dodge  says  of  this  rock:J 

Ten  grammes  of  the  powdered  and  dried  mineral  were  digested  with  hydrochloric  acid;  a 
residue  was  laft  which  weighed  1.552  gms.,  making  15.52  per  cent,  of  the  rock;  the  portion  dis- 
solved was  therefore  84.48  per  cent. 

«A  bed  of  clay  or  shale  underlying  the  Shako|>ee  limestone  at  the  Standard  Cement  company's  quarry,  and  ap- 
parently aa*oainted  with  the  qualities  in  the  limestone  which  adapt  it  for  the  manufacture  of  hydraulic  cement,  is  de- 
scribed on  pa(?e  4^4. 

tTentll  annual  report,  p.  204. 

JSame,  p.  Zo3. 


BLUE  EABTH  COUNTY.  451 

Bricks.) 


Analysis  of  portion  dissolved  by  hydrochloric  acid:— 
Fe2Oj  with  small  amount  of 

A!2Oj  and  SiOj 3.U  per  cent.,  being  2.65  per  cent,  of  whole  rock. 

CaO  CO.. 55.47     "       "          "  46.86     "       "      "       •'         " 

MgO  CO2 39.73    "       "  "33.56     "       "      "       " 

98.34  83.07 

Analysis  of  portion  left  undissolved  by  hydrochloric  acid:— 

SiO2 77.90  per  cent.,  being  12.10  per  cent,  of  whole  rock. 

A12O3 19.24     "       "          "       2.99     "       '•      "       " 

CaO 34    "      "          "        .05    "      •'      "      "        " 

MgO 12    "      "          "        .02    " 

Alkalies traces. 

Organic  matter traces. 

97.60  15.16 

It  appears,  therefore,  that  the  rock  is  a  magnesian  limestone,  with  about  12  per  cent,  of 
silica  and  somewhat  over  2£  per  cent,  of  oxide  of  iron. 

Bricks.     The  principal  brick-making  in  this  county  is  at  Mankato. 

The  Mankato  Brick  company,  O.  K.  Mather,  superintendent,  has  three  yards,  two  of  which, 
making  cream-colored  bricks,  are  situated  in  the  north  part  of  the  city,  about  fifty  rods  southwest 
from  the  lime-kilns,  while  the  third,  making  red  bricks,  is  a  mile  distant  to  the  southwest.  They 
all  are  on  the  bottomland,  and  the  material  used  is  the  recent  alluvium  of  the  Minnesota  river, 
the  excavations  reaching  from  the  level  of  low  water  to  fifteen  feet  above  it.  No  sand  is  needed 
for  tempering  at  these  or  the  following  yards.  The  difference  in  color  of  these  bricks  seems  to  be 
due  to  the  mode  of  burning.  With  a  rapid,  hot  fire,  they  take  a  light  buff  or  cream  color  through 
the  whole  kiln;  but  when  more  slowly  burnt  they  are  red,  except  near  the  fire,  where  they  become 
brownish  or  whitish  gray.  This  business  was  begun  ten  years  ago,  and  the  annual  product  has 
averaged  about  4,000,000.  In  1880  it  was  6,000,000,  about  two-thirds  being  cream-colored  and 
one-third  red.  The  bricks  are  sold  at  $5  to  $7  per  thousand,  loaded  upon  the  cars.  Many  of  them 
go  to  distant  points,  as  Saint  Paul,  Minneapolis,  and  Duluth.  and  to  southwestern  Minnesota  and 
northern  Iowa.  About  a  sixth  of  a  mile  southwest  from  the  third  of  the  foregoing  yards,  in  the 
west  part  of  Mankato,  F.  Polchow  &  Co.  have  made  red  bricks  eight  years,  averaging  4,000,000 
yearly,  and  selling  at  about  $6  per  M.  The  material  used  is  the  same  fine  alluvial  silt  of  the  river. 
All  these  bricks  are  of  excellent  and  durable  quality. 

In  1879  Willimes  &  Grothe  began  making  bricks  about  one  and  one-fourth  miles  north  of 
Mankato,  being  at  the  south  side  of  a  creek  close  southwest  of  Jefferson's  quarry.  They  also  use 
alluvium,  producing  red  bricks  excepting  near  the  fire,  where  they  are  light  gray.  About  150,000 
were  made  in  1879,  and  3,000,000  in  1880,  bringing  $5  to  f  5.50  per  M. 

Bed  bricks  have  also  been  made  since  1878,  by  Gekeler  brothers,  in  the  N.  W.  \  of  section 
8,  McPherson,  using  the  alluvium  of  the  Le  Sueur  river.  Their  annual  product  is  about  50,000, 
selling  at  $5  per  M. 

Brick-making  was  formerly  done,  but  is  discontinued,  at  five  places  in  the  west  part  of  the 
county,  as  follows:  by  O.  E.  Mather,  from  1867  to  1871,  on  the  southeast  side  of  Willow  creek, 
in  the  S.  W.  i  of  section  6,  Shelby,  producing  red  bricks  of  fair  quality;  also  by  Mr.  Mather,  dur- 
ing the  next  two  years,  in  the  southwest  edge  of  the  town  of  Lake  Crystal;  in  1869,  south  of  the 
Garden  City  fair-ground,  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Watouwan  river,  red  bricks,  cracked  by  par- 
ticles of  limestone  contained  in  the  sand  which  was  employed  for  tempering,  while  the  clay  used 
is  free  from  gravel  and  is  said  to  have  been  tested  in  the  Mankato  pottery  and  found  suitable  for 
making  stone-ware;  in  the  N.  W.  }  of  section  8,  Shelby,  on  the  east  side  of  the  Blue  Earth  river, 
about  eight  years  ago;  and,  at  nearly  the  same  date,  in  the  S.  W.  \  of  section  32,  Ceresco,  west 
of  I'erch  creek. 

Fire-bricks.  Mr.  David  P.  Davis  states  that  the  Cretaceous  clay  in  the 
lower  part  of  his  quarry  at  South  Bend  has  been  tested,  and  found  to  be 


452  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

(Pottery.     Artesian  wells  . 

of  superior  quality,  for  the  manufacture  of  fire-bricks.  From  the  pottery 
clay  and  sand  of  this  age  close  east  of  the  railroad  bridge  over  the  LeSueur 
river,  fire-bricks  are  successfully  made  by  Andrew  Gapter,  whose  price  for 
them  is  $40  per  thousand  at  wholesale,  and  ten  cents  apiece  in  small  lots. 

Drain-tiles.  S.  F.  Alberger,  of  Mankato,  has  recently  begun  the  man- 
ufacture of  drain-tiles.  The  clay  used  is  obtained  in  the  bluffs  of  the 
Le  Sueur  river  and  its  tributary  from  the  east  known  as  Chalk  run,  in  the 
S.  W.  J  of  section  35,  Mankato,  being  from  No.  2  of  the  Cretaceous  section 
recorded  on  page  435.  The  tiles  made  are  firm  and  compact,  and  of  a  light 
red  or  pinkish  color,  varying  to  yellowish. 

Pottery.  Andrew  Gapter  has  made  pottery  in  the  northeast  part  of 
Mankato  since  1877 ;  obtaining  the  clay  used  during  the  first  two  years 
from  the  bluffs  of  the  Cottonwood  river  in  section  3,  Sigel.  near  New  Ulm; 
but  since  then  getting  all  the  kinds  of  clay  and  sand  required  from  the 
Cretaceous  strata  just  mentioned  on  the  Le  Sueur  river.  He  sells  yearly 
about  $3,000  worth  of  ware,  the  price  being  eight  to  nine  cents  per  gallon. 
It  is  strong  and  durable,  having,  when  not  glazed,  a  reddish  brown  color. 

Artesian  wells  and  fountains.  Some  notice  of  the  common  wells  of  Blue 
Earth  county,  and  of.  the  ample  quantity  and  good  quality  of  their  supply 
of  water,  was  given  in  treating  of  the  glacial  drift. 

The  well  at  Mankato,  2,204  feet  deep,  the  section  of  which  has  been 

i 

presented  on  page  423,  found  no  artesian  flow  of  water,  and  is  not  used. 
It  was  drilled  for  the  city,  in  the  winter  of  1874-5,  at  a  cost  of  $12,000. 
About  half  its  depth  is  six  inches  in  diameter;  and  the  portion  below,  three 
and  five-eighths  inches.  Water  was  found  in  one  of  the  layers  of  sand  in 
the  till  at  85  feet.  Within  the  rock  it  was  first  found  at  540  feet,  from 
which  depth  it  rose  to  90  feet  below  the  top  of  the  well.  At  1,160  feet  the 
drill  fell  a  little,  and  from  this  new  source  the  water  rose  ten  feet  higher.  At 
1,975  feet  the  drill  again  dropped,  and  the  water  rose  ten  feet  higher  still, 
to  70  feet  below  the  surface.  The  supply  appears,  as  tested  by  pumping, 
to  be  enough  for  the  city's  needs;  and  as  the  well  is  at  the  top,  and  near 
the  edge,  of  the  bluff,  200  feet  above  the  greater  part  of  the  city,  the  water 
maybe  obtained  and  the  well  utilized  by  tunneling  to  it  at  a  depth  of 
eighty  or  ninety  feet  below  its  top. 

Many  flowing  or  artesian  wells,  called  fountains,  probably  more  than 


BLUE  EARTH  COUNTY.  453 

Fountains.  ] 

one  hundred  in  number,  have  been  obtained  by  boring  to  slight  depths,  from 
25  to  75  feet,  in  the  till,  upon  the  area  drained  by  the  head-streams  of  Maple 
river,  from  Sterling  Center  fifteen  miles  southeastward,  including  Sterling 
and  Mapleton  townships  in  Blue  Earth  county,  and  reaching  into  Faribault 
county.  It  may  be  that  this  artesian  water  is  continuous  a  half  dozen 
miles  still  farther  southeast  to  Wells,  where  the  most  remarkable  flowing 
wells,  or  fountains,  in  Minnesota  have  been  found.  Though  the  water  at 
Wells  is  obtained  110  to  120  feet  below  the  surface,  it  is  yet  at  a  greater 
hight  above  the  sea  than  in  the  shallower  fountains  on  the  Maple  river. 

These  fountains  are  mostly  bored  in  the  valley  of  this  stream,  forty  feet  below  the  general 
level  of  the  adjoiuing  country,  or  in  the  similar  valleys  of  its  tributaiies,  which  are  depressed 
fifteen  to  forty  feet.  Near  the  Maple  river  they  are  commonly  about  thirty  feet  deep,  being  pipe 
from  a  half  inch  to  one  and  a  half  inches  in  diameter,  and  the  water  rises  from  them  five  to  ten 
feet  above  the  surface.  The  sand  and  gravel  which  yield  this  water  are  not  encountered  every- 
where upon  this  area,  so  that  many  borings  in  favorable  situations  get  no  artesian  flow.  It  also 
seems  likely  that  some  localities  have  more  than  one  stratum  from  which  water  may  rise  above 
the  surface.  For  example,  three  fountains  bored  by  AVilliam  Randall  in  the  southwest  part  of 
section  14,  Sterling,  in  the  valley  of  a  small  creek  tributary  to  the  Maple  river  which  flows  through 
t'.ie  north  part  of  this  section,  are  30,  50.  and  60  feet  deep,  in  their  order  as  one  follows  down  the 
creek.  From  the  first  to  the  third  is  about  a  third  of  a  mile,  in  which  distance  the  creek  probably 
falls  fifteen  feet,  making  the  difference  in  hight  of  the  water-bearing  sand  at  these  points  forty- 
five  feet;  suggesting,  as  the  surface  of  the  drift-sheet  upon  this  region  is  nearly  level,  that  these 
layers  of  sand,  instead  of  being  parts  of  any  continuous  stratum,  may  be  distinct  and  independent 
of  each  other.  The  section  of  the  lowest  fountain  here,  60  feet  deep,  was  soil,  2  feet;  soft  and 
sticky  blue  till.  38  feet;  sandy  clay,  thought  to  be  free  from  gravel,  20  feet;  with  sand  at  the  bot- 
tom from  which  the  water  rose  in  one  minute  to  the  surface. 

The  owners  of  the  four  mills  on  Maple  river,  and  of  the  Red  Jacket  mill  on  the  Le  Sneur 
river,  having  been  often  hindered  by  scarcity  of  water,  offered  to  pay  $60  from  each  mill,  if  a 
hundred  cubic  feet  of  water  per  minute  should  be  added  to  the  Maple  river  by  fountains.  Well- 
makers  accordingly  obtained  the  right  to  bore  on  two  farms  and  six  fountains  were  obtained  on 
each.  One  of  the  farms  is  now  owned  by  E.  W.  Hicks,  living  close  east  of  the  northwest  corner 
of  section  14,  Sterling.  The  largest  of  the  fountains  bored  here  forms  a  stream  two  feet  wide 
and  six  inches  deep.  The  other  six  fountains  are  on  Mr.  Cornell's  farm,  in  the  west  edge  of  Ma- 
pleton, three  miles  farther  southeast.  Together  the  twelve  fountains  yield  135  cubic  feet  of  water 
per  minute;  for  which  these  mill-owners  paid  $325.  This  was  done  in  1877,  and  is  regarded  as  a 
good  investment,  for  this  additional  flow  is  constant  through  the  year  and  enables  the  mills  to 
work  in  the  driest  seasons. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  FARIBAULT  COUNTY. 


BY    WAKREN    UPHAM. 


Situation  and  area.  Faribault  county  (plate  17)  is  the  central  one  in 
the  tier  of  nine  counties  on  the  south  side  of  the  state,  bordering  Iowa. 
The  distance  from  its  north  line  north-northeast  to  Saint  Paul  and  Minne- 
apolis is  about  90  miles;  and  from  its  east  line  to  the  Mississippi  river  at 
La  Crosse  is  120  miles.  This  county  is  a  rectangle,  its  length  from  east  to 
west  being  five  townships,  or  thirty  miles,  and  its  width  from  north  to  south 
four  townships,  or  twenty-four  miles.  Its  area  is  723.72  square  miles,  or 
463.184.53  acres,  of  which  9,151.21  acres  are  covered  by  water.  The  largest 
towns  and  villages  are  Blue  Earth  City,  Winnebago  City,  Delavan,  Easton, 
Wells,  and  Minnesota  Lake. 

SURFACE    FEATURES. 

Natural  drainage.  The  whole  of  Faribault  county  lies  within  the  basin 
of  the  Blue  Earth  river,  which  flows  northerly  through  its  two  western 
ranges  of  townships;  while  the  East  fork  of  this  river,  formed  by  Jones  and 
Brush  creeks  in  the  southeast  part  of  the  county,  flows  west  through  its 
southern  half  and  joins  the  main  stream  at  Blue  Earth  City.  The  middle 
part  of  the  northern  third  of  the  county  is  drained  by  the  head-streams  of 
Maple  river,  which  is  tributary  to  the  Le  Sueur  and  through  that  to  the 
Blue  Earth  river.  Dunbar,  the  most  northeastern  township,  is  drained 
principally  by  the  Big  Cobb  river,  also  reaching  the  Blue  Earth  through 
Le  Sueur  river.  The  general  slopes  of  the  surface  thus  descend  northward; 


FAKIBAULT  COUNTY.  455 

Topography.] 

from  the  southeast  part  of  the  county  westerly  to  Blue  Earth  City;  and 
from  its  west  boundary  easterly  to  the  Blue  Earth  river. 

Lakes.  Faribault  county  has  frequent  lakes,  the  largest  of  which  is  Minnesota  lake,  two 
and  a  quarter  miles  long  from  east  to  west  and  one  to  one  and  a  half  miles  wide,  lying  in  the 
northwest  part  of  Minnesota  Lake  township,  with  its  north  edge  reaching  into  Blue  Earth  county. 
Others  deserving  .mention  are  Rice  lake,  in  Delavan,  three  and  a  half  miles  long  from  north  to 
south,  and  averaging  about  a  half  mile  in  width;  Bass  lake,  north  of  the  last,  and  only  divided 
from  it  by  a  low  and  narrow  ridge;  Swan  lake,  about  two-thirds  of  a  mile  long,  with  two  or  three 
others  of  smaller  size,  forming  a  group  near  the  center  of  Barber  township ;  Ozahtanka  lake, 
having  an  area  of  about  two  square  miles,  in  Barber  and  Emerald;  Walnut  lake,  also  covering 
about  two  square  miles,  in  the  south  part  of  Walnut  Lake  township,  and  extending  south  into 
Brush  Creek  and  Foster;  Goose  and  Swan  lakes,  within  a  mile  farther  south  in  Brush  Creek;  ami 
five  lakes,  from  a  half  mile  to  one  and  one-fourth  miles  in  length,  lying  in  the  southwest  part  of 
the  county,  in  Jo  Daviess  and  Pilot  Grove  townships. 

Topography.  The  greater  part  of  this  county  has  a  slightly  undulating 
or  often  nearly  flat  surface,  with  slopes  ot  very  gentle  and  commonly  im- 
perceptible descent  toward  the  water-courses.  The  streams  have  channeled 
from  thirty  to  one  hundred  feet  into  the  drift,  which  forms  the  surface  and 
everywhere  covers  the  county  so  deeply  that  the  bed-rocks  have  no  exposure 
within  its  limits.  The  East  branch  of  the  Blue  Earth  river  at  Clayton,  in 
the  north  edge  of  Seely  township,  flows  30  feet  below  the  general  level;  at 
Blue  Earth  City  the  valley  is  50  feet  deep;  and  northward  through  Verona 
and  Winnebago  City,  its  depth  increases  from  50  to  90  or  100  feet.  Its 
bottomland,  five  to  twenty  feet  above  the  stream,  is  mainly  from  a  quarter 
to  a  half  of  a  mile  wide,  bordered  by  steep  bluffs  that  rise  to  the  almost  flat 
expanse  qf  till  upon  which  Blue  Earth  City  and  Winnebago  City  are  built, 
and  which  covers  the  whole  county  excepting  two  belts  of  morainic  hills. 
One  of  these  extends  from  Kiester,  in  the  southeast  corner  of  the  county, 
northwestward  nearly  to  Delavan ;  and  the  other,  which  lies  mostly  in 
Iowa,  includes  the  southern  edge  of  Elmore  and  Pilot  Grove.  Many  fur- 
ther details  respecting  the  contour  are  stated  in  a  later  part  of  this  chapter, 
in  the  description  of  the  drift. 

Elevations  on  the  Southern  Minnesota  division  of  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paid  railway. 
From  George  B.  Woodworth,  assistant  engineer,  La  Crosse. 

Miles  from  Feet  above 
La  Crosse.     the  sea. 

Dood's  switch,  near  the  east  line  of  the  county 139.7  1189 

Wells    144.4  1153 

Junction  of  the  Mankato  branch 144.7  1145 

Minnesota  Lake  station,  on  this  branch 153.0  1038 

Easton 153.3  1046 

Summit,  grade 157.1  1077 

Delavan ...159.2  1057 

Depression,  grade 159.6  1047 


456  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Elevations.    Soil  nnd  timber. 
I 

Crossing  branch  of  C..  St.  P.,  M.  &  O.  railway 166.1         1095 

Winnebago  City 166.3        1096 

Blue  Earth  river,  water 168.4        1014 

The  elevations  above  the  spa  of  the  Blue  Earth  river  and  its  tributaries  in  Faribault  county 
are  approximately  as  follows:  Blue  Earth  river  at  the  south  line  of  the  county  and  state,  1125 
feet;  at  the  mouth  of  the  East  fork,  in  Blue  Earth  City,  1050;  at  the  north  line  of  the  county, 
990;  Jones  creek  at  the  east  line  of  the  county,  1200;  Walnut  lake,  1125;  Maple  river  at  the  north 
line  of  the  county,  980;  and  the  Big  Cobb  river  in  Dunbar,  1075  to  1100. 

Mean  elevation  of  the  county.  Estimates  of  the  average  hight  of  the 
townships  of  Faribault  county  are  as  follows:  Dunbar,  1120  feet  above  the 
sea ;  Clark,  1170;  Foster,  1200 ;  Kiester,  1250 ;  Seely,  1175  ;  Brush  Creek, 
1125;  Walnut  Lake,  1125;  Minnesota  Lake,  1050;  Lura,  1040;  Barber,  1100; 
Emerald,  1125;  Rome,  1160;  Elmore,  1160;  Blue  Earth  City,  1120;  Prescott, 
1100;  Delavan,  1050;  Winnebago  City,  1080;  Verona,  1100;  Jo  Daviess,  1150; 
and  Pilot  Grove,  1180.  The  mean  elevation  of  the  county  is  thus  1130  feet, 
very  nearly,  above  the  sea.  Its  highest  points,  the  hills  in  section  3,  Kies- 
ter, are  about  1400  feet  above  the  sea;  and  its  lowest  land,  in  the  valleys 
of  the  Blue  Earth  and  Maple  rivers,  slightly  less  than  1000. 

Soil  and  Umber.  The  soil  of  Faribault  county  has  the  usual  character 
of  the  whole  area  of  slightly  undulating  glacial  drift  which  overspreads 
the  basin  of  the  Minnesota  river.  It  is  almost  universally  the  unmodified 
drift,  or  till,  consisting  principally  of  clay,  but  enclosing  a  considerable 
proportion  of  sand  and  gravel  and  occasional  stones  and  boulders.  A 
thickness  of  about  two  feet  of  this  deposit  next  to  the  surface  Jias  been 
made  dark  by  decaying  vegetation,  and  is  the  black  soil.  On  the  top  of 
swells,  and  especially  of  the  morainic  hills  and  ridges,  its  depth  is  some- 
times only  about  one  foot,  but  is  rarely  much  less;  and  in  the  depressions 
it  is  often  three  or  four  feet  deep.  This  soil  has  a  sufficient  intermixture 
of  sand  to  make  it  porous,  easily  allowing  rains  to  soak  into  it  and  moisture 
to  rise  through  it  to  the  surface  in  a  drought.  It  is  therefore  ready  for 
early  sowing  and  planting  soon  after  the  snow  has  melted  in  spring,  and 
can  well  endure  either  very  wet  or  unusually  dry  seasons.  Besides  wheat, 
which  was  formerly  its  leading  crop,  Faribault  county  is  well  adapted  for 
raising  oats,  corn,  hay,  horses,  pork,  beef,  butter,  amber  cane,  flax,  potatoes, 
and  the  ordinary  vegetables  and  small  fruits  of  the  garden,  all  of  which 
now  receive  due  attention  in  the  agriculture  of  this  region. 

Timber  of  large  and  dense  growth  usually  occupies  the  bottomlands 


FARIBAULT  COUNTY.  457 

Timber.     Geological  strufture.J 

and  bluffs  of  the  Blue  Earth  river  through  this  county,  and  of  its  East  fork 
to  a  distance  of  fifteen  miles  above  its  mouth.  It  also  forms  groves  or  nar- 

| 

row  belts  on  the  borders  of  nearly  all  the  lakes  and  creeks.  With  these 
exceptions  the  whole  county,  including  both  its  smooth  areas  of  nearly 
level  till,  and  its  rolling  and  prominently  hilly  tracts  of  the  same  glacial 
drift  in  moraines,  is  prairie,  destitute  of  trees  or  shrubs,  and  bearing 
everywhere  luxuriant  grass. 

The  species  of  forest  trees  found  in  Faribault  county,  in  the  estimated 
order  of  their  relative  abundance,  according  to  Mr.  Alex.  Halliday,  pro- 
prietor of  the  Verona  Star  mills,  are  bur  oak,  slippery  or  red  elm,  soft  ma- 
ple, box-elder,  wild  crab-apple,  black  walnut,  bitternut,  common  poplar,  or 
American  aspen,  the  large-toothed  poplar,  and  cottonwood,  common;  black 
oak,  white  or  American  elm,  sugar  maple,  and  June-berry,  less  common; 
black  cherry,  white  ash,  hackberry,  and  butternut,  scarce  ;  Kentucky  cof- 
fee-tree, rare.  The  species  of  shrubs  are  stated  by  the  same  authority  to 
be  prickly  ash,  black  currant,  and  hazel,  abundant;  frost  grape,  climbing 
bitter-sweet,  smooth  sumach,  thorn,  rose,  wolf  berry,  and  elder,  common; 
choke-cherry,  red  raspberry,  and  prickly  and  smooth  wild  gooseberries, 
less  common;  the  wild  red  cherry,  and  the  black  ras'pberry  or  thimble- 
berry,  scarce.  Mr.  Halliday  has  seen  cottonwoods  and  black  walnut  trees 
in  this  county  five  feet  in  diameter. 

GEOLOGICAL  STRUCTURE. 

Faribault  county  has  no  outcrop  of  the  bed-rocks  that  underlie  the 
drift,  but  at  five  places  wells  have  penetrated  the  drift  and  gone  consider- 
able depths  into  rock  beneath.  These  are  at  Winnebago  City,  Easton, 
Minnesota  Lake,  Wells,  and  in  Seely  township.  Their  sections  are  as  fol- 
lows: 

Winnebago  City  mills,  a  steam  flouring  mill;  bight  about  1,095  feet  above  the  sea:  well,  230 
feet  deep;  soil,  2  feet;  yellow  till,  18  feet;  blue  till,  140,  containing  occasional  beds  of  sand,  from 
a  few  inches  to  five  feet  in  thickness;  stratified  sand,  probably  modified  drift  filling  a  pre-glacial 
valley,  40  feet;  yellowish  and  reddish  magnesian  limestone,  30  feet,  the  tcp  of  this  rock  being  ap- 
proximately 900  feet  above  the  sea.  Two  other  wells  in  Winnebago  City  go  150  and  160  feet  in 
till,  finding  no  bed-rock. 

Terhurne  &  Scheid;  Easton;  bight  about  1,050  feet:  well,  205  feet  deep;  till,  101  feet,  includ- 
ing layers  of  sand  one  to  two  feet  thick,  to  rock  at  approximately  950  feet  above  the  sea;  consist- 
ing of  whitish  limestone,  8  inches;  thin-layered,  gray  rock,  probably  also  limestone,  2  feet;  light 
gray  sandstone,  101  feet,  and  extending  below,  coarsely  granular,  in  some  portions  quite  hard, 
quickly  dulling  the  drill.  This  well  was  made  with  the  expectation  of  obtaining  an  artesian  flow. 


458  THE  WKOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Bed-rock  in  welli. 

Water  was  struck  in  the  two  feet  of  thinly  bedded  rock  next  above  the  sandstone,  and  rose  to 
seven  feet  below  the  surface,  but  no  considerable  supply  of  water  was  found  in  the  drift,  and 
none  additional  in  the  sandstone. 

Chauncy  Barber;  Minnesota  Lake;  at  hight  of  about  1,040  feet:  well,  140  feet  deep;  yellow 
till,  10;  soft  blue  till.  80,  to  top  of  rock  at  approximately  950  feet  above  the  sea;  then,  whitish 
limestone,  3  feet;  thin-layered  rock,  probably  limestone,  2  feet;  soft,  green  shale,  2  feet;  and  gray 
sandstone,  43  feet,  and  extending  lower.  Xo  water  was  found  in  the  rocks  below  the  drift. 

C.W.Thompson;  one  mile  west  of  Wells;  about  1,140  feet  above  the  sea:  well,  153  feet 
deep;  yellow  and  blue  till,  117  feet;  then,  gray  sandstone,  34  feet;  softer,  whitish  shale,  2  feet; 
supply  of  water,  insufficient.  The  top  of  this  sandrock  is  approximately  1,025  feet  above  the  sea. 
Another  well,  near  by  on  the  same  farm,  is  118  feet  deep,  and  found  soil,  2  feet;  yellow  till,  10; 
blue  till,  soft  and  sticky,  106  feet,  excepting  three  feet  of  quicksand,  with  a  little  water,  at  about 
seventy-five  feet  from  the  surface;  from  sand  or  sandstone  at  the  bottom  water  rose  in  this  well 
to  fifteen  feet  below  its  top. 

In  the  twenty  or  more  flowing  wells,  or  fountains,  at  Wells,  bed-rock  is  struck  at  110  to  120 
feet  below  the  surface,  or  about  1,040  to  1,050  feet  above  the  sea;  and  as  soon  as  the  thin  stratum 
of  the  rock  is  pierced,  water  rises  to  the  surface  and  five  feet  to  fifteen  feet  above  it.  The  sec- 
tion here  is  till,  holding  occasional  layers  of  sand  one  to  four  feet  thick,  to  a  depth  of  110  to  118 
feet;  then  a  stratum  of  yellowish  or  straw-colored  rock  is  encountered,  and  after  drilling  into  this 
a  few  inches  or  one  or  two  feet,  it  appears  that  a  vein  of  water  one.  to  six  inches  in  thickness  is 
found,  not  in  gravel  and  sand  but  filling  a  cavity  of  the  rock,  from  which  the  artesian  flow  comes. 
If  the  pipe  is  driven  farther  after  reaching  the  water,  it  directly  strikes  upon  rock  below  and  the 
flow  of  water  is  shut  off.  No  specimens  of  the  stratum  next  above  the  water  were  obtained,  but 
from  the  descriptions  of  well-makers  and  others  it  appears  to  be  a  limestone  or  a  hard,  sandy 
shale.  It  lies  above  the  sandstone  of  Mr.  Thompson's  well,  and  the  water  probably  lies  at  the 
junction  of  these  beds,  being  held  down  by  the  impervious  upper  rock.  The  greatest  thickness 
of  the  rock  was  at  the  vinegar  factory,  about  one  and  a  half  miles  south  of  Wells  station,  and 
probably  ten  feet  higher,  where  a  thickness  of  five  feet  of  the  yellowish  limestone  or  shale  were 
passed  through  at  the  depth  of  110  to  115  feet.  Water  was  found  immediately  under  this,  and 
rose  to  three  feet  below  fhe  surface.  In  rare  cases  this  rock  is  not  found  before  reaching  the 
water  supply,  as  in  W.  W.  Woodard's  well,  in  the  south  part  of  Wells,  and  on  the  highest  land 
within  the  limits  of  this  corporation,  where  the  section  was  soil,  2  feet;  yellow  sand  and  clay,  6 
feet;  fine  sand,  2  feet;  yellow  till,  10;  blue  till.  97,  containing  occasional  beds  of  sand  from  two 
inches  to  two  feet  in  thickness,  yielding  no  water,  till  reaching  the  bottom  at  117  feet,  whence, 
without  striking  the  usual  layer  of  rock,  an  artesian  flow  of  water  rose  to  five  feet  above  the 
surface.  The  beds  of  sand  found  in  the  till  here  are  not  persistent,  as  shown  by  two  wells  at  A. 
L.  Taylor's  stable,  one  of  which  went  through  some  four  feet  of  sand  at  the  depth  of  about  sixty 
feet,  while  another  boring  twenty  feet  distant  encountered  only  till  or  boulder-clay  in  this  portion 
of  its  depth.  In  two  instances,  at  Mr.  Taylor's  stable  and  at  the  Wells  House,  the  bark  of  trees 
was  found  near  the  base  of  the  drift  deposits,  112  to  115  feet  below  the  surface,  but  no  shells  nor 
other  organic  remains  have  been  reported  from  these  wells,  which  are  usually  bored  two  inches 
in  diameter.  Rarely  these  borings  at  Wells  fail  to  secure  an  artesian  flow,  and  in  one  of  this 
kind  Mr.  P.  Morse,  well-maker,  informs  me  that  he  went  to  a  depth  of  148  feet,  the  section  being 
till  115  feet,  and  then  sand,  probably  soft  sandstone,  for  the  remaining  33  feet,  not  passed  through 
at  this  depth. 

The  only  other  point  at  which  the  bed-rock  has  been  reached  in  this  county  is  A.  13.  Brant's 
well,  in  the  S.  W.  J  of  section  4,  Seely,  close  to  Clayton  post-office,  which  was  bored  123  feet  deep 
in  hope  of  an  artesian  flow  of  water.  This  was  soil,  2  feet;  yellow  till,  10;  softer,  moist,  blue  till, 
80;  harder  blue  till,  3  feet;  bluish  gray  limestone,  28  feet,  changing  to  lighter  gray  below,  not 
penetrated.  The  top  of  this  rock  is  estimated  to  be  about  1025  feet  above  the  sea.  The  only 
water  obtained  is  from  thin  veins  of  sand  which  occur  at  various  depths  in  the  till,  and  it  rises  to 
four  feet  below  the  surface. 

From  the  strike,  dip,  and  hight  of  the  rocky  strata  which  outcrop  in 
Blue  Earth  county  and  farther  to  the  northeast  and  east,  we  may  decide 


FABIBAULT  COUNTY.  459 

licd-rock  in  wellt.J 

with  much  certainty  that  the  rock  of  the  Winnebago  City  well  is  the  Sha- 
kopee  limestone;  and  that  the  sandstone  of  the  wells  at  Easton  and  Minne- 
sota Lake  belongs  to  the  next  higher  formation,  the  St.  Peter  sandstone, 
still  retaining  in  these  wells  a  thin  cap  of  the  Trenton  limestone,  which 
directly  overlies  this  sandrock  at  Minneapolis  and  throughout  southeastern 
Minnesota. 

The  southeastward  dip  of  these  rocks,  which  carries  them,  with  all  the 
higher  Silurian  formations,  beneath  the  Devonian  limestone  of  Worth  and 
Cerro  Gordo  counties  in  Iowa  and  of  Mower  and  Fillmore  counties  in  this 
state,  makes  it  improbable  that  the  limestone  or  shale  and  underlying 
sandstone  encountered  at  Wells  are  the  same  with  those  of  Easton  and 
Minnesota  Lake.  But  the  Palaeozoic  series  in  this  state  and  Iowa  has  no 
thick  beds  of  sandstone  above  the  St.  Peter;  and  the  next  geological  age 
which  is  represented  in  this  region  by  such  deposits  is  the  Cretaceous.  We 
seem  obliged,  therefore,  to  refer  to  this  age  a  formation  of  white  sandstone, 
about  60  feet  in  thickness,  enclosing  a  layer  three  feet  thick  of  limestone 
and  yellow  shale  at  21  to  24  feet  below  its  top,  which  is  found  in  the  deep 
well  at  Owatonna,  succeeded  below  by  the  limestones  and  shales  of  the 
Trenton  group  and  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  (page  398).  The  same  Cretaceous 
sandstone  appears  to  be  the  bed-rock  struck  by  wells  at  New  Richland  in 
southeastern  Waseca  county  (page  410),  half-way  from  Owatonna  to  Wells; 
and  at  the  latter  place  it  seems  probable  that  the  layer  penetrated  by  its 
artesian  wells  corresponds  to  the  limestone  and  shale  enclosed  in  the  Creta- 
ceous sandstone  at  Owatonna,  while  this  sandstone  lies  next  below  and  is 
found  in  C.  W.  Thompson's  well  to  have  a  thickness  of  at  least  34  feet. 
The  top  of  the  strata  which  thus  appear  to  be  a  continuous  Cretaceous 
formation  has  the  following  hights,  approximately,  above  the  sea:  in  the 
Owatonna  well,  1111  feet,  the  included  limestone  and  shale  being  found  at 
1090;  at  New  Richland,  1070;  and  at  Wells.  1040  to  1050.  These  places  lie 
in  a  straight  line,  the  distance  southwest  from  Owatonna  to  New  Richland 
being  eighteen  miles,  and  to  Wells  thirty-four  miles. 

Respecting  the  age  of  the  limestone  found  in  the  well  of  section  4, 
Seely,  we  can  only  say  that  the  known  stratigraphy  and  topography  of  the 
region  indicate  that  probably  it  belongs  to  either  the  Galena  or  Niagara 
formations,  intermediate  between  the  Lower  Trenton  and  Devonian,  while 


460  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Drift  and  contour. 

it  may  possibly  represent  either  of  the  last.  The  nearest  natural  exposure 
of  any  rock  older  than  the  drift  is  thirty  miles  distant  to  the  southeast, 
being  on  Lime  creek  in  southwestern  Worth  county,  Iowa.  There  the 
Hamilton  limestone  of  Devonian  age  is  found,  and  extends  thence  south- 
east to  the  Mississippi,  having  abundant  outcrops  along  the  Shell  Rock  and 
Cedar  rivers. 

Indications  of  the  existence  of  Cretaceous  beds  containing  lignite  are  reported  to  have  been 
found  in  the  S.  W.  i  of  section  11,  Verona.  Mr.  John  Crapsey  states  that  a  great  number  of 
pieces  of  lignite,  up  to  eight  inches  in  diameter,  were  obtained  by  him  there  from  the  drift  or 
talus  forming  the  lower  part  of  the  east  bluff  of  the  Blue  Earth  river,  a  little  above  an  island;  and 
that  near  by  the  bed  of  the  river  seems  to  be  a  ferruginous  sandstone  or  conglomerate.  It  is  inter- 
esting to  compare  this  with  Prof.  Bechdolt's  observation  (page  435)  that  fragments  of  lignite  occur 
frequently  in  the  alluvium  of  this  river  at  its  mouth.  The  layers  of  Cretaceous  lignite  in  Minne- 
sota, however,  are  too  thin  to  be  of  value  as  a  source  of  fuel;  though  they  lu.ve  supplied  fragments 
found  sparingly  in  the  drift  throughout  the  western  two-thirds  of  the  state. 

Drift  and  contour. 

The  thickness  of  the  drift  upon  this  county  probably  varies  from  75  to 
200  feet,  averaging  125  or  perhaps  150  feet.  It  is  composed  mainly  of  till, 
which  encloses  occasional  veins  and  beds  of  gravel  and  sand,  and  shows  the 
same  differences  in  color,  hardness,  and  other  characters,  that  have  been 
mentioned  more  particularly  in  the  report  of  Blue  Earth  county. 

In  northeastern  Faribault  county,  the  east  half  of  Foster  has  a  moderately  undulating  surface, 
composed  of  till,  excepting  occasional  knolls  or  mounds  of  gravel  and  sand.  From  Freeborn  lake 
to  Wells,  and  thence  north,  northwest  and  west,  to  the  north  line  of  the  county,  to  Minnesota  and 
Lura  lakes,  and  to  Easton,  the  surface  is  very  smooth  and  flat  or  more  commonly  somewhat  undu- 
ting  till,  the  descent  of  five  to  fifteen  feet  from  the  highest  portions  to  the  shallow  depressions  of 
sloughs  being  by  long  slopes.  This  area  includes  the  west  two-thirds  of  Freeborn  and  Carlston 
in  Freeborn  county;  and,  in  Faribault  county,  all  of  Dunbar  and  Minnesota  Lake,  Clark,  except- 
ing its  southwest  corner,  the  northeast  part  of  Walnut  Lake,  and  nearly  all  of  Lura,  except  part 
of  its  southwest  quarter. 

Again,  on  the  other  side  of  the  moraine  which  extends  northwestward  from  Kiester,  flat 
or  only  slightly  undulating  till  covers  the  southern  and  western  parts  of  the  county.  Blue  Earth 
river  and  its  East  fork  have  their  course  nearly  along  the  center  of  this  tract,  from  the  west  side 
of  the  Kiester  hills  westward  to  Blue  Earth  City,  and  then  north  by  Winnebago  City  into  Blue 
Earth  county.  The  townships  in  this  area  are  Seely,  Brush  Creek,  Rome,  Emerald,  the  south- 
western half  of  Barber,  Elmore.  except  a  width  of  one  to  one  and  a  half  miles  on  its  south  side, 
Blue  Earth  City,  Prescott,  Delavan,  Pilot  Grove,  except  a  width  of  one  and  a  half  miles  on  its 
south  side,  Jo  Daviess,  Verona,  and  Winnebago  City. 

Glacial  lake  in  the  basin  of  the  Blue  Earth  river*  The  contour  in  these 
townships,  as  also  in  the  northeast  part  of  this  county,  in  southwestern 
Waseca  county,  and  through  most  of  Blue  Earth  county,  is  generally  quite 
flat,  the  drift  being  spread  with  an  unusually  smooth  and  even  surface, 
nearly  as  in  the  Red  river  valley.  The  material  of  all  these  tracts  is  till, 

*First  described  in  the  ninth  annual  rep  >rt,  page  34V 


FARIBAULT  COUNTY. 

Glacial  UVe.] 

or  a  gravelly  and  stony  clay.  At  many  places,  however,  in  western  Fari- 
bault  county  and  in  Blue  Earth  county,  its  upper  ten  feet  is  found  to-  be  in 
part  obscurely  or  sometimes  quite  plainly  stratified.  In  this  characteristic, 
also,  it  resembles  the  till  which  generally  forms  the  surface  of  the  south 
end  and  of  the  sides  or  outer  portions  of  the  flat  Red  river  valley,  which 
was  covered  by  lake  Agassiz  during  the  recession  of  the  ice-sheet.*  Much 
of  the  basin  that  is  now  drained  northward  by  the  Blue  Earth  river,  dis- 
tinguished thus  by  its  smoothed  and  sometimes  partly  stratified  till,  ap- 
pears to  have  been  occupied  by  a  similar  glacial  lake,  dammed  by  the 
barrier  of  the  waning  ice-sheet  of  the  last  glacial  epoch  during  a  consider- 
able time  in  which  this  was  retreating  northward  and  northwestward  from 
the  south  line  of  the  state  and  from  its  eastern  moraine,  until  its  recession 
uncovered  the  present  avenue  of  drainage  to  the  northeast  by  the  Minne- 
sota river.  The  hight  of  this  lake  was  approximately  1150  feet  above  the 
sea,  making  its  depth  in  the  north  part  of  Faribault  county  50  to  1 25  feet,  on 
the  west  line  of  Waseca  county  about  75  feet,  and  in  the  north  part  of  Blue 
Earth  county  about  200  feet.  Its  exact  boundary  can  probably  be  traced, 
with  the  aid  of  leveling,  along  considerable  portions  of  its  eastern,  south- 
ern and  southwestern  shores,  by  its  beach  deposits  of  gravel  and  sand. 
When  this  lake  attained  its  maximum  extent,  it  is  believed  to  have  spread 
far  to  the  northwest  beyond  the  limits  of  the  basin  of  the  Blue  Earth 
river.f 

The  outlet  of  this  glacial  lake  is  found  in  Kossuth  county,  Iowa,  at  the 
head  of  the  most  southern  branch  of  the  Blue  Earth  river,  where  Union 
slough:}:  occupies  a  continuous  channel  from  the  headwaters  of  the  Blue 
Earth  to  Buffalo  creek  and  the  East  fork  of  the  Des  Moines.  It  is  stated 
that  at  the  time  of  high  water  an  wiinterrupted  canoe  voyage  has  been 
made  by  this  route  from  Algona  on  the  East  Des  Moines  river  north  to 
Blue  Earth  City.  Union  slough  (also  frequently  called  the  "Big  slough" 


'Compare  the  eighth  and  eleventh  annual  reports. 
tAt   time   of  formation  of  the  moraine  that  reaches  f 


roni   Kiester  northwestward  (page  462),  this  lah 


:  Minnesota  valley  and  permitted  drainage  to  take  its  present  course. 

JCompare  Dr.  C.  A.  White's  Report  on  Ilif  geological  surrey  of  Iowa,  1 S70;  vol .  i ,  p.  57. 


4(5 '2  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Glacial  lake.     Moraines. 

by  settlers  on  its  east  side)  lies  in  the  east  part  of  township  98,  and  in  sec- 
tions 3,  4  and  9,  of  township  97,  range  38,  its  length  being  about  eight 
miles  in  a  course  first  south  and  then  south-southwest.  Its  width  is  from 
one-eighth  to  one-fourth  of  a  mile,  with  enclosing  bluffs  which  rise  steeply 
twenty  to  thirty  feet  to  the  general  surface  of  moderately  undulating  till 
on  each  side.  The  bottom  of  this  glacial  channel  along  the  Union  slough, 
where  its  descent  was  southward,  is  now  mainly  occupied  by  a  marsh, 
because  of  the  partial  filling  up  of  its  continuation,  since  the  ice  age,  by 
Buffalo  creek.  Along  the  head-stream  of  the  Blue  Earth  river,  from 
Union  slough  to  the  state  line,  this  channel  has  a  width  of  about  an  eighth 
of  a  mile,  and  is  twenty-five  to  thirty  feet  below  the  average  surface  at 
each  side,  to  which  the  ascent  is  by  moderate  slopes. 

This  valley,  eroded  by  outflow  from  the  glacial  lake  of  Faribault  and 
Blue  Earth  counties,  soon  changes  upon  the  smoothed  area  covered  by  that 
lake  to  channels  eroded  since  the  glacial  period  by  the  present  drainage. 
Thus  the  excavation  by  this  branch  of  the  Blue  Earth  river  in  Elmore  is 
thirty  to  forty  feet  deep,  and  has  steeper  banks,  but  is  narrower,  than  the 
valley  in  which  it  lies  farther  south.  Northward,  the  lacustrine  area, 
otherwise  a  vast  plain,  has  become  deeply  eroded  by  the  Blue  Earth  river 
and  its  tributaries. 

Moraines.  Exceptions  to  the  generally  smooth  and  nearly  level  con- 
tour of  the  drift  are  found  in  two  rolling  and  hilly  tracts,  one  in  the  eastern 
half  of  the  county,  the  other  on  its  southern  edge.  The  most  conspicuous 
elevations,  in  this  part  of  the  state  are  the  drift  hills  in  Kiester  township. 
This  tract  is  closely  joined  with  the  inner  or  western  of  the  two  approxi- 
mately parallel  terminal  moraines,  which  extend  from  north  to  south 
across  Freeborn  county,  and  which  were  accumulated  at  the  east  side  of 
the  vast  lobe  of  the  ice-sheet  that  in  the  last  glacial  epoch  covered  the 
basin  of  the  Minnesota  river  and  reached  south  to  central  Iowa.  The  drift 
upon  this  ice-covered  area  was  left  with  a  very  smooth,  slightly  undulating 
surface,  while  its  borders  are  marked  by  morainic  belts  of  hilly  and  knolly 
drift.  These  hills  in  Kiester  appear  to  indicate  that  the  ice-margin  here 
became  indented  by  a  re-entrant  angle  between  two  confluent  ice-currents. 
Northwest  from  Kiester,  a  belt  of  hilly  or  more  or  less  rolling  drift  reaches 
twenty  miles,  to  the  southwest  part  of  Lnra;  and  ten  miles  beyond  appears 


PABIBAULT  COUNTY.  453 

Moraines.] 

to  be  represented  by  a  hilly  and  rolling  tract  in  the  southwest  part  of 
Sterling,  in  Blue  Earth  county.  The  first  opinion  of  the  writer,  stated  in 
the  ninth  annual  report,  that  this  morainic  belt  was  formed  wholly  as  a 
medial  moraine  by  converging  ice-currents,  seems  questionable.  Further 
exploration  is  needed  to  determine  whether  it  is  not  instead  a  terminal 
moraine,  accumulated  on  the  southwest  side  of  this  ice-lobe,  after  three 
distinct  times  of  recession  from  its  outermost  limit.  This  explanation  is 
strongly  confirmed  by  comparison  with  the  three  similar  morainic  belts 
beyond  this  toward  the  south  and  southwest,  all  of  which  are  apparently 
terminal,  as  shown  in  the  report  of  Watonwan  and  Martin  counties.* 

The  most  hilly  portions  of  Kiester  are  its  south  side  for  a  width  of  one  mile,  and  a  belt 
through  its  northeast  part  from  section  13  to  sections  3  and  4,  in  which  are  the  most  prominent 
of  these  hills,  visible  lifteen  miles  to  the  north  and  west.  Their  hight  is  from  100  to  200  feet 
above  the  lowland  in  these  directions  and  above  Bear  lake  in  Freeborn  county;  the  highest  points, 
which  are  in  the  S.  W.  j  of  section  3,  being  about  1400  feet  above  the  sea.  These  are  massive 
hills  of  till,  of  irregular  outlines,  but  trending  somewhat  more  from  east  to  west  than  in  other 
directions.  Between  the  hill-ranges  of  the  north  and  south  parts  of  this  township,  its  central 
portion  for  a  width  of  two  or  three  miles  is  only  moderately  undulating  till,  reaching  east  at  the 
head  of  Brush  creek  to  the  west  border  of  the  plain  of  modified  drift  in  Mansfield,  Freeborn 
county.  In  sections  8, 17,  20  and  29,  through  the  west  part  of  Kiester,  a  series  of  hills  of  till.  60 
to  75  feet  high,  connects  the  west  ends  of  these  ranges  and  forms  the  west  border  of  the  lower 
tract  between  them,  except  at  the  gap  through  which  Brush  creek  flows. 

In  Foster,  the  township  next  north  of  Kiester,  boldly  rolling  hills  of  till  flf  ty  to  seventy-five 
feet  high  extend  from  section  28  to  the  north  and  northwest  by  Rice  lake,  where  they  occupy  a 
width  from  one-half  mile  to  one  mile  on  each  side  of  the  lake.  Still  farther  northwest  the  same 
contour  and  material  border  the  east,  north  and  west  sides  of  Walnut  lake,  including  the  most 
of  sections  25  to  28,  and  33  to  36,  of  Walnut  Lake  township.  The  land  south  of  Walnut  lake  is 
low  and  gently  undulating  till,  with  frequent  marshes.  In  Barber,  the  township  next  west,  a 
prominently  rolling  tract  is  found  about  the  little  lakes  in  sections  14, 15,  22  and«23.  The  mate- 
rial here  is  till,  and  its  swells  or  hills  are  thirty  to  fifty  feet  above  the  hollows.  Through  six  miles 
thence  northwest  a  more  or  less  rolling  surface  of  the  unmodified  glacial  drift  continues  in  a  belt 
about  two  miles  wide,  to  the  southwest  part  of  Lura  and  the  east  edge  of  Delavan.  On  the  rail- 
road it  is  crossed  in  the  first  three  or  four  miles  east  of  Delavan,  where  its  swells  are  twenty-five 
to  forty  feet  high,  not  crowded  and  thickly  set,  but  generally  in  long  slopes,  with  no  prevailing 
trend.  This  morainic  belt  divides  two  extensive  areas  of  till,  which  are  characterized  by  a  very 
smooth  and  flat  surface. 

In  the  south  edge  of  Elmore  and  Pilot  Grove  a  width  from  one  to  one 
and  a  half  miles  is  hilly  or  prominently  rolling  drift,  and  forms  part  of  a 

*Iii  this  connection  it  is  important  to  note  that  Prof.  N.  H.  Winchell  in  1871  and  1872  observed  four  terminal  mo- 


Blanehard  ridges  (Proceedings  of  the  Am.  Assoc.  for  Adv.  of  Science,  vol.  xxi,  H72.  pp.  160—177;  also,  Report  of  the  geoloyicnl 
mavey  at  Ohio,  vol.  ii,  IS74)  Again.  Prof.  T.  (J.  Chamberlln  observed  three  distinct  morainic  belts  belonging  to  this 
epoch,  divided  bv  smoother  tracts,  in  a  section  between  Black  Brook  (T.  33,  K.  16)  and  St.  Croix  Falls,  at  the  west  side 
of  Wisconsin  (Gcnli/ay  of  Wisconsin,  vol  iii,  1880,  pp.  381  and  385). 

If  this  be  a  fourth  terminal  moraine,  its  continuation  northwestward  is  probably  traceable  to  the  vicinity  of  Big 
Stone  lake.  My  observations  of  the  area  across  which  it  would  lie.  make  it  certain  that  no  very  prominent  accumula- 
tions of  morain  c  drift  occur  there;  but  suggest  that  this  formation  should  be  searched  for  in  a  course  extending  by 
Madelin.  near  lake  Hanska,  Meepy  Eye  creek,  and  the  northwest  corner  of  Redwood  county,  to  the  southwest  part  ot 
Tyro  in  Yellow  Medicine  county,  nnd  thence  to  the  eastern  morainic  belt  in  township  ll'J,  range  4«,  Lac  qui  Parle 
county.  The  glacial  lake  before  mentioned  would  extend  along  this  ice-border,  through  Watonwan,  Brown  and  Ked- 
wood  counties,  covering  an  area  several  mileswide  in  the  depression  between  the  ice-sheet  and  the  Coteau  des  Prairies. 
Its  first  interruption  by  land  higher  than  1 15"  feet  above  the  sea  would  be  in  Yellow  Medicine  county,  where  a  fourth 
morainic  belt  wa»  observed,  with  a  great  water-course  of  some  former  time  at  its  west  side. 


* 
464  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Modified   drift.     Boulden. 

belt  of  similar  contour,  which  seems  to  be  a  terminal  moraine,  reaching  in 
Iowa  through  the  north  part  of  Hancock  county,  southwestern  Winnebago, 
and  northeastern  Kossuth  county,  into  Minnesota. 

The  most  noteworthy  hill  of  this  area  in  Elmore  is  in  the  north  part  of  section  32,  rising  50 
to  60  feet  and  about  a  sixth  of  a  mile  long,  trending  from  east  to  west.  In  the  south  part  of  sec- 
tions 25  and  26,  Pilot  Grove,  hillocks  and  short  ridges  form  a  somewhat  continuous  east-to-west 
series,  40  to  50  feet  high.  These  accumulations  are  chiefly  till,  differing  from  its  level  or  moder- 
ately undulating  tracts  in  a  greater  abundance  of  boulders;  but  occasional  knolls,  sometimes  the 
highest  of  their  vicinity,  are  composed  of  obliquely  stratified  gravel  and  sand.  In  sections  29  and 
32,  Pilot  Grove,  these  morainic  deposits  are  inconspicuous  or  wanting;  next  they  rise  to  the  hight 
of  30  to  40  feet  in  section  31  and  the  south  half  of  section  30,  at  the  southwest  corner  of  Faribault 
county;  and  thence  they  occur  scatteringly  all  the  way  northwest  to  East  Cha  n,  and  less  promi- 
nently to  Fairmont.  In  this  distance  their  material,  and  that  of  the  whole  region  about  them,  is 
till.  Their  contour  is  seldom  rough,  but  rises  in  swells,  25  to  50  feet  above  intervening  depres- 
sions, with  trends  most  frequentiy  from  northwest  to  southeast. 

Modified  drift.  Kames  occur  three  miles  south  of  Walnut  lake,  in  sec- 
tion 23,  Brush  Creek.  They  consist  of  short  northwest  to  southeast  ridges 
and  round  or  conical  knolls,  steep-sided,  about  twenty  feet  high,  composed 
of  coarse  gravel  and  sand,  and  form  a  series  three-fourths  of  a  mile  long. 
The  region  surrounding  them  is  slightly  or  moderately  undulating  till.  A 
portion  of  the  moraine,  situated  in  sections  16  and  8,  Walnut  Lake  town- 
ship, two  and  a  half  to  five  miles  northwest  of  the  lake,  is  formed  of  kame- 
like  deposits,  accumulated  in  swells,  knolls  and  northwest  to  southeast 
ridges,  thirty  to  forty  feet  high,  of  very  gentle  slopes,  composed  mainly  of 
stratified  sand  and  fine  gravel,  as  shown  by  wells,  which  do  not  reach  the 
bottom  of  t]^is  modified  drift  at  the  depth  of  fifty  feet. 

Alluvium.  The  stratified  clay  and  sand  used  for  brick-making  at  Blue 
Earth  City,  and  other  similar  beds  of  small  extent,  appear  to  be  alluvium 
laid  down  along  the  avenues  of  drainage  after  the  glacial  lake  that  had 
covered  this  area  was  withdrawn  by  the  departure  of  the  ice-sheet  which 
had  been  its  northern  barrier. 

Pebbles  and  boulders.  On  the  Kiester  hills  pebbles  and  boulders  occur 
more  plentifully  than  on  the  lowlands,  but  are  not  usually  very  abundant, 
and  blocks  more  than  five  feet  in  diameter  are  rare.  About  one-twentieth 
part  of  the  large  boulders  and  probably  one-fifth  of  all  the  pebbles  are 
limestone,  often  obscurely  fossil iferous.  The  greater  part  of  the  rock- 
fragments,  especially  the  larger  blocks,  are  granite,  syenite,  gneiss  and 
crystalline  schists.  One  boulder,  ten  feet  long,  of  garnetiferous  horn- 
blende schist,  was  noted  here.  A  greenish  slaty  rock  is  also  sparingly 


FAR1BAULT  COUNTY.  465 

Pebbles  and  boulders.       Wells,] 

represented.  Only  a  few  pieces  of  the  red  Potsdam  quartzyte,  which  out- 
crops near  New  Ulm  and  southwestward,  were  seen,  the  largest  being  one 
foot  long.  ISTo  conglomerate  was  found.  It  is  noticeable  that  a  considerable 
proportion  of  the  pebbles  upon  these  hills  of  till  are  water-rounded,  and 
that  some  have  the  flattened,  discoid  form  which  is  characteristic  of  the 
stones  of  a  shingle  beach,  worn  by  sliding  with  the  rise  and  fall  of  the 
waves,  rather  than  by  being  rolled  in  the  channel  of  streams,  which  gives 
more  commonly  a  somewhat  spheroidal  shape.  These  water-worn  stones 
are  evidence  that  the  ice-sheet  gathered  much  of  its  drift  from  pre-glacial 
valleys  and  lake  shores,  lifted  these  gravels  of  ancient  rivers  and  beaches 
into  its  mass,  and  at  its  border  and  during  its  final  melting  deposited  them 
as  constituents  of  the  till  and  modified  drift. 

Wells  in  Faribuult  county. 

The  following  records  of  common  wells  afford  further  illustrations  of  the  composition  and 
order  of  the  drift  deposits. 

Clark.    The  sections  before  described  in  Wells  and  its  vicinity  are  in  this  township. 

Foster.    John  Shequen;  sec.  14:  well,  18  feet;  all  sand;  plenty  of  water. 

M.  Butler;  S.  E.  }  of  sec.  15:  well,  30  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  26;  gravel  and  sand,  with 
small  amount  of  water,  2  feet;  blue  till  below. 

R.  D.  Taylor;  N.  E.  J  of  sec  21:  well,  22;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  12;  gravel  and  sand,  8. 

Kiester.  John  Harvey;  S.  W.  J  of  sec.  31:  well,  45;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  with  gravelly  streaks, 
12;  gravel  and  sand,  J  foot;  blue  till,  very  hard  at  top  for  one  foot,  then  moist  and  soft  below,  31. 
This  well  has  only  seep  water  from  the  lower  part  of  the  yellow  till. 

A  copious  spring,  much  resorted  to  by  cattle,  slightly  chalybeate,  issues  near  the  middle  of 
sec.  14,  upon  land  twenty-five  feet  higher  than  neighboring  depressions  and  a  hundred  feet  below 
the  highest  hills  near  at  the  northeast  and  northwest. 

Mr.  E.  Porter,  well-maker,  of  Lake  Mills,  Iowa,  states  that  in  the  south  part  of  Kiester  the 
upper  till,  yellowish  in  color,  is  usually  8  to  10  feet  thick;  \inderlain  by  sand,  1  to  8  feet  in  thick- 
ness; succeeded  by  dark  bluish  till,  called  "hardpan",  much  harder  than  the  uppertill.  Generally, 
however,  it  has  been  his  experience  that  the  yellow  till  is  more  stony  and  harder  to  bore  or  dig  in 
than  the  underlying  blue  till,  which  is  moist  and  sticky.  The  greatest  thickness  of  yellow  till 
found  by  him  is  twenty-five  feet.  He  has  frequently  found  fragments  of  lignite,  but  no  unchanged 
wood  nor  shells. 

Seely.  1.  M.  Riker;  N.  E.  J  of  sec.  10:  well,  30  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  8;  blue  till,  soft  and 
sticky,  20;  water  rose  ten  feet  from  gravel  and  sand  at  the  bottom. 

A.  B.  Brant's  well  in  sec.  4,  reaching  to  the  bed -rock,  has-been  described  on  page  458.  II.  W. 
Everett,  well-maker,  states  that  the  yellow  upper  till  of  this  region  almost  always  contains  sandy 
streaks  and  seep  water,  while  these  occur  less  frequently  in  the  blue  till,  which  is  moister  and 
softer,  and  has  fewer  rock-fragments,  than  the  till  above.  The  greatest  thickness  of  the  yellow 
till,  found  in  boring  fifty  wells,  is  20  feet;  and  the  greatest  depth  bored  by  him  in  the  blue  till  is 
70  feet.  A  dark  "  hardpan",  much  harder  than  either  of  these  tills,  is  frequently  found,  varying 
from  one  to  five  feet  in  thickness,  always  lying  under  a  considerable  depth  of  the  soft  and  moist 
blue  till.  Mr.  P.  Morse,  of  Wells,  and  W.  Z.  Haight,  of  Winnebago  City,  well-makers,  agree  with 
the  foregoing  as  to  the  characters  and  order  of  the  three  distinct  kinds  of  till  generally  met  in  deep 
wells  throughout  this  county.  Mr.  Morse  reports  the  maximum  thickness  of  the  dark  hardpan,  as 
found  by  him,  to  be  12  feet.  Mr.  Haight  has  found  the  yellow  color  of  the  till  extending  deepest 
on  swells;  while  it  is  thin  or  wanting  in  depressions.  Its  maximum  depth  found  by  him  is  50  feet; 
the  greatest  thickness  of  the  soft,  blue  till,  50  or  very  rarely  75  feet;  and  of  the  darker  till  or  hard- 
30 


466  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA 

[Well,, 

pan,  which  almost  invariably  is  overlain  by  a  considerable  thickness  of  the  last,  10  feet.  Small 
pieces  of  lignite,  derived  from  Cretaceous  strata  mingled  with  the  drift,  are  frequently  found;  but 
no  shells,  and  no  interglacial  peat  nor  wood. 

Brush  Creek.  Guslav  Buscho;  sec.  8;  well,  20;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  4;  quicksand,  1  foot;  blue 
till,  moist  and  sticky,  yet  harder  than  the  upper  till,  13  feet;  water  rose  five  feet  from  a  vein  of 
sand  at  the  bottom. 

Walnut  Lake.  C.  F.  Zimmerman;  8.  E.  J  of  sec.  4;  well,  32  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  15;  harder 
blue  till,  15;  water  rose  in  a  half  day  twenty-five  feet  from  sand  at  the  bottom. 

O.  A.  Odell,  sec.  8:  well,  about  50  feet  deep;  all  stratified  gravel  and  sand. 

C.  S.  Bates;  S.  W.  ^  of  sec.  15:  well,  30  feet;  soil,  2;  a  marly  layer,  1  foot;  fine  gravel,  con- 
taining pebbles  up  to  two  or  three  inches  in  diameter,  and  sand,  27;  water  abundant,  fifteen  feet 
deep.  The  two  last  are  upon  the  high  rolling  tract  of  modified  drift,  apparently  of  kame-like 
origin,  which  forms  part  of  the  moraine.  Mr.  Morse  has  bored  to  a  depth  of  166  feet  in  this 
township,  about  two  miles  north  of  Walnut  lake,  not  reaching  the  bottom  of  the  glacial  drift. 

Minnesota  Lake.  Chauncy  Barber's  well,  near  the  depot,  going  through  the  drift  into  the 
bed-rocks,  has  been  before  described. 

Lura.  Also  see  a  preceding  page  for  Terhurne  &  Scheid's  well,  at  Easton,  in  sec.  36.  John 
E.  James;  Easton:  well,  70;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  15;  softer  blue  till,  53;  water  rose  forty-five  feet 
from  sand  at  the  bottom.  Watson  Cole,  in  the  8.  E.  j-  of  sec.  32,  has  bored  160  feet,  but  the  strata 
passed  through  were  not  learned. 

Mr.  Ilaight  reports  that  in  boring  a  well  in  this  township,  about  two  miles  north  of  Easton, 
he  met,  at  60  feet  below  the  surface,  a  layer  of  mixed  sand  and  grass-leaves,  appearing  like  drifted 
grass  on  a  sandy  beach.  This  was  between  beds  of  till,  and  marks  an  interglacial  epoch;  but  no 
other  testimony  of  this  kind  was  obtained  in  Faribault  county. 

Barber.  Andrew  Wesner;  sec.  22  :  well,  20  ;  soil,  2 ;  gray  till,  5 ;  blue  till,  5;  yellowish 
gravel  and  sand,  8  feet,  with  water  in  its  lower  portion. 

Emerald.  Fred  Weber;  sec.  10:  well,  24  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  4;  blue  till,  soft  and 
sticky,  18;  no  gravel  por  sand  layers;  water  seeps  from  the  upper  till,  and  is  very  scanty  in  a  dry 
season. 

F.  Dreblow;  Ewald  post-office,  sec.  30:  well,  22;  soil,  2;  gray  till,  2;  blue  till,  18;  seep  water 
only. 

Elmore.  Caleb  McCarther;  in  southeast  part  of  this  township:  well,  81  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow 
till,  18;  harder  blue  till,  60;  coarse  gravel,  1  foot;  from  which  water  rose  eighty  feet,  stopping  at 
one  foot  below  the  surface. 

Blue  Earth  City.  George  McCarther;  in  the  city:  well,  92  feet,  being  the  deepest  within  the 
corporation;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  18;  harder,  dark  till,  50;  stratified  gravel,  sand  and  clay,  22;  water 
rises,  attaining  a  depth  of  fifty  feet. 

TheTailroad  well  here  is  68  feet  deep,  finding  soil  and  yellow  till,  20  feet;  blue  till,  48  feet; 
with  water  rising  from  the  bottom  thirty-five  feet.  The  elevator,  close  north  of  the  last,  has  a 
well  36  feet  deep,  containing  twenty  feet  of  water. 

Joseph  Schimek,  S.  E.  },  sec.  20;  well,  44  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  and  blue  till,  42;  only  seep 
water.  In  another  well,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  farther  east,  water  rose  forty  feet  from  the  bottom. 
G.  B.  Franklin,  well-maker,  states  that  the  yellow  till  in  this  township  is  commonly  10  to  20  feet 
thick,  its  lowest  foot  being  very  hard,  cemented  by  iron-rust.  This  is  succeeded  below  by  15  to 
20  feet  of  soft,  bluish  till,  which  in  turn  is  underlain  by  a  darker,  harder,  and  more  stony  till, 
called  "  hardpan." 

Delavan.  H.  E.  Mayhew;  at  the  village  and  depot,  in  sec.  36;  well,  60  feet  deep;  yellow  till, 
15;  soft  blue  till,  45;  water  rises  from  sand  at  the  bottom  to  twenty  feet  below  the  surface. 

Winnebago  City.  W.  II.  Holley;  in  the  city:  well,  96  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  15;  soft,  blue 
till,  74;  dark  hardpan,  with  many  limestone  pebbles,  5  feet;  water  rose  fifty  feet  from  sand  and, 
gravel  at  the  bottom.  The  ten  bushels  of  this  sand  and  gravel  which  were  drawn  up  contained 
about  a  peck  of  lignite  in  small  fragments.  Mr.  W.  Z.  Haight  supplied  the  record  of  this  well;  as 
also  of  the  deep  well  at  the  Winnebago  City  mills,  which  reaches  into  the  bed-rock,  as  before 
described.  He  states  that  in  the  vicinity  of  this  city  the  order  of  the  drift  deposits  is  generally  as 
follows:  yellow  till,  about  twenty  feet;  soft,  blue  till,  30  to  50  feet,  becoming  near  its  base  a  lighter 


FARIBAULT  COUNTY.  467 

Water  powers.      Bricks.] 

bluish  or  brownish,  soft  mud,  of  fetid  smell,  1  to  6  feet  thick;  and  from  this  there  is  a  change  in 
two  to  five  feet  to  the  dark,  very  hard  till  called  "  hardpan,"  which  is  the  hardest,  most  compact 
and  most  rocky  of  these  tills. 

Verona.  John  G.  Pace;  sec.  24:  well,  44  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  15;  blue  till,  16;  gravel,  sand 
and  clay,  11;  water  rose  ten  feet. 

Alex  Ilalliday;  at  Verona  Star  mills;  sec.  24:  well,  45  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  8;  much  harder 
dark  till,  35;  water  rose  nine  feet  from  sand  at  the  bottom. 

Pilot  Grove.  Dr.  G.  D.  Winch  estate;  sec.  8:  well,  100  feet ;  soil,  2  feet;  yellow  till,  about 
5  feet;  all  below  was  blue  till,  about  93  feet,  with  few  sand  layers;  at  the  bottom  was  sand,  from 
which  water  rose  ninety  feet. 

Pitt  Wilson;  S.  W.  J  of  sec.  20:  well,  70  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  18;  harder  blue  till,  60;  water 
rose  from  quicksand  at  the  bottom,  and  after  one  and  a  half  hours  flowed  from  the  top  of  the  well. 

MATERIAL    RESOURCES. 

Agriculture  must  always  continue  the  leading  industry,  as  it  unfolds 
the  most  valuable  natural  resources  of  this  county.  We  have  here  to  speak 
briefly  of  its  water-powers,  brick-making,  peat,  and  artesian  fountains. 

Water-powers.  Five  water-powers  are  used  in  Faribault  county,  all  situated  on  the  Blue 
Earth  river  and  employed  by  flouring  mills,  in  descending  order  as  follows: 

Blue  Earth  City  mills;  N.  Dustin  &  Co.;  just  below  the  junction  of  the  east  and  west 
branches  of  the  river,  in  the  west  part  of  sec.  8,  Blue  Earth  City;  head,  about  nine  feet. 

Verona  Star  mills;  Alex  Ilalliday;  at  the  west  line  of  sec.  24,  Verona;  head,  eight  feet. 

Rising  Sun  mills;  at  the  bridge  in  the  S.  W.  }  of  sec.  11,  Verona;  head,  eight  feet. 

Banner  mills;  C.  II.  Payne  &  Son;  at  the  bridge  in  sec.  33,  Winnebago  City,  one  and  a  half 
miles  west  from  the  town;  head,  nine  feet. 

Woodland  mills;  Dorsey  Brothers;  sec.  3,  Winnebago  City;  head,  about  eight  feet. 

Bricks.  Brick-making  was  begun  at  Blue  Earth  City  in  1867,  and  was  carried  on  nine 
years;  but  nothing  was  done  in  this  work  here  in  the  years  1876  to  1879.  This  yard,  owned  by 
S.  P.  Childs,  was  leased  in  1880  to  Christian  Severson,  who  expected  that  season  to  make  600,000 
bricks,  selling  them  at  $8  per  M.  The  mixed  wood  used  for  the  kilns  formerly  cost  $5  per  cord, 
but  is  now  furnished  by  the  railroad  at  $3J  to  $4.  The  bricks  made  here  are  red,  of  good  quality, 
tempered  by  intermixture  of  one-sixth  as  much  sand  as  clay.  The  excavation  is  in  the  south  or 
right  bank  of  the  West  branch  of  the  Blue  Earth  river,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  southwest  from 
its  junction  with  the  East  branch.  The  clay  has  a  thickness  of  25  to  35  feet,  and  at  a  few  feet 
above  the  river  is  underlain  by  sand.  The  upper  four  to  six  feet  of  this  clay  are  obscurely  strati- 
fled.  Its  next  ten  feet  are  divided,  similarly  with  the  clay-beds  at  Carver  and  Jordan  in  the  valley 
of  the  Minnesota  river,  into  layers  of  light  grayish  color,  composed  of  clayey  and  sandy  fine  silt, 
changing  above  and  below  to  a  nearly  black,  more  unctnous  and  finer  clay,  which  forms  the  part- 
ings between  them.  In  the  east  part  of  this  excavation  the  thickness  of  these  layers  is  from  a 
half  inch  to  one  inch,  but  within  three  rods  to  the  west  they  are  from  one  to  six  inches  thick, 
being  thinnest  at  the  top.  They  are  somewhat  contorted  or  wavy,  but  in  their  whole  extent  are 
nearly  level.  The  alternating  conditions  which  produced  these  successive  layers  are  believed  to 
have  been  the  yearly  changes  of  the  seasons,  the  principal  mass  of  each  layer  being  the  deposition 
of  the  annually  recurring  periods  of  high  water,  and  the  darker  partings  being  the  sediment  of  a 
current  of  reduced  volume  and  therefore  slower  and  less  turbid.  The  lower  eight  or  ten  feet  of 
this  clay  are  finely  and  obliquely  laminated  and  very  sandy.  A  well,  38  feet  deep,  at  the  top 
of  this  bank,  even  in  bight  with  the  brick-yard,  finds  the  clay  gradually  become  more  sandy,  and 
its  last  four  feet  are  in  clear  sand,  containing  water  at  nearly  the  same  level  as  the  river. 

In  section  11,  Verona,  at  the  Rising  Sun  mills,  a  kiln  of  130,000  red  bricks  was  made  by 
Westbrook  &  Ferguson  in  1879,  not  with  satisfactory  success  because  of  particles  of  limestone 
contained  in  the  clay  and  .sand,  which  after  burning  become  slacked  and  crack  the  bricks.  The 
clay  used  here  is  yellow,  imperfectly  stratified,  apparently  a  part  of  the  till,  occurring  in  the 
northeast  bluff  at  15  to  30  fpet  above  the  river.  The  proportions  of  clay  and  sand  mixed  for  these 


468  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Peat. 

bricks  was  three  and  one.  Bricks  of  the  same  color  have  been  made  also  at  several  other  places 
near  the  river  in  its  next  three  or  four  miles  below,  with  poor  or  sometimes  fair  results.  The 
best  have  been  from  the  recert  alluvium  of  the  bottomlands.  Nothing  has  been  done  here 
in  this  business  during  the  last  few  years,  excepting  the  kiln  just  mentioned. 

RiJ  bricks  of  inferior  quality,  m  Htly  somewhat  cracked  by  particles  of  limestone,  but  other- 
wise durable,  were  made  from  1870  to  1872,  at  the  north  line  of  section  8,  Clark,  abont  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  west  of  Wells,  where  they  are  seen  in  brick  buildings.  The  material  used  was  probably 
the  obscurely  stratified  gravelly  clay  that  often  forms  the  upper  part  of  the  glacial  drift  upon 
this  area  which  was  covered  by  a  lake  while  the  ice-sheet  was  retreating  across  Faribault  and 
Blue  Earth  counties. 

Peat.  In  the  second  annual  report  of  this  survey,  Prof.  Winchell  has  treated  of  the  peat 
of  this  state,  the  following  details  being  given  in  respect  to  Faribault  county. 

Near  Wells  a  slough  on  land  of  Clark  W.  Thomi  son  was  found  to  have  from  four  to  six  feet 
of  peat,  in  part  watery  and  fibrous,  but  mostly  of  good  quality,  underlain  by  a  bed,  six  inches  to 
one  foot  thick,  of  peaty  mud  and  clay  with  shells  and  some  sand.  An  analysis,  by  Dr.  P  B.  Hose, 
of  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  of  this  peat,  after  drying  in  the  air,  gave  in  100  parts,  16  of  hygroscopic 
water;  18  of  ash;  and  66  of  organic  matter.  The  ash,  or  inorganic  matter,  contained  of  silica 
61.32  per  cent.;  lime,  12.44;  carbonic  acid,  10.69;  iron  and  alumina.  9.71 ;  magnesia,  2.43;  sulphuric 
acid,  2.37:  potassa,  0.55;  soda,  0.23;  and  a  trace  of  chlorine.  The  organic  matter  was  made  up 
of  carbon,  51.94  per  cent.;  of  hydrogen,  6.17;  and  of  oxygen  and  nitrogen,  41.89.  The  heating 
power  of  a  hundred  pounds  of  this  air-dried  peat  appears  to  be  equal  to  that  of  ninety  pounds  of 
dry  oak  wood.  The  residue  of  ashes  from  peat  is  fifteen  to  twenty-five  times  greater  than  from 
an  equal  weight  of  wood. 

Without  some  process  of  manufacture,  or  preparation  for  use  by  condensing  its  volume  and 
forming  it  into  blocks,  peat  is  too  soft  and  friable,  and  makes  a  slow,  smoldering  fire.  In  1871 
Mr.  W.  Z.  llaight  prepared  peat  for  fuel  at  Wells,  and  it  was  considerably  used  by  the  locomo- 
tives of  the  Southern  Minnesota  railroad.  This  work  was  described  by  the  Wells  Atlas:  "A 
bold  bank  is  selected,  in  order  to  secure  a  good  drying  yard  close  to  the  bog,  on  which  the  engine 
and  machinery  are  located,  where  a  frame  is  erected  12x16  feet  and  eight  feet  high,  from  the  top 
of  which  a  wooden  car-track,  supported  by  a  light  trestle-work,  descends  to  the  surface  of  the 
bog,  a  distance  of  150  feet,  with  a  fall  of  25  feet.  From  that  point  the  track  is  made  in  sections 
of  14  feet  each,  which  are  portable,  thrown  down  on  the  surface  of  the  bog;  and  with  the  use  of 
a  few  curved  sections,  the  track  can  be  shifted  in  any  direction  so  as  to  excavate  the  entire  bog 
that  is  in  reach.  This  track  can  be  extended  many  hundred  feet  out  across  the  surface  of  the  bog, 
if  desired,  giving  access  to  several  acres.  On  this  track  one  car  plies,  which  is  loaded  by  three 
men  who  stand  by  the  edge  of  the  excavation  (water  being  lowered  about  six  inches  from  the  sur- 
face to  insure  dry  feet).  The  sod  is  cut  up  into  chunks,  with  sharp,  diamond-pointed,  spade- like 
tools,  from  two  to  four  feet  deep,  according  to  depth  of  the  peat,  and  left  submerged  in  the  water 
until  the  car  is  at  the  proper  place,  when  the  chunks  are  pitched  from  the  water  into  the  car, 
with  common  four-tiued  forks,  and  when  the  regular  amount,  about  two  tons,  is  loaded  into  the 
car,  it  is  hauled  by  the  power  of  the  engine  up  the  incline,  over  the  large  platform  under  which 
the  mill  is  situated;  and  by  a  simple  contrivance  the  car  is  made  to  dump  its  load,  also  to  unship 
the  windlass  from  the  power  that  hauled  it  up,  being  no  trouble  to  the  feeder,  who  at  will  starts 
the  car  back,  which,  in  going  down  the  inclined  plane  gains  momentum  that  carries  it  out  hun- 
dreds of  feet  along  the  level  track.  Meanwhile  the  men  in  the  bog  do  the  necessary  work,  cut- 
ting chunks  for  another  load,  so  there  is  no  time  lost  in  the  absence  of  the  car.  The  feeder,  who 
stands  on  the  platform,  then  feeds  the  turfy  mass  into  the  mill,  which  is  an  ingeniously  con- 
structed machine,  though  simple,  very  durable,  so  arranged  with  knives  cutting  through  grates, 
pickers,  conveyers,  &c.,  that  it  will  treat  the  most  fibrous  mass  or  sod  peat  that  can  be  produced 
and  reduce  it  to  a  pulp  or  jelly  at  once,  and  that  too  without  clogging  or  winding  in  the  ma- 
chine. Owing  to  its  perfectness  it  renders  it  unnecessary  to  strip  off  the  top  sod  from  the  bog, 
all  that  is  necessary  being  to  mow  off  the  grass  or  other  vegetation,  if  there  is  any  growing  there- 
on, thereby  saving  considerable  expense  in  labor,  also  a  good  part  of  the  fuel,  when  ground  up 
with  the  lower  or  more  decomposed  peat.  By  the  conveyers,  the  peat,  as  fast  as  pulped,  is  forced 
through  a  pipe  into  a  vat  with  dump  bottom,  which  holds  one  cart  load.  Here  the  cartmsn  re- 
ceives it  by  driving  his  cart  under  and  dumping  a  load  into  it  from  the  vat,  adjusts  the  vat  hot- 


FARIBAULT  COUNTY.  469 

Peat.1 

torn,  drives  to  the  spreading  ground,  dumps  his  load  from  the  cart  and  returns,  during  which 
time  another  load  has  accumulated  in  the  vat.  The  pulp  is  dumped  on  a  smooth  plat  of  ground, 
where  a  man  with  a  common  shovel  spreads  it  into  beds  four  inches  thick,  nine  feet  wide,  and 
as  long  as  necessary,  setting  up  boards  at  the  sides  to  keep  it  from  spreading,  who  is  followed  by 
another  man  with  a  tool  similar  to  a  rolling  colter  for  a  plow,  fixed  on  a  long  handle,  who  cuts 
the  beds  of  soft  peat  into  blocks  8x13  inches,  which  commence  to  solidify  at  once  by  the  ejection 
of  the  water;  and  in  one  or  two  days,  by  the  use  of  a  light  tool  made  expressly  for  the  purpose, 
these  blocks  are  tipped  up  on  edge  or  corners  promiscuously,  so  the  sun  and  wind  can  have  a 
better  chance  at  them.  In  two  days  more  they  are  piled- in  open  ricks,  in  which  posture  they  re- 
main on  an  average  two  weeks,  when  they  are  housed  to  finish  drying. 

"The  cost,  tho  past  season  [1871],  of  running  this  establishment,  at  a  capacity  of  60  tons  of 
wet  or  15  tons  of  dry  peat  per  day  (equal  at  least,  when  properly  prepared  and  well  seasoned,  to 
15  cords  of  good  wood),  is  as  follows: 

Superintendent $2.50 

Engineer  per  day 2.75 

Three  men  in  bog  to  load  car 6.00 

Man  to  spread  pulped  peat  into  beds 1.50 

Boy  to  turn  blocks 1.00 

Two  boys  to  rick  up  blocks 2.00 

Man  to  feed  peat  into  mill 1.50 

Boy  to  drive  cart 1.00 

Man  to  cut  peat  into  blocks 1.50 

Cart  horse 1 .00 

One  ton  peat  at  cost  price  for  engine 1.72 

For  oil,  and  wear  and  tear  on  engine 1.00 

Add  22  cts.  for  housing  15  tons,  one  day's  product 3.30 

Total |26.77 

"  All  the  peat  is  being  sold  at  $4.00  a  ton,  except  that  to  the  railroad  company,  at  which  price 
the  yield  per  day  would  ba  $69.00."  The  value  of  the  manufactured  peat  is  estimated  equal  to 
that  of  good  wood  per  cord;  and  the  cost  of  the  plant,  capable  of  manufacturing  100  tons  of  wet 
peat,  or  25  tons  when  dry  psr  day,  including  mill  (1400),  frame,  trestle-work,  car-track,  car,  dump 
cart,  etc.,  is  stated  to  have  bsen  about  $703.  Tlis  demand,  however,  was  too  small  to  lead  to  the 
continuation  of  this  business.  Two  or  three  years  later  Mr.  Haight  again  worked  peat  in  this 
manner  near  Eastern;  but  here,  also,  the  enteiprise  was  soon  abandoned,  though  a  good  fuel  could 
be  made  at  small  cost,  if  sufficient  quantities  could  be  sold  to  keep  the  machinery  and  workmen 
employed. 

An  analysis,  by  Dr.  P.  B.  Eose,  of  the  peat  manufactured  by  Mr.  Haight  at  Wells,  gave  of 
water,  14  per  cent.;  ash,  18;  and  organic  matter,  68.  The  ash  yielded  silica,  58.31  per  cent.;  lime, 
14.18;  carbonic  acid,  11.63;  iron  and  alumina,  10.21;  magnesia,  2.90;  sulphuric  acid.  2.11;  potassa, 
0.41;  and  soda,  0.18.  Of  its  organic  matter,  carbon  was  52.02  per  cent.;  hydrogen,  6.68;  and  oxy- 
gen and  nitrogen,  41.30.  A  hundred  pounds  of  this  peat  was  found  equal  in  heating  power  to 
ninety-eight  pounds  of  dry  oak  wood. 

A  peat  deposit,  eighty  or  a  hundred  acres  in  extent  and  said  to  reach  a  depth  of  four  feet 
occurs  on  land  of  H.  F.  Quinby  and  J.  Robinson,  in  section  30,  Minnesota  Lake. 

.Near  Easton  peat  is  found  in  considerable  quantities  on  land  of  W.  Z.  Haight.  Four  speci- 
mens of  this  peat,  air-dried,  were  submitted  to  chemical  examination  by  Prof.  S.  F.  Peckham,  as 
to  their  "  hygroscopic  water,  organic  matter,  and  ash.  They  were  all  treated  exactly  alike.  An 
average  sample  of  each  of  the  specimens  was  finely  pulverized  and  thoroughly  mixed.  Of  this 
one  gramme  was  carefully  weighed  in  a  one-ounce  platinum  crucible.  The  covered  crucible  con- 
taining the  assay  was  then  placed  in  an  air  bath,  and  heated  to  212 — 220  degs.  Fahr.,  until  it  ceased 
to  lose  weight.  The  loss  was  estimated  as  hygroscopic  water.  The  cover  was  then  removed,  the 
crucible  inclined  and  heated  to  dull  redness,  tinally  to  bright  redness,  until  the  combustible  mat- 
ter was  entirely  consumed.  The  loss  was  estimated  as  organic  matter  and  the  residue  as  ash. 
The  following  results  were  obtained: 


470  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Pe»t.     Fountains. 
I.  9.  3.  4. 

Hygroscopic  water 13.04  10.99  20.64  16.75 

Organic  matter .•. 48.64  44.56  53.60  47.03 

Ash 38.32  44.45  25.76  36.28 

Analyses  of  the  ashes  yielded: 

Silica  (SiO-.) 83.13  83.35  72.79  80.55 

Carbon  (C) 86  .03  .95  .75 

Iron  oxide(Fe2O3)  and  iron  phosphate  (Fe2PaO8)  7.99  5.29  9.46  10.23 

Lime(CaO) 5.44  7.39  5.92  5.61 

Magnesia  (MgO) 1.75  .97  6.13  .76 

Sulphuric  acid  (SO3) 78  2.57  trace  1.34 

Undetermined 05  .40  6.25  .76" 

Of  these  specimens  the  first  was  taken  from  a  bog  at  eighteen  inches  below  the  surface;  the 
second,  from  the  same  bog  at  three  feet  below  the  surface;  while  the  third  and  fourth  are  from 
another  bog  near,  respectively  at  the  same  depths  of  eighteen  inches  and  three  feet.  Their  values 
for  heating,  compared  with  that  of  an  equal  weight  of  dry  oak  wood,  called  100,  were  found  to  be 
in  the  foregoing  order,  64.0,  58.6,  70.5,  and  61.7. 

Artesian  fountains.  The  remarkable  flowing  wells,  or  fountains,  which 
are  found  at  Wells,  were  discovered  after  the  village  had  received  this 
name  in  honor  of  a  distinguished  citizen.  The  section  of  the  drift  pene- 
trated here,  and  the  character  of  the  bed-rock  found  at  the  bottom  of  these 
wells,  from  which  their  water  rises  immediately  110  to  120  feet  to  the  sur- 
face and  five  to  fifteen  feet  higher,  have  been  sufficiently  treated  of  under 
the  head  of  the  geological  structure  of  the  county.  Most  of  these  wells 
have  been  bored  two  inches  in  diameter,  and  reduced  to  a  half  inch  or  less 
at  the  top.  The  pipe  is  often  prolonged  above  the  surface,  conveying  the 
water  into  tanks.  About  twenty  of  these  wells  have  been  obtained  within 
a  radius  of  one  mile.  Their  supply  is  large,  but  not  inexhaustible;  for, 
when  Hon.  M.  S.  Wilkinson's  well  was  bored,  a  half  mile  north  of  the  vil- 
lage and  on  land  ten  or  fifteen  feet  lower,  its  two-inch  stream,  very  copi- 
ous, lowered  the  wells  in  the  village  so  that  their  water  no  longer  reached 
the  surface.  After  this  new  well  was  reduced  to  a  small  flow,  yet  afford- 
ing an  abundance  for  all  the  requirements  of  house  and  farm,  the  water  of 
all  the  other  wells  rose  very  nearly  as  high  as  before.  If,  therefore,  the 
proposition  which  was  once  suggested,  to  tap  this  stratum  of  water  by  a 
large  well  for  water-power  to  a  grist-mill,  had  been  adopted,  the  flow 
would  have  been  found  inadequate,  while  the  water  of  the  small  wells 
would  have  failed  to  rise  to  the  surface.  This  water  is  of  excellent  quality, 
very  clear  and  cool;  it  is  somewhat  chalybeate,  so  that  it  gives  a  slight 
coating  of  iron-rust  to  wooden  gutters  and  troughs. 


FARIBAULT  COUNTY  471 

Fountain!.     Mounds.] 

The  ground  upon  which  these  artesian  waters  are  gathered  and  whence  they  receive  the 
pressure  that  causes  them  to  rise  here  above  the  surface,  is  probably  Freeboru  county,  which  be- 
gins four  miles  east  of  Wells,  and  extends  thirty  miles  to  the  east,  with  an  average  elevation 
about  a  hundred  feet  higher  above  the  sea.  From  this  station  the  railroad  rises  108  feet  in  going 
nine  miles  southeast  to  Alden;  while  its  summit,  six  miles  farther  east,  is  170  feet,  and  the 
depot  at  Albert  Lea  is  68  feet  above  Wells. 

Other  artesian  fountains  are  obtained  in  this  county  from  water-bearing  beds  of  gravel  and 
sand  included  in  the  glacial  drift,  at  depths  from  thirty  or  forty  to  nearly  a  hundred  feet.  They 
are  most  frequent  in  Dunbar,  Minnesota  Lake  and  Lura,  and  especially  near  the  Maple  river 
through  the  second  and  third  of  these  townships  and  through  Mapleton  and  Sterling  in  Blue 
Earth  county.  Rarely  artesian  water  is  found  farther  to  the  south  and  southwest  in  Faribault 
county.  The  only  instances  learned  of  are  Ole  E.  Johnson's  well,  about  90  feet  deep,  in  the 
southeast  part  of  Emerald,  and  two  in  Pilot  Grove,  one  being  on  the  farm  that  was  owned  by  the 
late  Dr.  Cr.  D.  Winch,  in  section  8,  about  60  feet  in  depth,  which  after  overflowing  four  years 
ceased  in  the  autumn  of  1879,  and  the  other  bains;  Mr.  Wilson's,  in  the  S.  W.  J  of  section  20, 
which  was  sunk  in  1880,  70  feet  deep,  and  at  the  time  of  this  examination  had  been  rnnning  four 
months. 

All  these  artesian  wells,  as  also  the  common  w«lls  of  the  county,  already  described  in 
treating  of  the  glacial  drift,  invariably  have  good  water,  and  nearly  always  in  ample  amount 
within  twenty-five  to  fifty  feet  from  the  surface.  It  is,  however,  hard  water,  holding  the  car- 
bonates of  lime  and  magnesia  in  solution,  and  requires  cleansing  with  ashes  or  otherwise  before 
it  can  be  satisfactorily  used  for  washing  with  soap. 

ABORIGINAL  MOUNDS. 

Numerous  circular  mounds,  apparently  artificial,  one  to  one  and  a  half  feet  high,  and  fif 
teen  to  twenty  feet  across,  are  seen  near  the  road  along  a  distance  of  three  miles  about  half  way 
between  Freeborn  and  Wells;  and  a  few  similar  mounds  were  seen  in  and  beside  the  road  two  or 
three  miles  west  of  Wells. 

Two  mounds,  twenty  feet  in  diameter  and  one  and  a  half  feat  high,  occur  at  the  south  side 
of  the  S.  W.  J  of  the  S.  W.  }  of  section  13,  Brush  Creek,  about  a  third  of  a  mile  east  of  the 
bridge  over  the  East  branch  of  the  Blue  Earth  river. 

Again,  in  Kiester,  two  mounds  of  about  the  same  size  as  the  foregoing  were  noted  near 
the  middle  of  section  19. 

In  Mansfield,  the  most  southwest  township  of  Freeborn  county,  lying  next  east  of  Kiester, 
two  or  three  such  mounds  were  observed  in  the  N.  W.  i  of  section  13;  also,  at  the  south  side  of 
section  34  of  this  township,  close  to  the  state  line,  are  two  or  more  of  these  small  mounds . 
Passing  the  last,  a  road  extends  south  into  Iowa,  and  about  a  mile  beyond  the  state  boundary 
a  mound  of  this  form  but  two  feet  high,  being  larger  than  any  of  the  others  here  mentioned,  was 
seen  six  rods  east  of  this  road,  with  a  second  of  the  smaller  size  near  it. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  WATONWAN  AND  MARTIN  COUNTIES. 


BY   WARREN  UPHAM. 

Situation  and  area.  Watonwan  and  Martin  counties  lie  in  southern 
Minnesota,  the  former  being  directly  north  of  the  latter,  which  borders  on 
Iowa.  They  are  a  little  west  of  the  central  meridian  of  the  state.  The 
distance  of  Madelia  in  Watonwan  county  southwest  from  Minneapolis  and 
St.  Paul  is  87  miles;  and  Fairmont  in  Martin  county  is  27|  miles  south, 
and  two  miles  west  of  Madelia.  From  the  east  line  of  Martin  county  to 
the  Mississippi  at  La  Crosse  is  150  miles;  and  from  the  west  line  of  these 
counties  to  the  line  between  Minnesota  and  Dakota  is  80  miles. 

Both  these  counties  are  rectangles,  the  extent  of  Watonwan  being 
twenty -four  miles  from  east  to  west  and  eighteen  from  north  to  south; 
while  Martin  county  reaches  six  miles  farther  east,  and  is  thirty  miles  long 
from  east  to  west,  with  a  width  of  twenty-four  miles.  The  area  of  Waton- 
wan county  is  435.45  square  miles,  or  278,689.92  acres,  of  which  1,638  acres 
are  covered  by  water.  The  area  of  Martin  county  is  723.89  square  miles, 
or  463,288.40  acres,  of  which  12,267.35  acres  are  covered  by  water. 

SURFACE  FEATURES. 

Natural  drainage.  Watonwan  county  is  wholly  drained  by  the  river  of 
the  same  name,  which  empties  into  the  Blue  Earth  river  about  three  miles 
below  Garden  City  in  Blue  Earth  county.  The  North  and  South  forks  of 
the  Watonwan  river,  having  their  sources  in  Cottonwood  county,  traverse 
respectively  the  northern  and  southwestern  parts  of  Watonwan  county, 
each  receiving  several  tributary  creeks,  and  are  united  in  one  stream  two 
miles  west  of  Madelia,  and  about  twenty  miles,  following  the  course  of  the 


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WATONWAN  AND  MARTIN  COUNTIES.  473 

Natural  drainage.] 

river,  above  its  mouth.  Antrim,  the  most  southeast  township  of  this  county, 
is  drained  by  Perch  creek,  which  has  its  source  a  few  miles  farther  south 
in  Martin  county,  and  flows  northeast  to  the  Watonwan  river. 

Among  the  lakes  of  Watonwan  county  the  following  are  worthy  of  mention:  Emerson  lake, 
at  the  nortli  side  of  Madelia,  two  miles  long  from  east  to  west  and  one  and  a  half  miles  wide, 
with  about  half  its  area  in  Linden,  Brown  county;  five  or  six  smaller  lakes  in  Madelia,  within  a 
few  miles  to  the  southeast  from  Emerson  lake;  a  dozer:  smaller  lakes,  probably  some  of  them  dry 
in  the  summer,  lying  in  Fielden  and  Antrim;  thiee  lakes  in  Saint  James,  the  largest,  a  mile  or 
more  in  length,  close  southwest  of  the  town;  Long  lake,  two  and  a  half  miles  long  from  east  to 
west  and  half  a  mile  wide,  and  Kansas  lake,  of  equal  width  and  a  mile  in  length,  in  Long  Lake 
township;  four  unnamed  lakes  in  Odin,  the  largest,  in  sections  5  and  6,  being  about  a  mile  lone: 
and  a  half  mile  wide;  and  Wood  lake  in  Adrian,  two  and  a  half  miles  long  and  from  a  quarter 
to  a  half  of  a  mile  wide. 

The  greater  part  of  Martin  county  is  also  included  within  the  basin  of 
the  Blue  Earth  river,  to  which  its  waters  are  carried  by  Elm,  Center  and 
South  creeks,  all  of  which  join  the  Blue  Earth  in  Verona,  Faribault  county. 
Elm  creek,  the  largest  of  these,  and  the  only  one  which  rises  beyond  the 
west  line  of  this  county,  has  been  sometimes  called  Chain  river;  deriving 
its  name  from  the  remarkable  chains  of  lakes  which  find  their  outlets  by 
these  creeks.  The  southeast  corner  of  Martin  county  is  tributary  to  the 
Blue  Earth  river  by  smaller  creeks  above  the  foregoing;  and  the  north  edge 
of  the  county  sends  its  streams  to  the  Watonwan  river. 

An  area  of  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  square  miles  in  the  southwest 
part  of  Martin  county  lies  in  the  basin  of  the  Des  Moines  and  is  drained  by 
the  head-stream  ot  the  East  fork  of  this  river,  which  has  its  farthest  source 
nearly  at  the  middle  of  the  line  between  this  and  Jackson  county  and 
thence  flows  southeastward,  passing  through  Tuttle's  lake  upon  the  state 
line. 

The  lakes  of  this  county,  mostly  lying  in  three  distinct  chains  or  series,  present  very  inter- 
esting features,  and  seem  to  give  important  evidence  respecting  the  history  of  the  glacial  period. 
On  this  account  further  notice  of  them  is  deferred  to  the  later  part  of  this  chapter  where  the  drift 
is  described. 

Topography.  Watonwan  county  descends  toward  the  east  and  north- 
east, but  in  a  broad  view  its  slightly  undulating  expanse  seems  nearly  level. 
Generally  its  surface  is  in  very  gentle  slopes  which  soon  conduct  the  sur- 
plus waters  of  rains  and  snow-melting  into  depressions,  which  merge  into 
ravines  and  lead  to  small  water-courses,  and  by  them  to  the  larger  per- 
manent streams.  Here  and  there,  however,  are  depressions  which  have  no 
such  free  drainage,  and  contain  sloughs  or  lakes. 


474  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA 

f  Topography 

The  general  slope  of  Martin  county  sinks  slight!}'  toward  the  east, 
giving  direction  to  its  streams.  To  the  traveler  this  descent  is  imper- 
ceptible, and  it  appears  as  a  vast,  moderately  undulating,  but  approxi- 
mately level  prairie.  Erosion  by  the  present  creeks  of  this  county  has 
depressed  them  from  ten  to  thirty  or  forty  feet  below  the  average  hight  of 
the  land  on  each  side,  forming  along  considerable  portions  of  their  course 
distinct  valleys,  with  irregularly  sloping,  narrow  bottomlands,  bordered 
by  low  but  steep  bluffs.  In  Watonwan  county  the  South  fork  of  the 
Watonwan  river  lies  in  a  valley  which  it  has  cut  forty  feet  below  the  gen- 
eral level  along  all  its  course  from  Mountain  Lake  to  Madelia;  and  the 
North  fork  and  its  tributaries  have  similarly  channeled  their  part  of  the 
drift-sheet.  Below  the  junction  of  these  branches  the  Watonwan  valley 
increases  to  fifty  or  sixty  feet  in  depth  before  leaving  the  county  at  the 
southeast  corner  of  Madelia.  The  only  place  at  which  these  valleys  have 
cut  through  the  drift  is  in  Martin  county,  on  Elm  creek  in  section  6,  Rut- 
land, where  the  bed-rock,  probably  sandstone,  is  found  at  a  slight  depth 
below  the  surface. 

Adrian,  the  most  northwest  township  of  Watonwan  county,  has  the 
only  outcrop  of  the  bed-rock  in  these  counties,  this  being  the  eastern 
extremity  of  a  prominent  ridge  of  the  red  Potsdam  quartzyte.  It  is  seen 
at  the  surface  in  the  N.  W.  J  of  section  29.  and  gives  to  this  and  the  con- 
tiguous sections  30  and  19  an  elevation  fifty  to  one  hundred  feet  above  the 
rest  of  this  township;  but  this  ridge  here,  and  through  its  whole  extent  of 
nearly  twenty-five  miles  westward,  where  it  rises  much  higher,  is  mainly 
covered  by  a  smooth  sheet  of  till. 

Elevations,  St.  Paul  &  Sioux  City  division,  Chicago,  St.  Paul,  Minneapolis  &  Omaha  railway. 
Copied  from  profiles  in  the  office  of  T.  P.  Gere,  superintendent,  St.  Paul. 

Miles  from         Feetabov* 
bit,  Paul.  the  sea. 

Madelia 109.0  1021 

Watonwan  river,  water 1 10.5  979 

Lincoln 116.4  1042 

Saint  James 121.6  1073 

Butterfleld 130.1  1184 

Elevations,  Southern  Minnesota  division,  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul  railway. 
From  George  B.  AVoodworth.  assistant  engineer.  La  Crosse. 

Miles  from        Feet  above 
La  Crosse.  the  sea . 

Winnebago  City  (Faribault  county) 166.3  1096 

Fairmont 183.0  1176 

Sherburne 197.5  1273 

Junction  of  branch  to  Jackson  depot  (Jackson  county) 209.1  1446 


WATONWAN    AND  MARTIN  COUNTIES.  475 

Elevations.     Soil.; 

The  highest  land  of  Watonwan  county  is  either  the  east  part  of  the 
quartzyte  ridge  in  sections  19  and  30,  Adrian,  or  the  southwest  corner  of 
the  county,  both  of  which  are  nearly  1,300  feet  above  the  sea.  Its  lowest 
land  is  where  the  Watonwan  river  passes  out  from  this  into  Blue  Earth 
county,  at  a  hight  of  about  960  feet  above  the  sea.  The  mean  hights  of  the 
townships  of  this  county  are  approximately  as  follows:  Madelia,  1,025  feet 
above  the  sea;  Fielden,  1,050;  Antrim,  1,100;  River  Dale,  1,040;  Rosendale, 
1,060;  South  Branch,  1,120;  Nelson,  1,075;  Saint  James,  1,120;  Long  Lake, 
1,150;  Adrian,  1,150;  Butterfield,  1,200 ;  and  Odin,  1,240.  From  these  esti- 
mates the  mean  elevation  of  Watonwan  county  is  found  to  be  1,110  feet, 
very  nearly,  above  the  sea. 

In  Martin  county  the  greatest  altitude  is  attained  at  the  west  side  of 
Lake  Fremont  township,  about  1,400  feet  above  the  sea;  and  the  lowest 
points  of  this  county  are  at  its  east  line  where  Elm,  Center  and  South 
creeks  are  1,050  to  1,075  feet  in  elevation.  The  townships  of  this  county, 
with  their  mean  hights  approximately  estimated,  are:  Nashville,  1,125 
feet  above  the  sea;  Center  Creek,  1,140;  Pleasant  Prairie,  1,200;  East  Chain, 
1,240;  Westtord,  1,150;  Rutland,  1,175;  Fairmont,  1,200 ;  Silver  Lake,  1,230 ; 
Waverly,  1,175;  Frazer,  1,200;  Rolling  Green,  1,240;  Tenhassen,  1,250;  Ga- 
lena, 1,200;  Fox  Lake,  1,240;  Manyaska,  1,260;  Lake  Belt,  1,275;  Cedar, 
1,260  :  Elm  Creek,  1,300 ;  Jay,  1,325  ;  and  Lake  Fremont,  1,350.  The  mean 
elevation  of  Martin  county,  deduced  from  these  figures,  is  1,225  feet. 

Soil  and  timber.  The  soil  of  Watonwan  and  Martin  counties,  like  that 
of  a  vast  region  extending  from  them  on  all  sides,  is  very  fertile,  easily 
worked,  and  well  adapted  for  the  cultivation  of  all  the  staple  agricultural 
products  of  this  latitude.  A  black,  clayey,  and  slightly  sandy  and  gravelly 
loam,  from  one  to  three  feet  thick,  forms  the  surface,  which  is  nearly  every- 
where sufficiently  undulating  to  carry  away  the  waters  of  heavy  rains  and 
snow-melting.  Boulders  are  scattered  very  sparingly  over  the  entire  area 
of  these  counties,  but  scarcely  anywhere  are  objectionably  numerous.  This 
soil  and  the  subsoil  of  yellowish  gravelly  clay  are  the  till,  or  unmodified 
drift  of  the  glacial  period.  They  are  somewhat  porous  on  account  of  their 
considerable  proportion  of  sand  intermixed,  causing  them  to  absorb  much 
moisture  from  rains  and  give  it  up  readily  to  vegetation.  The  principal 
crop  of  Watonwan  county,  as  generally  northward  through  this  state,  is 


476  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Timber.      Potsdam  quartzyte. 

wheat;  but  in  Martin  county  corn,  stock,  and  dairying  also  hold  a  promin- 
ent place,  as  commonly  southward  through  Iowa. 

Both  these  counties  are  principally  prairie,  being  natural  grassland, 
without  tree  or  shrub;  excepting  narrow  skirts  of  timber,  which  generally 
surround  the  lakes  and  extend  along  the  principal  streams,  sometimes  widen- 
ing to  form  groves.  Probably  the  aggregate  ai'ea  of  these  belts  of  timber 
is  less  than  one  hundredth  part  of  either  Watonwan  or  Martin  county. 
The  following  species  of  trees,  arranged  in  their  estimated  order  of  abund- 
ance, were  noted  as  occurring  on  the  South  fork  of  the  Watonwan  river: 
American  or  white  elm,  white  ash,  box-elder,  ironwood,  cottonwood,  bur 
oak,  slippery  or  red  elm,  hackberry,  bass,  soft  maple,  black  walnut,  willows, 
the  American  aspen  or  poplar,  and  the  wild  plum.  Common  species  of 
trees  about  Silver  and  Iowa  lakes,  in  Martin  county,  are  bur  oak,  bass, 
white  ash,  white  and  red  elm,  and  black  walnut;  bitternut  is  somewhat 
frequent;  and  cottonwood,  soft  maple  and  butternut  occur  rarely. 

GEOLOGICAL  STRUCTURE. 

The  only  exposure  of  bed-rock  in  Watonwan  county  is  found,  as  already 
stated,  in  the  N.  W.  £  of  section  29,  Adrian.  A  smooth  and  flat  surface  of 
the  very  compact  and  hard,  red  Potsdam  quartzyte  is  seen  here  along  an 
extent  of  five  rods  from  northwest  to  southeast,  with  a  width  varying  from 
five  to  twenty  feet.  This  is  on  an  eastward  slope,  in  a  slight  depression  of 
drainage.  The  quartzyte  does  not  project  out  of  the  drift,  and  cannot  be 
seen  at  a  distance.  It  is  undoubtedly  the  bed-rock  beneath  all  the  south- 
west quarter  of  Adrian,  but  is  elsewhere  covered  within  the  limits  of  this 
township  and  county  by  the  smoothed  sheet  of  glacial  drift,  which  rises  in 
a  broadly  rounded  ridge  because  of  the  prominence  of  this  underlying  rock. 
Through  the  north  half  of  section  30,  Adrian,  it  lies  at  no  great  depth,  and 
has  been  encountered  in  ploughing  and  digging  at  several  places.  This 
ridge,  having  here  and  there  outcrops  of  the  same  red  quartzyte,  continues 
more  than  twenty  miles  to  the  west,  in  northern  Cottonwood  county. 

In  Martin  county  a  large  mass  of  compact,  gray  sandstone,  contained 
in  the  till,  has  been  quarried  at  the  south  side  of  Elm  creek  in  the  west  part 
of  section  6,  Rutland,  on  land  of  G.  S.  Livermore  of  Fairmont,  yielding 


WATONWAN  AND  MARTIN   COUNTIES.  477 

Cretaceous  sandstone.] 

about  three  cords  of  good  building  stone,  besides  one  or  two  cords  of  infe- 
rior quality  wasted.  This  lay  at  a  hight  of  about  five  feet  above  the  creek, 
being  imbedded  in  the  base  of  its  bluff  of  till,  which  rises  thirty  feet.  It 
was  divided  in  beds  one  to  two  feet  thick,  with  an  inclination  of  about 
30°  eastward,  and  is  said  to  have  been  entirely  removed  by  quarrying. 
Some  of  these  layers  show  oblique  lamination.  The  color  and  texture  of 
this  stone,  its  rarely  enclosing  soft  black  particles,  which  are  apparently 
lignite,  and  the  oolitic  structure  that  much  of  it  exhibits,  give  it  a  very 
close  resemblance  to  the  sandstone,  quite  surely  of  Cretaceous  age,  found 
outcropping  in  Alta  Vista,  the  most  northeast  township  of  Lincoln  county, 
and  in  Eidsvold  and  Westerheim,  lying  next  to  the  east  in  northwestern 
Lyon  county.  Mr.  Livermore  states  that  bed-rock  exists  near  the  surface, 
as  learned  by  thrusting  down  an  iron  bar,  along  the  marshy  bottomland 
and  beneath  the  channel  of  the  creek,  for  a  distance  of  six  or  eight  rods 
from  the  point  where  this  block  occurred,  being  probably  the  same  for- 
mation in  place,  but  not  rising  into  view.  The  only  wells  learned  of  ki 
these  counties  that  have  gone  through  the  drift  are  the  following,  situated 
in  Fairmont  and  Jay  townships  in  Martin  county. 

On  land  of  A.  L.  Ward,  in  section  9,  Fairmont,  a  well  about  150  feet  deep  went  through 
drift,  90  feet;  hard  rock,  about  50  feet;  and  a  softer  layer  10  feet  thick,  from  which  water  rose  to 
sixty  feet  below  the  surface.  On  land  of  H.  W.  Sinclair,  in  section  29,  Fairmont,  rock  was  en- 
countered at  a  considerable  depth  and  the  well  was  abandoned.  No  f  urther  details  were  ascer- 
tained respecting  the  bed-rocks  in  these  wells;  consequently  no  opinion  of  their  geological  age  can 
be  given.  The  strike  of  the  limestone  and  sandstone  formations  of  the  Lower  Magnesian  series, 
in  their  exposures  along  the  valley  of  the  Minnesota  river  and  in  Blue  Earth  county,  indicates 
that  their  continuation  underlies  the  greater  part  of  Watonwan  and  Martin  counties;  but  here 
they  are  doubtless  covered  in  part  and  perhaps  mainly,  by  Cretaceous  strata. 

Deposits  which  seem  referable  to  the  Cretaceous  age,  were  found  in  the  lowest  thirty  feet 
or  more  of  a  well  180  feet  deep,  on  the  farm  of  Cargill.  Van  &  Co.,  in  the  S.  E.  J  of  section  14, 
Jay.  This  was  dug  a  hundred  feet  and  bored  below.  Its  section  in  the  portion  dug  was  soil,  2 
feet;  yellow  till,  18  feet;  and  very  hard  blue  till,  much  of  it  about  as  hard  to  excavate  as  rock,  80 
feet.  Some  ten  barrels  of  water  come  in  daily  from  the  lower  two  feet  of  the  yellow  till,  but 
none  was  found  in  the  blue  till.  The  portion  bored  consisted  of  yellowish  gray  sand  with  little 
gravel,  dry,  and  yielding  gas  in  which  lire  could  not  burn,  50  feet ;  then,  shale,  10  feet ;  and  gray 
sand  or  soft  sandstone,  bored  into  20  feet,  and  continuing  below  the  bottom  of  the  well.  The 
last  thirty  feet  were  bored  during  the  rainy  season,  when  so  much  water  (a  hundred  barrels  or 
more  per  day-},  came  in  from  the  yellow  till  that  it  was  not  evident  whether  the  last  stratum 
yielded  any  water.  This  well  was  made  in  1879  and  the  spring  of  1880,  and  supplies  all  the 
water  that  is  wanted  from  it.  The  strata  here  encountered  below  150  feet  probably  belong  to  the 
Cretaceous  age,  and  perhaps  also  the  fifty  feet  of  sand  between  these  and  the  till.  This  thick 
bed  of  gas-bearing  sand  and  gravel  was  struck  at  the  bottom  of  a  well  113  feet  deep  at  Sher- 
burne  station,  two  miles  to  the  northeast,  of  which  full  notes  are  given  in  the  list  of  wells  illus- 
trating the  drift. 


478  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

( Drift  aad  contoui 

Drift  and  contour. 

Glacial  striae  are  very  distinct  on  the  quartzyte  ledge  exposed  in  sec- 
tion 29,  Adrian,  mostly  bearing  S.  30°  E.,  referred  to  the  true  meridian,  but 
in  one  place,  on  its  southeast  portion,  bearing  S.  20°  E. 

The  contour  of  Watonwan  and  Martin  counties  is  like  that  which  pre- 
vails generally  in  the  basin  of  the  Minnesota  river,  and  is  formed  by  a 
slightly  undulating  or  in  some  portions  moderately  rolling  sheet  of  till, 
with  massive  swells  rising  in  long  smooth  slopes  ten  to  twenty  or  thirty 
feet  above  the  depressions.  The  gently  undulating,  smoothed  surface  of 
most  of  this  region  appears  to  mark  areas  over  which  the  ice-sheet  moved 
in  a  continuous  current,  and  from  which  it  disappeared  by  melting  that 
was  extended  at  the  same  time  over  a  wide  field.  Compared  with  the  thick- 
ness of  the  drift,  its  inequalities  of  contour  in  these  counties  are  small,  and 
in  an  extensive  view  it  seems  approximately  flat.  It  is  a  part  of  the  in- 
clined plain  which  rises  by  an  imperceptible  slope  from  the  Minnesota  river 
to  the  Coteau  des  Prairies.  Its  rate  of  ascent  toward  the  southwest,  or  in- 
crease in  average  bight,  varies  from  five  to  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  per  mile. 
This  gradual  change  in  altitude  is  doubtless  produced  by  increase  in  hight 
of  the  bdd-rocks  upon  which  the  drift  lies  as  a  sheet  of  somewhat  uniform 
depth,  probably  varying  in  these  counties  from  50  to  150  feet;  but  the  nu- 
merous small  elevations  and  depressions  of  the  surface  appear  to  be  due  to 
the  accumulation  of  different  amounts  of  till  by  adjoining  portions  of  the 
moving  ice-sheet,  without  any  corresponding  unevenness  of  the  underlying 
rocks. 

Third  terminal  moraine.  The  most  rolling  portion  of  the  drift-sheet  in 
these  counties  is  at  the  southeast,  entering  East  Chain  township  from  Iowa, 
and  reaching  northwestward  to  Fairmont.  It  is  the  continuation  of  a  belt 
of  hilly  till,  which  is  connected  with  the  inner  or  western  one  of  the  two 
terminal  moraines  that  extend  from  north  to  south  through  northern  Iowa, 
passing  near  Clear  Lake  and  Forest  City.  This  belt,  three  to  six  miles  or 
more  in  width,  reaches  from  the  vicinity  of  Pilot  mound  in  northeastern 
Hancock  county  northwestward  about  forty  miles,  by  Forest  City,  through 
western  Winnebago  county  and  northeastern  Kossuth  county  in  Iowa,  and 
into  southeastern  Martin  county.  It  attains  its  greatest  hight  in  the  north 
part  of  township  98,  range  85,  Winnebago  county,  where  it  is  100  feet 


WATONWAN  AND  MARTIN  COUNTIES.  479 

Third  terminal  moraine.] 

above  the  general  level.  In  northeastern  Kossuth  county  this  tract  expands 
to  a  width  of  ten  miles  and  reaches  from  Ramsey,  at  the  east  side  of  Union 
slough,  north  and  northwest  to  the  state  line,  lying  on  both  sides  of  the 
head-stream  of  the  Blue  Earth  river.  Its  northeast  border  is  in  the  south 
edge  of  Elniore  and  Pilot  Grove  in  southwestern  Faribault  county,  where 
it  consists  of  hillocks  and  short  east-to-west  ridges  of  till,  30  to  50  feet  high. 
Thence  these  accumulations  of  till  occur  scatteringly  in  southeastern  Mar- 
tin county  to  East  Chain  and  less  prominently  to  Fairmont.  In  these 
townships  the  contour  is  seldom  rough,  but  rises  in  swells  25  to  50  feet 
above  intervening  depressions,  with  trends  more  frequently  from  north- 
west to  southeast  than  in  other  directions;  while  nearly  all  the  remainder 
of  this  county  is  more  smoothly  undulating,  in  longer  slopes,  with  the 
highest  parts  only  10  to  2D  feet  above  the  lowest  near. 

The  belt  of  hilly  and.  rolling  glacial  drift  thus  traced  from  Iowa  into  Minnesota  was  probably 
accumulated  as  a  terminal  moraine  at  the  end  of  the  ice-lobe  which  extended  southeastward  from 
the  Leaf  hills  and  the  Head  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies,  as  more  fully  explained  on  page  406; 
but  at  a  late  part  of  the  epoch,  after  two  distinct  recessions  of  the  ice  had  taken  place  in  south- 
western Minnesota.  When  this  lobe  of  the  ice-sheet  attained  its  greatest  area  it  terminated  on 
the  south  in  the  vicinity  of  Des  Moines,  and  was  bounded  on  its  sides  by  the  outermost  belt  of  hilly 
and  knolly  drift  deposits.  On  its  east  side  only  two  morainic  belts  are  found,  but  on  its  west  side 
three  are  clearly  distinguished  in  the  west  edge  of  this  state  and  the  east  edge  of  Dakota.*  At 
the  time  of  accumulation  of  the  second  belt  of  morainic  drift,  the  end  of  this  ice-lobe  had  receded 
to  Mineral  ridge  in  the  north  part  of  Boone  county,  Iowa;  and  when  the  third  belt  was  formed, 
its  extremity  appears  to  have  been  in  Hancock  county,  Iowa.  The  length  of  this  ice-lobe  was 
thus  diminished  forty  miles  between  the  times  of  formation  of  its  first  or  outer  moraine  and  its 
second  or  inner  moraine,  and  was  still  further  shortened  seven ty-tive  miles  before  its  third  moraine 
was  accumulated.  Across  the  area  from  Fairmont  northwest  to  Yellow  Medicine  county  this 
third  moraine  was  not  noticed  as  a  continuous  formation.  In  the  line  where  it  would  be  looked 
for,  we  find  the  surface  somewhat  more  prominently  rolling  than  ordinary  in  Waverly,  at  the 
north  side  of  Martin  county;  but  only  the  usual  low  undulations  were  noted  northwestward  in 
Watonwan  county.  The  nearest  tract  of  typically  morainic  contour  observed  in  this  direction, 
which  seems  to  be  probably  a  part  of  this  belt,  is  thirty  miles  from  Waverly  in  the  north  part  of 
Stately,  the  most  southwestern  township  of  Brown  county .t 

For  one  or  two  miles  southeast  and  south  of  Madelia,  and  for  one  mile  southeast  of  Saint 
James,  the  surface  has  frequent  swells  twenty  to  thirty  feet  above  the  depressions,  being  more 
rolling  than  most  other  parts  of  Watonwan  county,  which  is  generally  very  gently  undulating  in 
smooth  prolonged  slopes,  with  occasional  lakes  and  here  and  there  sloughs  ten  to  twenty  feet 
below  the  highest  portions  of  the  adjoining  country. 

Chains  of  lakes.  It  has  been  frequently  noted  that  the  lakes  which 
abound  upon  areas  overspread  by  the  glacial  drift,  have  their  prevailing 
trend,  or  average  direction  of  their  longer  axes,  parallel  with  the  course 


480  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Chains  of  lakes. 

that  was  taken  by  the  ice-sheet.  The  swells  and  undulations  of  the  till 
have  their  greatest  extent  in  this  direction,  and  the  lakes  fill  the  hollows 
that  are  formed  by  its  unequal  accumulation.  Among  the  hills  of  the 
terminal  moraines,  however,  the  longer  axes  of  the  lakes  are  apt  to  be 
transverse  to  the  course  in  which  the  ice  came,  but  parallel  with  its  border. 
In  each  case,  such  lakes  are  due  to  variable  glacial  erosion  and  deposition; 
and  the  basins  in  which  they  lie  are  not  more  remarkable  features  of  the 
contour  than  are  its  swells,  hills,  and  areas  of  highland.  The  deepest  lakes 
contained  in  depressions  of  the  till  in  this  state  are  from  fifty  to  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  feet  in  depth,  reaching  as  far  below  the  average  level  of  the 
drift-sheet  as  its  most  elevated  portions  rise  higher;  but  a  great  majority  of 
these  lakes,  especially  upon  regions  of  only  slightly  undulating  surface  with- 
out prominent  elevations,  are  shallow,  ranging  from  five  to  twenty-five 
feet  in  depth.  They  mainly  have  very  gently  ascending  shores,  but  some- 
times on  one  or  more  sides  are  partially  bounded  by  steep  banks  five  to 
twenty  or  thirty  feet  high,  formed  by  the  wear  of  waves  which  have  eaten 
away  projecting  portions  of  their  margin  of  till,  leaving  its  boulders,  but 
strowing  its  finer  detritus  over  the  lake-bed. 

In  regions  of  modified  drift,  consisting  of  stratified  gravel  and  sand 
that  were  supplied  from  the  dissolving  ice-sheet,  the  lakes,  from  ten  to 
fifty  feet  or  more  in  depth,  and  often  bordered  by  level  or  undulating 
tracts  of  modified  drift,  from  twenty-five  to  one  hundred  feet  or  more 
above  them,  lie  in  depressions  which  at  the  time  of  the  fluvial  deposition  of 
this  drift  were  probably  still  occupied  by  unmelted  masses  of  ice,  prevent- 
ing sedimentation  where  they  lay  and  consequently  leaving  hollows  en- 
closed by  steep  and  high  banks,  whose  top  is  the  margin  of  plateaus  or 
plains  of  gravel  and  sand.  No  examples  of  lake  basins  thus  surrounded  by 
modified  drift  were  found  in  Watonwan  and  Martin  counties,  neither  of 
which  have  any  noteworthy  deposits  of  this  class,  nor  any  such  rough 
morainic  areas  as  to  influence  the  distribution  and  trend  of  their  lakes. 

Most  of  the  lakes  of  Minnesota,  and  of  all  glaciated  regions,  present 
only  such  forms  and  arrangement  as  are  readily  explained  thus  by  the 
modes  of  excavation  and  accumulation,  and  the  diverse  deposits  of  the  ice- 
sheets.  The  first  described  and  most  common  type  of  lakes  found  upon 
the  surface  of  the  drift,  trending  in  parallelism  with  the  course  in  which 


\VATOX\VAX    AXI)  MAKTIX  COUNTIES. 

Chains  of  lakes.  J 

the  ice  moved,  finds  illustration  in  Watonwan  county  by  the  lakes  of  Ma- 
delia,  Fielden,  Long  Lake  and  Adrian.  Here  the  glacial  current  passed 
southeastward,  this  region  being  near  the  axis  of  the  great  lobe  of  the  con- 
tinental glacier  which  stretched  from  the  Leaf  hills  and  the  Head  ot  the 
Coteau  des  Prairies  southeast  and  then  south  to  the  center  of  Iowa. 

Martin  count}'  presents,  however,  in  its  three  remarkable  chains  or 
series  of  lakes,  a  problem  which  the  foregoing  general  explanations  of  the 
origin  of  lakes  upon  areas  of  glacial  drift  do  not  solve,  though  they  are 
needed  to  prepare  us  for  its  consideration.  These  series  are  known  as  the 
East.  Central  and  West  chains  of  lakes.. 

South  creek  receives  the  outflow  from  the  East  chain  of  lakes,  and  connects  them  by  a 
stream  which  descends  toward  the  north.  This  chain  extends  from  the  Iowa  line  about  twelve 
miles  northerly  in  a  somewhat  irregular  course,  lying  upon  tiie  line  between  East  Chain  and  Sil- 
ver Lake  townships,  and  continuing  northward  through  the  east  part  of  Fairmont  and  the  north- 
west corner  of  Pleasant  Prairie.  It  includes  two  lakes  in  section  36,  Silver  Lake;  two  lakes  at  the 
west  side  of  sections  19  and  18,  East  Chain,  now  united  under  the  name  of  East  Chain  lake  by  a 
dam  which  has  a  fall  or  head  of  eight  feet;  two  unnamed  lakes  in  sections  7  and  6,  East  Chain;  an- 
other, about  a  mile  long,  lying  principally  in  section  36,  Fairmont;  Rose  lake,  a  mile  and  a  half 
long  from  south  to  north,  at  the  west  side  of  sections  25  and  24,  Fairmont;  lake  Imogene,  on  the 
township  line,  about  one  and  a  half  miles  northeast  from  the  last;  and  Lone  Tree  lake,  lying  a 
mile  farther  northeast  and  reaching  about  a  mile  in  length  from  south  to  north,  at  the  east  side 
of  section  6.  Pleasant  Prairie,  and  of  section  31,  Center  Creek.  These  lakes  are  bordered  by 
rolling  areas  of  till,  thirty  to  forty  feet  above  them,  to  which  elevation  their  shores  ascend  mostly 
by  quite  steep  slopes.  The  east  bank  of  East  Chain  lake,  two  miles  in  length,  has  been  recently 
undermined  along  the  greater  part  of  the  first  mile  from  its  north  end.  In  width  the  lakes  of 
this  chain  vary  from  one-fourth  to  two-thirds  of  a  mile.  The  spaces  between  them  are  some- 
times marsh  and  as  wide  as  the  narrower  parts  of  the  lakes,  but  in  some  other  portions  is  a  con- 
tracted channel,  such  as  might  have  been  cut  by  the  stream  which  outflows  from  them.  Thus 
the  series  does  not  occupy  depressions  in  any  well-marked  continuous  valley.  Another  lake  lies 
close  beside  this  series  in  section  12,  of  Silver  Lake  township,  but  divided  from  it  by  a  portion'of 
the  till  thirty  to  forty  feet  high,  through  which  it  has  no  outlet.  The  fall  of  South  creek  through 
this  chain  of  lakes  in  the  distance  of  about  nine  miles  from  the  Iowa  line  to  the  mouth  of  Rose 
lake,  whence  it  turns  northeastward,  is  about  flfteen  feet,  half  of  this  being  at  the  East  Chain  dam. 

The  Central  chain  includes  about  twenty  lakes,  and  extends  twenty-two  miles  in  almost 
perfectly  straight  due  north  course  from  Iowa  lake,  crossed  by  the  state  line,  to  Perch  lake  at  the 
head  of  Perch  creek,  three  miles  south  of  the  line  of  Watonwan  county.  This  series  of  lakes  lies 
three  to  six  miles  west  of  the  East  chain,  being  in  the  west  part  of  Silver  lake,  Fairmont,  Rut- 
land and  Westford,  which  form  range  SO  in  this  county.  Their  outlets  are  South,  Center,  Elm 
and  Perch  creeks.  In  their  order  from  south  to  north,  the  lakes  of  this  Central  chain  are  Iowa 
lake,  two  and  a  half  miles  long  from  northwest  to  southeast,  and  from  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to  one 
mile  wide;  Silver  lake,  close  north  of  the  last,  one  mile  long  and  a  half  mile  wide,  lying  at  the 
east  side  of  section  30  of  the  township  to  which  it  gives  its  name;  Summit  lake,  beginning  about 
an  eighth  of  a  mile  north  of  the  last,  and  extending  a  mileat  the  east  side  of  section  19;  Wilnmnt 
lake,  a  mile  long  and  two-thirds  of  a  mile  wide,  lying  mostly  in  section  7;  Bard  well  lake,  begin- 
ning about  three-fourths  of  a  mile  north  of  the  last  and  reaching  thence  a  mile  to  the  north  with 
a  width  of  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  mostly  in  section  31,  Fairmont;  Mud  lake,  of  small  size; 
Amber  lake,  shorter  but  wider  than  Bardwell  lake,  in  the  east  part  of  section  30;  Hall's  lake, 
mostly  in  sections  19  and  20,  one  and  a  quarter  miles  long  from  south  to  north  and  from  a  half 
to  three-fourths  of  a  mile  wide;  Budd's  lake,  extending  about  a  half  mile  in  both  length  and 
31 


482  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Chains  of  lakes. 

width,  crossed  by  the  line  between  sections  17  and  18;  lake  Sisseton,  nearly  a  mile  long,  at  the 
west  side  of  the  town  of  Fairmont;  Lake  George,  three-quarters  of  a  mile  long,  at  the  east  side 
of  section  6;  Buffalo  lake,  at  the  east  side  of  sections  31  and  30,  liutland;  the  Twin  lakes,  about 
a  mile  farther  north;  lake  Charlotte,  in  section  17,  liutland;  High  lake,  at  the  southeast  corner 
of  section  7;  Martin  lake,  a  mile  long  from  south  to  north  and  a  third  of  a  mile  wide,  lying  on 
the  line  between  sections  5  and  6,  Rutland;  a  lake,  nearly  a  mile  long,  at  the  east  side  of  sections 
31  and  30,  Westford;  and  Perch  lake,  in  sections  19  and  18  of  this  township. 

The  shores  and  the  country  on  both  sides  of  the  Central  chain  of  lakes,  as  of  the  East  chain, 
consist  of  till,  which  soon  rises  to  a  moderately  undulating  expanse  that  has  a  bight  thirty  to 
forty  or  fifty  feet  above  the  lakes  Though  forming  a  very  distinct,  straight  series,  they  do  not 
occupy  a  well-marked  continuous  valley;  but  its  width  varies  from  one  mile  or  more  to  less  than 
an  eighth  of  a  mile,  and  it  is  in  three  places  interrupted  by  water-divides  at  whose  lowest  points 
the  slopes  of  till  reach  ten  to  fifteen  feet  above  the  adjoining  lakes.  Silver  and  Iowa  lakes  are 
the  headwaters  of  South  creek,  and  have  their  outlet  by  a  stream  that  runs  east  nearly  along  the 
state  line  to  the  south  end  of  the  East  chain.  The  middle  part  of  the  Central  chain,  reaching 
twelve  miles  from  Summit  lake  to  the  Twin  Jakes  is  tributary  to  Center  creek;  and  its  portion 
farther  north,  excepting  Perch  lake,  is  within  the  belt  drained  by  Elm  creek. 

Iowa  and  Silver  lakes  have  the  same  level,  which  is  nearly  that  of  Summit  lake.  Mr.  William 
H.  Budd,  of  Fairmont,  states  that  the  descent  from  Summit  lake  to  Wilmont  lake  is  three  feet; 
thence  to  Bardwell  lake,  probably  ten  feet;  thence  to  Mud  and  Amber  lakes,  still  water;  thence 
to  Hall's  lake,  about  two  feet;  to  Budd's  lake,  again  about  two  feet;  to  lake  Sisseton.  oue  foot; 
and  to  lake  George,  one  and  a  half  feet.  Buffalo  lake  and  the  Twin  lakes,  lying  north  of  Center 
creek,  and  lake  Charlotte,  tributary  to  Elm  creek,  are  reported  by  Mr.  Budd  to  be  at  about  the 
same  level  with  lake  George,  being  some  six  feet  higher  than  Center  creek  at  a  half  mile  farther 
east,  and  about  twenty  feet  below  Summit,  Silver,  and  Iowa  lakes  at  the  southern  end  of  this 
chain.  From  lake  Charlotte  to  Martin  lake,  the  fall  is  about  two  feet,  and  the  remaining  lakes 
of  the  series,  north  of  Elm  creek,  have  approximately  the  same  hight. 

East  Chain  lake,  though  raised  by  its  dam,  has  a  depth  of  only  fifteen  feet,  and  probably 
none  of  the  lakes  of  that  chain  are  much  deeper.  The  maximum  depths  of  some  of  the  lakes  in 
the  Central  chain  are  reported  as  follows :  Iowa  lake,  fifteen  feet ;  Silver  lake,  about  fifty  feet, 
being  the  deepest  of  this  series,  as  none  of  its  other  lakes,  and  perhaps  no  other  iu  this  county, 
exceeds  half  this  depth ;  Hall's  lake,  twenty  or  twenty-five  feet;  Budd's  lake,  sixteen  feet ;  and 
lake  Sisseton,  eight  feet. 

The  West  chain  of  lakes  is  less  distinctly  connected  than  the  East  and  Central  series,  from 
which  it  also  differs  in  having  the  longer  axes  of  some  of  its  lakes  transverse  to  the  course  of  the 
chain,  and  in  having  shorter  series  of  lakes  joined  with  it  as  branches.  Its  south  end  is  Tuttle's 
lake,  which  is  crossed  by  the  state  line,  about  four  miles  west  of  Iowa  lake,  the  south  end  of  the 
Central  chain.  Thence  the  West  chain  reaches  northwesterly  twenty  miles,  then  northerly  nine 
miles,  and  then  northwest  and  west  eight  miles,  to  Mountain  lake  in  Cottonwood  county,  its  whole 
extent  being  thirty-seven  miles.  From  the  middle  of  the  south  line  of  Martin  county,  it  extends 
through  the  townships  of  Tenhassen,  Lake  Belt,  Manyaska,  Fox  Lake,  Elm  Creek  and  Cedar,  in 
this  county,  crossing  its  north  line  five  miles  from  its  northwest  corner;  through  Odin,  the  most 
southwest  township  of  Watonwan  county;  and  into  Mountain  Lake  township  in  Cotton  wood  county. 
It  is  tributary,  in  its  successive  portions  from  south  to  north,  to  the  East  fork  of  the  Des  Moines 
river,  to  Center  and  Elm  creeks,  and  to  the  South  fork  of  \Vatomvan  river.  This  H'est  chain 
comprises  about  twenty-five  lakes,  in  the  following  order  from  south  to  north:  Tuttle's  lake,  on 
the  state  line,  about  four  miles  long  from  northeast  to  southwest  and  averaging  a  mile  in  width, 
reaching  in  Martin  county  from  the  south  side  of  section  31  to  the  north  side  of  section  28,  Ten- 
hassen; Alton  lake,  one  and  a  half  miles  long  and  one-fourth  to  two-thirds  of  a  mile  wide,  in  sec- 
tions 20, 19  and  18,  of  this  township;  Button  or  Swan  lake,  Clear,  Fish  and  Buffalo  lakes,  each  nearly 
a  mile  long,  and  together  stretching  west-northwest  four  miles,  from  near  the  northeast  corner  of 
section  25  to  the  northwest  corner  of  section  21,  Lake  Belt,  which  takes  its  name  from  these  four 
lakes;  Holmes  lake,  at  the  north  side  of  sections  '2  and  3,  and  Goose  lake,  lying  mostly  in  section 
•1  of  the  same  township,  each  about  one  and  a  half  miles  long,  trending  from  east  to  west  and 
southwest;  Prairie  lake,  in  sections  15,  22  and  21,  and  Mauyaska  lake,  in  sections  20  and  19, 


WATONWAN  AND  MARTIN  COUNTIES.  483 

Chains  of  lakes,  j 

Manyaska,  similar  to  the  last  in  their  extent  and  trend;  Hunger  lake,  in  sections  17  and  8,  about 
a  mile  long  from  south  to  north;  Temperance  lake,  close  north  of  the  last,  of  similar  length,  but 
trending  from  southwest  to  northeast;  Fox  lake,  three  and  a  half  miles  long  from  east  to  west,  and 
from  a  fourth  to  a  half  of  a  mile  in  width,  lying  at  the  south  side  of  sections  31 , 32  and  33,  of  Fox  Lake 
township;  an  unnamed  lake,  a  mile  long  from  east  to  west  and  half  a  mile  w  ide,  mostly  in  section 
31.  north  of  the  west  end  of  Fox  lake;  the  Big  Twin  lakes,  together  extending  two  and  a  half  miles 
from  southeast  to  northwest,  in  sections  13,  12.11  and  2,  Elm  Creek;  Cedar  lake,  about  three  miles 
long  from  south  to  north,  with  an  average  width  of  a  half  mile,  lying  mainly  in  sections  36,  25  and 

24,  Cedar;  three  other  lakes,  each  abouta  mile  long,  in  sections  13, 12  and  1,  Cedar;  three  unnamed 
lakes,  varying  from  a  half  to  three-fourths  of  a  mile  in  length,  and  all  trending  from  southeast  to 
northwest,  situated  in  Odin,  Watonwan  county,  the  first  being  mainly  in  the  north  half  of  section 
26,  the  second  in  the  west  part  of  section  15,  and  the  third  extending  through  the  northwest  corner 
of  section  10;  a  lake,  one  mile  long  from  east  to  west  and  a  half  mile  wide,  in  sections  5  and  6;  a 
small  lake  at  the  northwest  corner  of  section  6,  Odin;  and  Mountain  lake,  two  miles  long  from 
northeast  to  southwest  and  nearly  a  mile  wide,  situated  two  miles  southeast  from  Mountain  Lake 
depot  and  village. 

The  series  of  four  lakes  mentioned  in  Lake  Belt  township,  lies  somewhat  west  of  the  direct 
course  of  this  chain  of  lakes,  and  may  be  regarded  as  a  branch  of  it;  and  two  miles  east  of  this 
lake-belt,  another  series  of  lakes,  very  plainly  a  branch  of  the  West  chain,  diverges  from  it,  and 
reaches  almost  due  north  twelve  miles  from  Tuttle's  and  Alton  lakes.  This  series,  connected  at 
its  south  end  with  the  West  chain,  includes  in  order  from  south  to  north.  Clayton  lake,  a  mile  or 
more  in  extent,  lying  mostly  in  sections  21  and  16.  Tenhassen;  Babcock  lake,  about  a  mile  long 
from  southwest  to  northeast  and  more  than  half  as  wide,  in  sections  17,  8  and  9,  and  Eice  lake, 
three-quarters  of  a  mile  long,  at  the  west  side  of  section  4  of  the  same  township;  Pierce  lake,  about 
a  mile  in  diameter,  in  sections  27  and  28,  and  a  long  and  narrow  lake,  reaching  from  section  10  to 
section  7,  in  Rolling  Green;  Swan  lake,  a  half  mile  long,  in  section  31,  Fraser:  and  Eagle  lake, 
close  northeast  of  the  last,  covering  nearly  all  of  section  29  and  portions  of  the  adjoining  sections, 
two  miles  in  length,  with  trend  from  northwest  to  southeast.  To  these,  as  a  continuation  of  this 
branch,  ought  perhaps  to  be  added  four  other  lakes,  which  are  situated  four  to  nine  miles  farther 
north,  varying  from  a  half  mile  to  one  mile  in  length,  and  principally  included  in  sections  36  and 

25,  Galena,  and  sections  18  and  7,  Waverly. 

Besides  the  lakes  thus  enumerated  as  constituting  the  three  chains  of  lakes  and  this  branch 
series,  which  lies  midway  between  the  Central  and  West  chains  and  is  connected  with  the  latter, 
Martin  county  has  only  three  other  lakes  of  noteworthy  size,  namely,  Ash  and  Calkins  lakes,  each 
about  one  and  a  quarter  miles  long,  in  the  south  part  of  East  Chain  township;  and  another  of 
similar  extent,  in  sections  16,  9  and  8,  Elm  Creek. 

The  West  chain  of  lakes,  like  the  East  and  Central  chains,  extends  through  a  region  of  mod- 
erately undulating  till,  the  direct  deposit  of  the  ice-sheet,  with  no  noteworthy  areas,  nor  unusually 
thick  included  layers,  of  water-deposited  gravel  and  sand.  The  lakes  of  the  south  half  of  this 
western  series,  and  of  its  branch  from  Tuttle's  to  Eagle  lake,  lie  only  ten  to  twenty  feet  below  the 
average  hight  of  the  adjoining  land,  which  rises  in  long,  gentle  slopes  from  their  shores.  North- 
ward, in  Cedar,  Odin  and  Mountain  Lake  townships,  the  contour  is  nearly  like  that  along  the 
East  and  Central  chains,  the  lakes  being  bordered  by  bluffs  of  till,  of  moderate  or  often  steep 
ascent,  thirty  to  forty  feet  high,  whose  crest  is  at  the  general  level  of  the  slightly  undulating  drift- 
sheet.  In  Mountain  lake  an  island,  which  has  given  this  name,  rises  with  steep  shores  and  table- 
like top,  about  forty  feet  above  the  lake,  having  similar  outlines  with  the  surrounding  bluffs  and 
upland.  Much  of  this  lake  is  now  filled  with  grass  and  reeds. 

It  seems  difficult  to  explain  the  origin  of  these  remarkable  lake-basins 
in  the  drift,  for,  so  far  as  they  extend,  they  have  the  aspect  of  eroded 
valleys,  such  as  have  been  commonly  formed  by  the  rivers  of  this  region, 
but  they  sometimes  are  separated  by  divides  of  till  as  high  as  the  country 
around.  Thus  they  no  longer  form  continuous  channels,  which  must  have 


484  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

Chains  of  lakes. 

been  their  original  condition,  if  they  are  parts,  as  thus  indicated,  of  ancient 
water-courses.  Nowhere  else  in  my  exploration  of  the  glacial  drift,  have 
similar  chains  of  lakes  been  found,  bordered  and  occasionally  divided  by 
areas  of  till,  without  notable  deposits  of  modified  drift,  and  not  occupying 
distinct  valleys  of  former  streams.  Yet  these  plainly  connected  series  of 
lakes,  converging,  and  one  of  them  receiving  a  tributary  branch,  in  their 
course  toward  the  south,  are  related  to  each  other  like  confluent  rivers. 
Their  origin  cannot  be  referred  to  the  ordinary  causes  and  conditions, 
already  reviewed,  which  produced  the  irregularly  scattered  lakes  of  drift- 
covered  areas:  but,  excepting  this  arrangement  of  its  lakes.  Martin  county 
is  not  distinguishable  from  the  surrounding  region  of  drift. 

The  explanation  of  these  series  of  lakes,  which  seems  most  probable, 
is  that  they  mark  interglacial  avenues  of  drainage,  occupying  portions  of 
valleys  that  were  excavated  in  the  till  after  ice  had  long  covered  this  region 
and  had  deposited  most  of  the  drift-sheet,  but  before  the  last  glacial  epoch, 
which  again  enveloped  this  area  beneath  a  lobe  of  the  continental  glacier. 
partially  filling  these  valleys,  and  leaving  along  their  courses  the  present 
chains"  of  lakes.  Fossiliferous  beds  are  occasionally  found  in  this  and  ad- 
oining  states,  and,  significantly,  at  a  few  places  within  the  basin  of  lake 
Agassiz,  intercalated  between  thick  deposits  of  till.  Some  of  these  inter- 
glacial  beds,  doubtless  including  those  in  the  Red  river  valley,  since  cov- 
ered by  lake  Agassiz,  were  formed  after  an  ice-sheet  had  extended  to  the 
extreme  southern  limit  of  the  glacial  drift.  They  prove  that  the  long,  very 
severely  cold  period  in  which  ice-tields  reached  south  to  northeastern 
Kansas,  St.  Louis,  and  southern  Illinois,  was  succeeded  by  a  milder  climate. 
under  which  the  ice  was  melted  from  Minnesota  and  even  as  far  northward 
as  to  Hudson  bay,  again  permitting  plants  and  animals  to  occupy  the  land. 
The  terminal  moraines  of  the  Northwest,  formed  by  a  later  ice-sheel,  show 
that  another  great  epoch  of  cold  once  more  buried  the  north  half  of  the 
continent  under  ice.  which,  however,  did  not  extend  so  far  south  as  before. 
This  ice  was  divided  at  its  border  into  vast  lobes,  one  of  which,  about  thru*; 
hundred  miles  long  and  one  hundred  miles  wide,  and  probably  from  a  tenth 
to  a  half  of  a  mile  thick,  was  accumulated  upon  the  area  that  stretches 
from  the  head  of  the  Minnesota  river  southward  to  central  Iowa,  including 
Watonwan  and  Martin  counties,  its  width  at  this  latitude  being  from 


\VATOS\VAX   AND    MARTIN'  COUNTIES.  485 

Chains  o]  lake-..] 

Albert  Lea  on  the  east  to  Worthington  on  the  west.  Before  the  glacial 
epoch  in  which  the  ice  had  its  greatest  extent,  and  probably  also  between 
that  time  and  the  date  of  the  terminal  moraines  that  cross  Wisconsin.  Minne- 
sota and  Dakota,  other  glacial  epochs  spread  ice-sheets  upon  this  region  ; 
but  their  moraines  have  been  leveled  and  covered  with  additional  deposits 
of  till,  and  the  interglacial  soil  and  fossiliferous  sediments  of  sloughs  and 
lakes  have  been  m6stly  ploughed  up  and  mixed  in  the  drift,  while  their 
remnants  have  been  similarly  buried,  by  the  more  extended  ice-sheets  of 
these  subsequent  epochs.  Such  remnants  of  interglacial  beds,  containing 
leaves  and  shells,  have  been  found  in  Center  Creek  and  Silver  Lake  town- 
ships in  Martin  comity,  as  stated  in  the  notes  of  wells  on  page  487.  The 
chains  of  lakes  in  this  county  appear  to  show  that  interglacial  rivers,  be- 
tween the  time  of  greatest  extent  of  the  ice  and  the  date  of  the  last  glacial 
epoch,  were  here  carried  southward  in  four  continent  valleys  to  the  East  fork 
of  the  Des  Moin.es  river.  The  present  drainage  of  Martin  county  is  mostly 
transverse  to  this  course  and  tributary  to  the  Blue  Earth  river;  but  the 
watershed  and  slopes  that  now  turn  it  away  from  the  Des  Moines  are  so 
slight  that  if  the  streams  of  this  area  had  channels  from  north  to  south, 
such  as  were  probably  eroded  along  the  lines  of  these  chains  of  lakes  while 
the  margin  of  the  ice-sheet  that  had  reached  to  the  farthest  limit  of  the 
glacial  drift  was  receding  across  these  counties,  they  would  continue  to  flow 
southward  to  the  Des  Moines.  Probably  all  of  this  county,  excepting  per- 
haps its  most  northeast  township,  was  during  a  long  interglacial  epoch 
included  within  the  Des  Moines  basin,  which  still  embraces  a  part  of  it  at 
the  southwest.  The  last  ice-sheet  doubtless  added  considerably  to  the  drift, 
but  did  not  entirely  remold  its  topographic  features;  so  that  here  even  the 
interglacial  water-courses  cut  in  the  drift  remain  in  some  portions  with 
little  change,  still  having  steep  bluffs  and  holding  these  series  of  lakes. 
This  interpretation  of  their  meaning  is  strongly  confirmed  by  features  of 
the  valley  of  the  Minnesota  river,  which  seem  to  be  explicable  only  by 
referring  them  to  similar  causes.* 

Boulders  and  gravel,  though  always  present,  are  nowhere  abundant  in  the  till  of  Watonwan 
and  Martin  counties;  and  boulders  larger  than  five  feet  in  diameter  are  very  rare.  Tlie  frequency 
of  limestone  fragments  is  nearly  the  same  as  is  usual  through  all  western  Minnesota.  This  rock 
often  makes  one-third  or  one-half  of  the  gravel  in  the  till  and  on  the  beaches  of  lakes;  but  it 
supplies  a  much  less  proportion,  perhaps  not  exceeding  one  twentieth,  of  the  boulders  larger  than 

•Compare  article  on  the  Minnesota  valley  in  Ihe  ice  ag«,  Prnc.  of  Amer.  Awot-,.   fur  <tdv.  at'  Science.  1883  and  Xm«r 
.low.  Sci.  (3),  vol.  xxvii.  1*81. 


486  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Boulders  and  gravel.     Wells. 

a  foot  in  diameter.  The  other  large  boulders  are  granite,  syenite,  and  crystalline  schists.  The 
red  Potsdam  quartzyte  is  scantily  represented  in  the  drift  along  the  west  border  of  these  counties. 
Itis  almost  entirely  wanting  farther  east;  but  west  of  the  Des  Moines  river,  in  Jackson  county, 
and  through  Dickinson  county  and  southward  in  Iowa,  this  quartzyte  is  a  principal  ingredient  of 
the  drift,  making  from  one  tenth  to  one  half  of  its  rock-fragtnents.  At  Clear  lake  in  Lake  Belt 
township,  thirty-live  miles  south-southeast  from  the  east  end  of  the  ridge  of  Potsdam  quartzyte 
iu  Adrian,  scarcely  one  pebble  in  a  thousand  is  from  this  source:  while  a  quarter  of  the  stones 
over  three  inches  in  diameter,  and  two-thirds  of  the  smaller  gravel,  are  limestone. 

Wells  in   Watonwan  county. 

Madelia.  II.  B.  Wadsworth;  Madelia  village  well,  50  feet  deep;  soil,  2  feet;  yellow  till, 
spaded,  28  feet;  much  harder  blue  till.  20  feet;  water  rose  ten  feet  in  two  hours  from  gravel  at 
the  bottom.  Most  of  the  wells  at  Madelia  are  from  15  to  30  feet  deep,  having  a  good  supply  of 
water  that  seeps  from  the  yellow  till.  Lignite,  in  fragments  up  to  three  or  four  inches  long,  and 
small  pieces  of  wood,  as  of  twigs  or  limbs,  are  occasionally  found  embedded  in  the  till  of  these 
wells.  Their  water  is  invariably  good,  except  in  occasional  instances  where  it  has  been  spoiled 
by  the  decay  of  wooden  curbing. 

Fielden.  II.  W.  Wadsworth;  sec.  21:  well,  70  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  25,  with  water 
seeping  sparingly  in  its  last  three  or  four  feet;  much  harder  blue  till,  picked,  43;  water  rose  forty 
feet  in  three  hours  from  whitish  gravel  at  the  bottom.  Several  pieces  of  lignite  were  found  in  the 
upper  till.  Wells  in  this  township  often  find  an  ample  supply  of  water  at  a  depth  of  25  feet  or 
less.  The  only  flowing  well  learned  of  in  this  county  is  William  Sargent's,  on  section  20,  about 
25  feet  deep. 

Antrim.  C.  O.  Martin;  sec.  8:  well,  29  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  23  ;  blue  till,  4;  water  rose 
twelve  feet  in  one  day  from  gravel  and  sand  at  the  bottom. 

Robert  Dewar;  s;c.  10:  well,  70  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  25  ;  sand  and  gravel,  with 
clay,  interstratifled,  4  feet;  blue  till,  harder  than  the  upper  till,  yet  much  of  it  spaded,  39  feet,  the 
lowest  two  or  three  feet  very  hard ;  at  the  bottom,  water  rose  from  gravel  and  sand  twenty-five 
feet  in  a  half  day. 

South  Branch.  Benjamin  A.  Town;  sec.  14  :  well,  23  feet;  soil,  2 ;  sandy  yellow  till,  with 
water  in  its  lower  part,  5  feet ;  moist  blue  till,  mostly  spaded,  16  feet;  water  rose  six  feet  in  one 
day  from  a  gravelly  streak  in  the  blue  till. 

Long  Lake.  William  Evans;  sec.  19:  well,  21  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  picked,  19;  water 
comes  slowly  from  sandy  streaks  at  the  bottom. 

Saint  James.  The  railroad  well  here  was  dug  22  feet,  and  then  bored  about  10  feet  more, 
through  blue  till,  to  white  sand,  from  which  1500  barrels  of  water  have  been  drawn  in  ten  hours. 

G.  H.  Eeynolds;  Saint  James :  well,  28  feet ;  all  yellow  and  blue  till;  water  came  up  unex- 
pectedly at  night,  when  the  workmen  had  left  the  well  dry  the  previous  afternoon,  tilling  the  well 
to  two  feet  below  its  top.  The  yellow  till  at  this  town  is  10  to  20  feet  deep,  with  blue  till  usu- 
ally a  little  softer,  below. 

John  Schutz;  sec.  10:  well,  28;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  10;  blue  till,  16;  water  rose  ten  feet  in  one 
hour. 

James  Curry;  sec.  18:  well,  25;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  20;  sand  and  gravel,  with  water, 
1  foot;  blue  till,  softer  than  the  yellow,  2  feet.  It  was  estimated  that  a  half  bushel  of  fragments 
of  lignite,  up  to  six  inches  iu  length,  was  found  in  the  till  here;  but  none  was  contained  in  the 
sand  and  gravel. 

Adrian.  Joel  Parker;  sec.  26:  well,  22;  soil,  3;  yellow  till,  spaded,  20;  with  softer  and  moister 
blue  till  below;  water  seeps  in  the  lower  part  of  the  yellow  till. 

Frederick  Klein;  S.  W.  J  of  sec.  30:  well,  27;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  10;  softer  and  moister  blue 
till,  13;  gravel  and  sand,  2  feet,  aud  extending  deeper;  water  rose  two  or  three  feet  above  the  top 
of  the  gravel;  lignite  was  found  in  fragments  up  to  three  inches  long.  The  water  in  all  the  wells 
of  this  region  is  of  excellent  quality. 

Wells  in  Martin  county. 

Nashville.  Henry  C.  Henton;  sec.  9:  well,  24  feet  deep:  soil,  2  feet:  yellow  till,  19  feet;  gravel. 
3  feet,  and  reaching  below;  water  rose  fourteen  feet  in  one  hour. 


WATONWAN  AND  MARTIN  COUNTIES.  457 

Wells.] 

J.  A.  Armstrong;  S.  E.  }  of  sec.  9:  well,  81  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  22;  gravel  and  sand,  6 
inches,  yielding  enough  water  for  ordinary  house  use;  blue  till,  very  compact,  but  moist  and  soft 
to  bore,  56J  feet;  the  auger  then  dropped,  and  within  fifteen  minutes  the  water  rose  through 
thirty -one  feet  of  two-inch  boring  so  fast  as  to  fill  in  this  time  thirty  feet  of  the  larger  boring 
above,  three  feet  ih  diameter,  rising  thus  sixty-one  feet.  Within  a  distance  of  six  rods  around 
this  place,  six  wells  have  found  quicksand  at  a  depth  varying  from  12  to  16  feet,  thence  extend- 
ing, at  least  in  some  of  these  wells,  to  a  depth  of  five  or  six  feet,  but  not  passed  through  by  any  of 
them,  because  of  its  immense  supply  of  water.  These  shallow  wells,  however,  were  unservice- 
able from  becoming  filled  with  quicksand. 

J.  H.  Smith,  in  sec.  3  of  this  township,  has  a  well  about  75  feet  deep,  which  has  several 
times  become  filled  nearly  to  the  top  with  quicksand. 

Most  of  the  wells  in  northeastern  Martin  county  are  only  10  to  30  feet  deep,  finding  plenty 
of  water  in  the  lower  part  of  the  yellow  till,  or  in  gravel  and  sand  under  this  and  overlying  the 
bine  till.  Lignite  is  occasionally  found,  the  largest  fragments  being  three  or  four  inches  long. 

Center  Creek.  Ilosea  True's  well,  in  the  north  part  of  this  township,  is  reported  to  have 
been  till,  60  feet,  yellowish  near  the  surface  and  dark  bluish  below  ;  then  sand  8  feet,  containing 
"elm  leaves  and  clam  shells  in  abundance,  the  latter  three  to  four  inches  long."  This  is  on  the 
ordinary  undulating  surface  of  the  drift-sheet,  south  of  the  valley  of  Elm  creek.  Mr.  Alexander 
Douglas,  who  bored  this  well  and  reported  it  thus,  states  that  in  his  work  boring  nearly  forty 
other  wells  in  this  county,  he  nowhere  else  found  leaves,  but  in  several  instances  found  similar 
shells  in  coarse  dark  sand,  at  depths  varying  from  20  to  60  feet  below  the  surface,  under  yellow 
and  then  blue  till. 

Westford.  E.  Huber,  sec.  34:  well,  45  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  10;  blue  till,  softer,  moist 
and  tenaceous,  most  gravelly  in  its  lower  part,  33  feet;  water,  seeping  from  the  lower  part  of  the 
blue  till,  filled  this  well  to  a  depth  of  ten  feet  in  three  days. 

Rutland.  JR.  J.  McCadden;  sec.  5:  well,  32  feet;  soil  2;  sand  and  fine  gravel,  somewhat 
clayey,  6;  yellow  till,  5 ;  blue  till,  about  the  same  as  the  yellow  till  in  respect  to  hardness,  16: 
sand  and  gravel.  2  feet;  blue  till,  1  foot  and  extending  below;  water  rose  ten  feet  in  one  day. 

Fairm'mt  (also  see  page  477).  Occidental  hotel:  well,  85  feet;  yellow  till,  24;  softer  blue 
till,  60;  water  rose  about  forty  feet  from  gravel  and  sand  at  the  bottom. 

E.  M.  Ward;  Fairmont:  well,  40;  soil.  2 ;  quite  hard  yellow  till,  22;  blue  till,  softer,  but 
very  tenaceous,  16  feet  and  lower ;  water  seeps  in  a  moderate  supply  from  the  lower  part  of  the 
yellow  till. 

Silver  Lake.  A.  W.  Young;  sec.  29  :  well,  30  feet ;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  picked,  8  feet;  blue 
till,  20  feet,  harder  to  excavate  because  more  tenaceous,  but  not  harder  to  drive  a  pick  into  ; 
gravel,  one  inch  ;  underlain  by  fetid  clay,  containing  decaying  vegetation ;  water  rose  six  feet  in 
a  quarter  of  a  day  from  the  gravel.  This  blue  till  contained  a  few  pieces  of  lignite,  the  largest  be- 
ing six  inches  in  diameter.  Pieces  of  wood  are  also  found  occasionally  in  the  till  by  wells  in  this 
vicinity,  and  in  one  instance  a  log  a  foot  in  diameter  was  encountered  thirty  feet  below  the 
surface.  In  digging  O.  H.  Roice's  cellar  on  sec.  27  of  this  township,  gasteropod  shells  were 
found  at  a  depth  of  six  feet  below  the  surface,  in  a  layer  of  sand  and  gravel  two  inches  thick, 
overlain  and  underlain  by  yellow  till.  These  organic  remains,  like  the  chains  of  lakes,  are  rec- 
ords of  an  interglacial  epoch. 

East  Chain.  W.  II.  Rich  ;  at  the  village,  sec.  7 :  well,  44  ;  soil,  2;  yellcw  till,  6 ;  reddish 
gravel,  4  feet ;  light-colored  till,  20  feet;  dark,  bluish  "hardpan,"  six  inches;  gravel,  3  feet;  blue 
till,  8  or  9  feet,  and  extending  below;  a  running  stream  of  water  was  found  in  the  gravel  at  32  to 
35  feet,  not  rising;  it  was  ruirning  toward  springs  that  occur  a  little  above  the  level  of  East  Chain 
lake,  which  is  a  short  distance  west  of  the  well. 

Tenliassen.  William  Merry;  sec.  29:  well,  21  feet;  soil,  2:  yellow  till,  19;  water  rises  twelve 
feet  from  sand  at  the  bottom.  No  wells  in  this  region  exceed  25  feet  in  depth,  and  the  water  is 
uniformly  good. 

Lake  Belt.  J.  II.  Headly;  S.  W.  i  of  sec.  18:  well,  18  feet  deep;  soil,  2;  light  gray  till,  16; 
water  rose  four  feet  from  springs  in  the  lower  part  of  the  till. 

Manyaska.  Henry  Hulsemann;  N.  E.  },  see.  12:  well,  26;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  24; 
water  seeps ;  about  a  dozen  small  pieces  of  lignite  were  found. 


488  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Well,. 

Frederick  Ilulsemann;  N.  W.  '..see.  12:  well  dug  18  feet,  and  bored  25  feet;  soil,  2;  yel- 
low till,  spaded,  10;  harder  blue  till,  31  feet;  at  43  feet  from  the  surface  the  auger  suddenly  fell 
six  inches,  and  water  rose  to  be  eleven  feet  deep  in  the  dug  poition  of  the  well  in  five  minutes, 
and  in  two  hours  or  less  reached  its  permanent  level,  two  feet  below  the  top  of  the  well.  This 
water  at  first  was  dark,  as  if  siained,  and  its  taste  and  smell  were  offensive;  but  after  a  few 
months  it  became  good  water,  and  had  continued  so  three  years,  being  regarded  at  the  time  of  this 
information,  in  1880,  as  good  as  any  in  this  region.  Another  well,  fifteen  rods  northwest  from 
the  foregoing  and  on  land  ten  feet  higher,  was  yet  only  18  feet  deep,  being  soil,  2  feet;  yellow 
till,  14  feet,  with  streaks  of  sand;  and  dark  gray,  very  compact  "hardpan,:'  picked,  and  holding 
together  in  masses  of  a  hundred  pounds'  weight,  about  2  feet.  During  excavation  the  water 
broke  through  this  hardpan,and  rose  to  seven  feet  below  the  top  very  suddenly, bringing  up  large 
quantities  of  dark  gray  quicksand.  This  well  caved  in  after  two  weeks  Numerous  pieces  of 
lignite  were  found  in  both  these  wells. 

A  large  chalybeate  spring,  of  reputed  medicinal  virtue,  occurs  in  the  N.  E.  }  of  sec.  2,  at 
the  south  side  of  Lily  creek,  which  is  the  outlet  of  Fox  lake  at  high  water. 

Railroad  well  at  Sherburne,  in  the  8.  W.  \  of  sec.  7:  113  feet  deep;  dug  seven  feet  square 
to  a  depth  of  76  feet,  and  bored  six  inches  in  diameter  below ;  soil,  3  feet ;  yellow  till,  7  feet ; 
from  gravelly  streaks  in  this  till  eight  feet  below  the  surface,  water  came  in  large  amount,  fill- 
ing the  well  eight  feet  deep  in  twelve  hours  (probably  at  a  wet  season,  not  considered  sufficient 
for  the  requirements  of  the  railroad);  blue  till,  much  harder,  90  feet;  gravel,  2  feet,  with  consid- 
erable water,  which  rose  forty  feet,  or  more,  but  was  not  supposed  to  be  a  large  enough  supply, 
blue  till,  still  harder  than  before,  6  feet;  gravel,  also  yielding  water,  2  feet;  dark  bluish  "hard- 
pan,"  exceedingly  hard,  2  feet;  and  gravel,  1  foot,  reaching  lower.  The  water  that  had  come 
into  the  well  from  the  gravel  at  100  to  102  feet,  was  shut  off  by  the  tubing;  and  when  the  last 
stratum  of  gravel  was  struck,  the  water  that  came  at  the  depth  of  eight  feet  from  the  yellow  till 
was  drained  away  into  this  lowest  gravel,  from  which  gas  rose  with  a  loud  roaring  and  filled  the 
well.  This  appears  to  have  been  choke-damp,  or  carbonic  acid.  At  this  juncture,  some  imple- 
ment having  been  accidentally  dropped  into  the  well,  the  foreman  of  the  work  commanded  one  of 
his  men  to  go  down  for  it,  and,  being  angry  at  his  refusal,  himself  rashly  descended  and  was  im- 
mediately killed  by  this  gas,  after  it  had  been  ascertained  that  fire  was  extinguished  by  it.  The 
water  from  the  yellow  till  continued  to  sink  into  this  gravel  during  several  weeks,  at  the  close 
of  which  the  pipe  became  clogged  and  the  well  has  since  been  full  of  water. 

Jay.  In  the  S.  E.  }  of  sec.  12,  a  half  mile  west  of  Sherburne,  a  second  railroad  well,  90  feet 
deep,  was  soil  and  yellow  till,  10  feet;  and  blue  till,  with  occasional  gravelly-streaks,  yielding 
some  water  but  not  enough,  80  feet,  and  extending  below.  The  water-tank  at  this  place  draws 
from  a  lake. 

Besides  the  well  reported  ou  page  477,  another  on  Cargill,  Van  &  Co.'s  farm,  in  sec.  14, 
thirty  rods  south  from  that  well,  is  till,  to  gravel  and  sand  at  50  feet,  from  which  water  rose 
twenty-six  feet  in  fifteen  minutes.  The  water  of  this  is  a  larger  supply  and  better  in  quality  than 
that  of  the  deep  well,  which  is  much  harder,  having  more  of  the  carbonates  of  lime  and  magnesia 
in  solution,  and  consequently  objectionable  for  use  in  steam-boilers,  because  of  its  greater  amount 
of  mineral  residue,  forming  scale. 

Fox  Lake.  Henry  Miller;  S.  E.  }  of  sec.  26:  well,  dug  24  feet  and  bored  15  feet;  soil,  2  feet; 
yellow  till,  spaded,  12;  sand,  3  feet;  yellow  sand  and  clay,  with  gravelly  streaks,  mainly  very  fine 
and  dry,  very  hard,  3  feet;  iron-rusted  gravel,  interbedded  with  while  gravel,  4  feet,  containing 
many  fragments  of  lignite  up  to  six  or  eight  inches  in  length,  mostly  in  the  white  layers:  gravel, 
sand,  and  clay,  interstratified,  mostly  gray  or  yellowish,  mainly  hatd,  but  with  some  very  soft 
layers,  15  feet,  to  the  bottom  of  the  boring,  where  the  auger  became  immoveable,  and  was  left, 
in  either  a  log  of  wood  or  a  mass  or  bed  of  lignite.  This  well  is  used,  being  supplied  by  seeping 
water,  which,  like  nearly  all  the  wells  of  this  region,  is  of  excellent  quality. 

MATERIAL    RESOURCES. 

The  fitness  of  Watonwan  and  Martin  counties  for  farming  and  herding 
is  their  chief  source  of  wealth;  and  by  this  they  are  capable  of  supporting 


\\ATOX\VAN   AND    MAKTIX  COUNTIES. 

Material  reiourcev.j 

a  large  and  prosperous  population,  mainly  agricultural,  with  towns  and 
villages  as  required  for  manufacturing  and  centers  of  trade. 

Wattr-jijoinrt:.  The  only  water-power  used  in  \Vatomvau  county  is  that  of  the  Madelia 
mills,  owned  by  J.  T.  Fisher,  on  the  \Vatouwau  river  about  a  mile  west  of  the  town:  head,  eleven 
feet:  a  flouring  mill,  doing  custom  grinding;  three  run  of  sto.'ie.  Other  water-powers  may  be  util- 
ized on  the  main  stream  and  on  both  its  north  and  south  branches. 

In  Martin  county,  also,  only  one  water-power  is  now  employed,  this  beiiiij  at  the  flour  mill 
of  East  Chain,  owned  by  Ruble  &  Murphy,  of  Albert  Lea.  but  leased  to  S.  Vermilya;  the  fall  or 
head  is  eight  feet. 

A  dam  was  once  built  at  or  near  the  outlet  of  lake  George  iu  the  Central  chain  of  lakes, 
raising  lake  George  six  feet,  and  flowing  back  to  Hall's  lake,  in  sections  19  and  20,  Fairmont,  this 
being  raised  about  one  foot.  A  grist-mill,  said  to  have  a  head  of  six  or  eight  feet,  several  years 
ago  stood  a  little  below  the  foot  of  Wilmont  lake,  one  of  the  same  chain  of  lakes,  in  the  north- 
west part  of  Silver  Lake  township.  Goo:l  water-powers  are  also  available  on  Elm.  Center,  ami 
South  creeks. 

Buildini/  stone.  No  stone-working  has  been  done  in  these  counties, 
except  the  use  of  boulders,  chiefly  granite,  syenite,  and  gneiss,  with  occa- 
sional slabs  of  limestone,  and  in  one  instance  a  large  mass  of  probably 
Cretaceous  sandstone,  found,  as  already  stated,  in  section  6,  Rutland. 
These  erratics  of  the  drift,  though  dissimilar,  make  substantial,  rough 
foundations,  cellar  walls,  and  curbing  in  wells. 

Brick-making  is  not  carried  on  in  either  of  these  counties:  but  about 
ten  years  ago  red  bricks  of  good  quality  were  made  on  the  north  side  of 
Watonwan  river,  a  little  east  of  the  bridge  close  southwest  of  Madelia: 
and  again  a  year  or  two  after  this,  light-reddish  bricks  were  made  at  Saint 
James. 

No  lime-burning  was  learned  of  in  these  counties. 

Peaf  occurs  in  numerous  places,  and  near  Fairmont  has  been  prepared 
for  use  as  fuel  by  Mr.  A.  L.  Ward. 

ABORIGINAL  EARTHWORKS. 

Two  interesting  artificial  mounds,  of  the  usual  form  like  a  low,  round  dome,  are  situated 
about  forty  rods  east  and  southeast  of  the  mill  at  the  north  end  of  East  Chain  lake,  and  About 
forty  feet  above  the  lake.  These  have  been  opened  by  Mr.  S.  Verrailya.  who  reports  that  the 
northern  mound  here,  about  sixteen  feet  across  and  two  feet  high,  was  found  to  contain  much 
wood  in  poles  four  to  six  inches  in  diameter,  suggesting  that  they  might  originally  have  served  as 
a  roof,  covered  bv  earth.  Two  skeletons,  thought  to  have  been  male  and  female,  were  here 
entombed  in  a  sitting  posture,  about  three  feet  below  the  natural  surface  or  five  feet  below  the 
top  of  the  mound.  With  these  were  found  an  iron  spoon,  wasted  by  rust;  iron  handles  and  frag- 
ments of  leather,  as  of  a  valise;  two  pairs  of  scissors,  and  a  thimble,  made  of  a  brass-like  alloy; 
bracelets  of  similar  metal,  less  corroded:  and  many  beads  of  glass  and  other  material,  mostly,  like 
the  metallic  articles,  not  of  Indian  manufacture,  but  made  by  white  men. 

About  twenty  rods  south  of  this  mound,  a  second,  only  elevated  one  foot  above  the  ordinary 
surface.  with  its  top  apparently  sunken  in.  also  contained  poles  of  wood.  The  only  skeleton  found 
here  was  apparently  that  of  a  woman,  buried,  unlike  those  of  the  first  mound,  in  a  reclining  posi- 


490 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


,  Aboriginal  earthworks 


tion,  and  enclosed  in  a  rude  coffin,  which  was  a  dug-out  canoe,  cut  in  two  at  the  middle,  one  part 
being  placed  above  and  the  other  beneath  the  body.  Among  the  articles  found  here  were  beads; 
one  pair  of  scissors;  two  thimbles,  in  a  wooden  tray;  and  a  kettle  of  sheet-iron.  Mr.  Vermilya 
reports,  within  a  distance  of  a  half  mile  from  these,  several  other  artificial  mounds,  one  to  three 
feet  high. 

In  the  northeast  corner  of  section  6,  Rutland,  a  group  of  eight  mounds  (Fig.  31),  of  the 
common  round  form  and  varying,  from  one  and  a  half  to  three  feet  in  hight,  lies  between  Elm 
creek  and  Martin  lake,  on  land  about  thirty  feet  above  them.  Six  of  these  are  in  a  straight  line, 
which  bears  S.  60°  E.,  and  reaches  about  thirty  rods,  or  some  three-quarters  of  the  distance  from 
the  creek  to  the  lake.  Mr.  R.  J.  McCadden  and  others  opened  four  of  these  mounds  in  1879, 
finding  several  skeletons  in  each,  buried  about  one  foot  below  the  natural  surface,  in  a  sitting 
position,  facing  the  east,  of  stature  five  and  a  half  to  six  feet  high.  Implements  and  utensils 
found  were  twenty  or  thirty  unfinished  Hint  arrow-heads  in  one  place,  and  with  them  a  wedge- 
shaped  stone,  supposed  to  be  for  skinning,  and  a  pipe,  about  five  inches  long,  of  the  form  and 
proportions  shown  by  figures  32  and  33,  cut  out  of  some  dark  gray  stone;  a  few  flint  arrow-heads 
here  and  there  in  the  other  mounds;  and  in  the  largest  mound  of  the  group  (not  that  which  con- 
tained the  many  arrow-heads  and  the  pipe),  a  small,  unbroken  cup  (fig.  :  4),  three  inches  in  di- 
ameter and  two  and  one-third  inches  high,  with  an  aperture  of  one  and  a  half  inches,  having  a 
nearly  uniform  thickness  of  an  eighth  of  an  inch,  made  of  baked  clay,  gray  in  color,  slightly 
mixed  with  gravel  on  the  inner  side.  This  cup  is  perforated  just  below  its  rim  by  four  holes,  in 
pairs  close  together  on  its  opposite  sides.  No  articles  of  metal  were  found. 

These  two  localities  are  in  Martin  county;  no  mounds  were  observed,  nor  heard  of  by  in- 
quiry, in  Watonwan  county. 


etc.  31  \     «c.  52 


FIG.  81. 

ABORIGINAL  MOUNDS, 
SEC.  6,  RUTLAND. 


FIG.  32.  FiO.  33. 

PIPE,  VIEW  FBOM  ABOVE.  PIPE,  SIDE  VIEW. 

ARTICLES  FOUND  IN  MOUNDS,  SEC.  6,  RUTLAND. 


PLATE    19. 


''•    IV  A    T    O    /V    W  ft    /V  •; 


*r  .   B  f>  0  IV  N  n   COUNTY 


o 


J 


N    n    o    o 


v    y    a    n 


1'I.M'K  2O 


•/.MARTIN         v.          COUNTY'/. 


N      n     o     o 


S3-79O       N 


l:  /,  L  1 1  -  L'  U  U  1 1 


•  i  v,  ii 
n  v,  r,  r,  - 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  COTTON  WOOD  AND  JACKSON  COUNTIES. 


BY    WAREEN    UPHAM. 

Situation  and  area.  The  map  of  these  counties  forms  plate-pages  19 
and  20.  Cottonwood  is  one  of  the  second  tier  of  counties  north  of  the  Iowa 
line,  from  which  it  is  separated  by  Jackson  county.  From  Saint  Paul  and 
Minneapolis  southwest  to  Windom  and  Jackson  is  about  130  miles.  From 
La  Crosse  and  the  Mississippi  river  west  to  the  eastern  boundary  of  these 
counties  is  ISO  miles;  they  are  30  miles  long  from  east  to  west;  and  from 
their  west  line  onward  to  the  east  line  of  Dakota  is  50  miles. 

Cottonwood  county  has  a  length  of  five  townships,  and  a  width  from 
north  to  south  of  four;  except  that  on  the  northeast  two  of  the  townships 
that  would  be  included  in  this  county  if  it  were  a  complete  rectangle,  be- 
long to  Brown  county.  With  this  reduction,  Cottonwood  county  has  eigh- 
teen townships,  each  six  miles  square.  The  only  towns  and  villages  of  this 
county  are  in  the  southeast  part,  on  the  line  of  the  Saint  Paul  &  Sioux 
City  railroad.  These  are  Windom,  the  county  seat,  situated  in  Great  Bend 
township,  Bingham  Lake,  in  Lakeside,  and  Mountain  Lake.  Cottonwood 
county  has  an  area  of  650.39  square  miles,  or  416,250  acres,  of  which  8,655.- 
65  acres  are  covered  by  water. 

Jackson  county  is  a  rectangle,  five  townships  in  length  from  east  to 
west  and  four  in  width  from  north  to  south.  The  important  towns  are 
Jackson,  the  county  seat,  in  Des  Moines  township,  and  Heron  Lake,  in 
Weimer  township.  This  county  has  an  area  of  722.66  square  miles,  or 
462,501.20  acres,  of  which  16,434.75  acres  are  covered  by  water. 


THE  GEOUKiY  OF  MIXNE8OTA. 

[Natural  <!t 


H'Kb'ACK  FEATVKKS. 


\dfnrtil  <lnn>iu<iv.  The  northwest  part  of  Cottonwood  county,  includ- 
ing Germantown.  Highwater,  Ann.  Westbrook,  Storden,  northwestern  Ani- 
hoy,  and  most  of  Ko.se  Hill,  is  drained  to  the  Cottonwood  river,  which  Hows 
through  southern  Redwood  county,  only  a  few  miles  farther  north,  and 
enters  this  county  for  a  short  distance  in  the  northeast  corner  of  German- 
town.  Its  tributaries  from  Cottonwood  county,  in  their  order  from  west  to 
east,  are  Dutch  Charley's.  Highwater.  Dry  and  Mound  creeks.  The  largest 
of  these  is  Highwater  creek,  whose  sources  are  several  lakes  in  Hose  Hill 
township,  only  three  to  seven  miles  from  the  Des  Moines  river.  Its  course 
in  this  county  is  east-northeast,  about  eighteen  miles. 

The  Little  Cottonwood  river,  tributary  to  the  Minnesota  a  few  miles 
below  the.  Cottonwood  river,  rises  nearly  at  the  center  of  Cottonwood  coun- 
ty, and  its  first  ten  miles,  flowing  northeast,  are  in  Amboy  and  Delton 
townships.  Its  farther  extent  of  about  thirty  miles  eastward  through 
Brown  county,  is  approximately  parallel  with  the  Big  Cottonwood,  and 
mainly  three  to  six  miles  distant  to  the  south  from  that  river. 

A  tract  in  the  east  part  of  Cottonwood  county,  reaching  west  to  its 
center,  including  Selma.  Mountain  Lake,  Carson,  the  south  half  of  Delton, 
and  the  northeast  part  of  Dale,  is  drained  by  the  head-streams  of  the  Wat- 
onwan  river,  tributary  to  the  Bl»e  Earth  and,  by  that,  to  the  Minnesota. 
The  area  in  Cottonwood  county  included  within  the  basin  of  the  Minneso- 
ta river  is  approximately  450  square  miles. 

The  remainder  of  this  county,  including  its  southwestern  townships. 
an  area  of  about  200  square  miles,  is  drained  by  the  Des  Moines  river, 
which  Hows  in  a  zigzag  course,  crossing  South  Brook.  Springfield  and 
Great  Bend  diagonally,  having  a  general  southeast  direction  in  South  Brook 
and  Great  Bend,  but  making  an  offset  in  Springfield  by  running  eight  miles 
northeasterly.  Harvey  creek,  the  outlet  of.  lake  Augusta  in  northeastern 
Amo.  entering  the  Des  Moines  at  its  big  bend  in  the  southwest  corner  of 
Dale,  is  its  largest  tributary  from  the  north  in  this  county:  from  the  south 
it  receives  the  outlet  of  Spring  lakes,  which  lie  in  the  southwest  part  ot 
Great  Bend,  and  the  outlet  of  Heron  lake. 

Among  the  lake*  of  Cottonwood  county  the  following  merit  enumeration:  Mountain  lake,  two 
miles  long  and  from  a  half  mile  to  one  mile  wide,  two  miles  southeast  from  the  depot  and  town  at 


COTTON  \\OOI)  AND  JACKSOX  COCXTIES.  493 

Natural  drainage. 

\ 

this  name;  Bingham  lake,  one  mile  long  from  northeast  to  southwest,  close  north  of  the  town 
to  which  its  name  is  given;  Clear.  Cotton  wood,  Wolf,  Surr.mit  and  Glen  lakes,  one-third  to  two- 
thirds  of  a  mile  long,  ii>  the  west  and  southwest  portions  of  Lakeside,  one  to  three  miles  eastward 
from  Windom,  beautiful  lakes  of  clear  water,  divided  by  irregular  hilly  or  rolling  areas  of  prai- 
rie, and  skirted  by  narrow  woods;  Fish  lake,  nearly  two  miles  long  from  northeast  to  southwest, 
and  one-fourth  to  two-thirds  of  a  mile  wide,  crossed  by  the  south  line  of  Lakeside  and  having 
about  half  its  area  in  Jackson  county;  the  Spring  lakes,  reaching  two  and  a  half  miles  from  north 
to  south,  four  miles  west  of  Windom;  the  Three  lakes,  and  Swan  lake,  each  about  one  mile  long, 
in  Dale:  Rat,  Long,  Eagle  and  Maiden  lakes,  from  one-third  to  one  mile  long,  in  the  south  half 
of  Carson;  lake  Augusta,  about  one  and  a  half  miles  long  and  a  half  mile  wide,  in  Amo;  Hurri- 
cane lake,  move  than  a  mile  long  from  north  to  south,  lying  in  section  31,  High  water,  and  section 
6.  Storden;  Double  lake,  of  similar  extent  and  trend,  in  sections  23  and  26.  Westbrook;  Berry 
and  Twin  lakes,  with  others,  varying  from  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to  about  one  and  a  half  miles  in 
length,  trending  to  the  south  or  southeast,  in  Rose  Hill :  Oaks  lake,  one  and  a  half  miles  long 
from  north  to  south,  but  narrow,  lying  in  section  32,  Rose  Hill,  and  sections  5  and  8,  South  Brook; 
and  Talcott  lake,  in  sections  19  and  30,  South  Brook,  a  mile  long  from  north  to  south,  with  the 
Des  Moines  river  flowing  through  its  northern  end. 

Jackson  county  is  partly  drained  by  Elm  creek  to  the  Blue  Earth  and 
Minnesota  rivers ;  partly  by  the  Des  Moines  river,  which  crosses  Iowa  and 
enters  the  Mississippi  at  the  southeast  corner  of  that  state ;  and  partly  by 
the  Little  Sioux  river,  which  joins  the  Missouri  thirty-eight  miles  north  of 
Omaha. 

About  90  square  miles  of  northeastern  Jackson  county  are  tributary 
to  the  Minnesota  river  by  Elm  creek,  which  flows  east  through  Martin 
county  and  enters  the  Blue  Earth  river  after  a  course  of  forty  miles.  Its 
sources,  in  Belmont  and  Christiana,  are  only  two  to  four  miles  east  of 
the  Des  Moines  river. 

About  420  square  miles  of  this  county  lie  within  the  basin  of  the  Des 
Moines,  which  flows,  after  leaving  Cottonwood  county,  in  a  south-southeast 
course.  Its  only  important  affluent  in  these  counties  is  the  outlet  of  Heron 
lake,  which  comes  into  it  nine  miles  west  of  Windom. 

Some  210  square  miles  on  the  southwest  are  in  the  basin  of  the  Mis- 
souri, being  drained  by  the  head-streams  of  the  Little  Sioux  river. 

.Lakes  ii<  Jackson  county.  East  of  the  Des  Moines  river  the  only  notable  lakes  in  Jackson 
county  are  Fish  lake,  about  two  miles  in  length,  on  the  north  line  of  Christiana,  half  of  it  being 
in  Cottonwood  county;  lake  Otto  and  Independence  lake,  each  about  a  half  mile  long,  respect- 
ively on  the  east  and  south  boundaries  of  Christiana;  and  Lower's  lake,  of  similar  size,  near  the 
center  of  the  township. 

West  of  the  Des  Moines,  the  largest  body  of  water  in  this  county  and  in  all  southern  Minne- 
sota is  Heron  lake,  eleven  miles  long,  with  a  width  of  two  and  a  half  miles  in  its  central  part 
diminished  to  a  half  or  a  fourth  of  a  mile  at  each  end.  giving  it  an  area  of  about  fourteen  square 
miles.  This  lake,  reported  to  be  only  from  five  to  fifteen  feet  deep,  is  mainly  clear,  but  has  some 
portions  that  are  reedy,  with  marshy  shores,  affording  a  paradise  to  ducks,  herons  and  blackbirds. 
Other  noteworthy  lakes  in  this  pan  of  Jackson  county  are  lake  Carroll,  a  half  mile  long  from 
northeast  to  southwest,  in  northern  Delalield:  Minneseka  lake,  a  mile  long  from  east  to  west 


494  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Topography. 

crossed  by  the  west  line  of  this  township;  Flaherty's  lake,  a  mile  or  more  in  length  from  north  to 
south,  and  a  half  mile  wide,  in  sections  6  and  7,  Heron  Lake;  Boot  lake,  a  mile  long  from  north 
to  south  in  sections  30  and  31,  Belmont;  Clear  lake,  exceeding  a  mile  in  length  from  east  to  west 
and  about  three- fourths  of  a  mile  wide,  at  the  west  side  of  Des  Moines;  Loon  lake,  nearly  two 
miles  long  from  north  to  south,  crossed  by  the  east  line  of  Minneota;  the  Little  Clear  lakes,  in 
sections  22  and  23  of  this  township;  Little  Spirit  lake,  about  a  mile  in  diameter,  lying  mainly  in 
section  35,  Minneota,  divided  from  Spirit  lake  in  Iowa  by  only  a  narrow  low  ridge  of  gravel  and 
sand,  pushed  up  by  ice  during  the  recent  period;  Skunk  lake,  a  mile  long  from  east  to  west,  lying 
mostly  in  the  south  half  of  section  22,  Sioux  Valley;  Rush  lake,  also  a  mile  long,  but  trending 
from  north  to  south,  in  the  southwest  part  of  the  same  township;  Hum  Island  lakes,  a  half  mile 
and  one  mile  long,  near  the  middle  of  Round  Lake  township;  Round  lake,  a  little  more  than  a  mile 
n  diameter,  in  the  northwest  part  of  this  township;  and  State  Line  lake,  a  mile  long  from  north 
to  south,  situated  at  the  southwest  corner  of  the  county. 

Topography.  In  northern  Cottonwood  county  a  massive  ridge  of  the  red 
Potsdam  quartzyte  extends  twenty-five  miles  from  west  to  east  through 
Storden,  Amboy,  Delton  and  Selma,  terminating  in  the  west  edge  of  Adrian, 
the  northwest  township  of  Watonwan  county.  This  highland  is  mostly 
covered  by  a  smooth  surface  of  till,  but  has  frequent  exposures  of  the  rock. 
Its  altitude  increases  from  100  feet  at  its  east  end  to  300  feet  westward, 
above  the  broad,  slightly  undulating  sheet  of  till,  which,  excepting  a  mo- 
rainic  tract  in  Stately,  covers  the  region  toward  the  north.  The  hight  reached 
at  the  top  of  this  quartzyte  ridge,  1306  to  1500  feet  above  the  sea,  is  a  per- 
manent rise  of  the  land,  which  to  the  south  and  southwest  holds  nearly 
this  average  elevation,  with  a  general  ascent  westward. 

This  ridge  was  probably  considered  by  the  early  French  explorers  as  the  northeast  border 
of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies,  which  name,  meaning  the  Highland  of  the  Prairies,  they  gave  to  an 
elevated  tract,  extending  about  two  hundred  miles  from  north-northwest  to  south-southeast  in 
eastern  Dakota  and  southwestern  Minnesota.  Of  this  highland  in  Cottonwood  and  Murray  coun- 
ties, Nicollet  says:*  "Under  the  forty-fourth  degree  of  latitude,  the  breadth  of  the  Coteau  is 
about  forty  miles,  and  its  mean  Elevation  is  here  reduced  to  1 ,450  feet  above  the  sea.  Within 
this  space  its  two  slopes  are  rather  abrupt,  crowned  with  verdure  and  scolloped  by  deep  ravines 
thickly  shaded  with  bushes,  forming  the  beds  of  rivulets  that  water  the  subjacent  plains."  It  is 
not  continuously  recognizable  as  a  great  topographic  feature  south  of  this  quartzyte  ridge. 

The  Little  Cottonwood  river  and  the  north  branch  of  the  North  fork  of  Watonwan  river 
flow  northeasterly  through  gaps  in  the  range  of  quartzyte,  a  hundred  feet  or  more  below  its  crest, 
the  former  finding  its  passage  at  the  middle  of  the  north  half  of  Delton,  and  the  latter  about  a 
mile  west  from  the  center  of  Selma.  Excepting  at  these  points,  the  ridge  is  unbroken  and  up- 
lifts a  broad,  smoothly  rounded  top,  covered  with  till  through  which  the  quartzyte  has  occasional 
outcrops.  It  extends  in  a  course  a  little  to  the  north  of  west  twelve  miles  from  the  north  part  of 
section  25.  Selma,  to  the  north  part  of  sections  9,  8  and  7,  Delton;  and  thence  a  little  to  the  south 
of  west  ten  miles  to  Highwater  creek  at  the  middle  of  Storden  township.  In  its  east  half,  through 
Selma  and  Delton,  this  ridge  has  a  width  that  increases  toward  the  west  from  a  half  mile  to  one 
or  two  miles,  elevated  50  to  100  feet  above  the  average  of  the  land  for  the  next  live  or  six  miles 
to  the  south,  and  twice  this  hight  above  the  country  which  it  overlooks  northward  to  the  horizon. 
Both  slopes  of  the  range  have  a  gentle  descent,  that  to  the  north  occupying  a  width  of  one  to  two 
miles,  and  reaching  from  section  7,  Delton,  to  the  falls  formed  by  this  quartzyte  on  the  head- 
streams  of  Mound  creek,  in  the  southwest  corner  of  Brown  county,  and  in  the  N.  E.  }  of  section 


'Report  on  the  upper  Mitsissippi  rivef,  1843,  p.  10;   consult  also  plate  7  and  page  68  uf  the  present  volume. 


COTTON  WOOD  AND  JACKSON  COUNTIES.  495 

Topography. } 

36,  Germantown.  In  the  central  and  southwest  part  of  Amboy  and  the  east  half  of  Storden,  this 
highland,  besides  slowly  increasing  in  elevation  westward,  expands  to  a  greater  width,  and  forms 
an  approximately  level  plateau  of  till,  one  to  three  miles  wide,  with  outcrops  of  the  quartzyte  only 
upon  the  slopes  which  descend  from  it.  The  most  southern  exposures  of  this  rock  in  Cotton- 
wood  county  are  in  the  west  part  of  sections  6  and  7,  Dale,  and  in  section  12,  Amo,  on  the  west- 
ern descent  from  the  most  southern  part  of  this  plateau,  which  here  in  northwestern  Dale  is  75 
or  100  feet  above  the  remainder  of  this  township  and  its  Three  lakes,  and  about  150  feet  above 
lake  Augusta  on  the  west. 

This  area  of  Potsdam  quartzyte  is  the  only  part  of  Cottonwood  county  which  has  exposures 
of  the  bed-rocks,  the  remainder  being  moderately  undulating  or  rolling  and  sometimes  hilly  gla- 
cial drift.  The  general  slope,  as  already  stated,  rises  from  east  to  west,  and  at  the  west  side  of 
Amo  and  in  Rose  Hill  this  drift  attains  as  great  an  altitude  as  the  quartzyte  range  eight  miles 
northeast  in  Amboy  and  Stordon. 

The  townships  of  Westbrook,  Ann,  Highwater  and  Germantown,  lying  north  of  this  hight 
of  land  in  Eose  Hill,  Amo  and  the  ridge  of  quartzyte,  ha've  mostly  a  smoothly  rolling  contour, 
with  the  crests  of  swells  fifteen  to  thirty  feet  above  the  depressions.  The  creeks  which  drain 
this  district  northward  to  the  Cottonwood  river  flow  in  valleys  that  they  have  eroded  20  to  40 
feet  beiow  the  average  surface. 

The  whole  of  Jackson  county,  like  the  northwest  and  south  parts  of 
Cottonwood  county,  is  so  deeply  covered  by  the  glacial  drift  that  it  has  no 
outcrop  of  the  underlying  rocks.  Southwest  and  south  of  the  quartzyte 
ridge,  these  counties  are  crossed  by  a  belt  of  knolly  and  hilly  or  promi- 
nently rolling  morainic  drift,  two  to  seven  miles  wide,  which  reaches  from 
Rose  Hill  southeast  to  the  Blue  mounds  west  of  Windom,  and  thence  south 
through  the  center  of  Jackson  county  to  the  west  side  of  Spirit  lake.  From 
the  vicinity  of  Windom  a  branch  of  this  moraine  extends  ten  miles  north 
through  the  west  part  of  Lakeside  and  Carson.  The  same  knolly  and  bro- 
ken contour  of  the  drift  is  found  also  in  the  south  part  of  Sioux  Valley  and 
in  Round  Lake  township,  on  the  southwest  border  of  Jackson  county. 
Excepting  these  morainic  tracts  and  the  ridge,  of  quartzyte,  these  counties 
are  a  smoothly  undulating,  and  in  part  almost  flat,  sheet  of  till,  ascending 
with  a  very  gentle  slope  from  east  to  west,  enclosing  lakes  here  and  there 
in  its  depressions,  slightly  channeled  by  creeks  and  deeply  cut  by  the  Des 
Moines  river.  Many  further  details  respecting  the  contour  of  the  drift  are 
presented  in  a  later  part  of  this  chapter. 

The  valley  of  the  Des  Moines  river  in  South  Brook,  the  most  southwest  township  of  Cotton- 
wood  county,  is  less  distinct  in  its  outlines,  and  its  depth  is  less,  than  in  any  other  part  of  its 
extent  below  lake  Shetek.  South  Brook  has  mostly  a  rolling  contour  of  massive  swells,  variable 
in  their  forms,  trends,  and  extent,  rising  20  to  50  feet  above  the  Des  Moines  river,  which  flows 
among  them  in  an  irregular  course,  generally  without  any  well-defined  valley  of  bottomland  and 
bluffs,  but  turned  here  and  there  by  small  undulations.  In  section  19  it  passes  through  the  north 
end  of  Talcott  lake,  which  lies  in  a  shallow  basin  of  the  drift-sheet,  covering  nearly  a  square 
mile,  but  only  from  five  to  eight  feet  deep. 

In  Springfield  where  the  Des  Moines  flows  northeast,  at  right  angles  to  its  course  both  above 
and  below,  it  again  occupies  a  definite  valley,  channeled  50  to  75  feet  below  the  average  hight  of 


.)()(;  THK  GbXDLOGY   OF  MINNESOTA. 

[  I-)cs  Moines  river.      I  l<rv;ii>un^. 

the  rolling  surface  on  either  side.  At  the  northeast  corner  of  this  township  is  the  great  bend 
of  the  Des  Moiues.  Here  it  enters  a  valley  transverse  to  its  course  through  the  last  eight  miles, 
and  is  carried  in  it  thence  to  the  southeast.  This  valley  has  a  nearly  flat  alluvial  bottomland,  a 
third  to  a  half  of  a  mile  wide,  enclosed  by  bli.ffs  50  to  60  feet  high.  It  continues  two  or  three 
miles  northerly  from  the  great  bend,  with  the  same  width  and  depth;  and  is  less  distinctly  marked 
three  or  four  miles  farther,  along  the  upper  part  of  Harvey  creek  to  lake  Augusta.  The  excava- 
tion of  this  channel  was  probably  effected  by  floods  discharged  from  glacial  melting,  while  the 
receding  ice-sheet  still  covered  these  counties  farther  east.  In  the  central  part  of  Great  Bend 
township  the  river  is  bordered  on  the  west  by  morainic  knolls  and  small  ridges  of  rocky  till,  which 
rise  successively  one  above  another  to  the  top  of  the  Blue  mounds,  one  to  one  and  a  half  miles 
distant;  and  in  the  vicinity  of  Windom  the  ascent  from  the  river  eastward  has  a  similar  contour. 

Through  Jackson  county  the  valley  of  the  Des  Moines  is  100  to  150  feet  below  the  average 
hight  on  each  side,  and  is  from  one-third  to  two-thirds  of  a  mile  wide  between  the  tops  of  its 
bluffs,  which  in  the  north  part  of  the  county  rise  in  knolly  and  irregular  slopes  of  morainic  drift. 
but  at  Jackson  and  southward  have  generally  the  nearly  straight  course  and  steep  ascent  charac- 
teristic of  ordinary  fluvial  erosion.  At  Jackson  the  immediate  river-bluffs  are  about  100  feet 
high,  but  there  is  a  further  rise  of  the  moderately  undulating  expanse  of  till  on  each  side,  amount- 
ing to  50  or  75  feet  within  a  mile  or  less  from  the  top  of  the  bluffs.  This  town  is  built  on  four 
terraces  of  modified  drift,  successively  about  20,  30,  40  and  50  feet  above  the  river,  together 
occupying  a  width  of  one-fourth  to  one-third  of  a  mile.  They  are  mostly  composed  of  sand  and 
gravel  for  several  feet  next  below  the  soil;  but  in  some  places  the  underlying  till  reaches  quite  to 
the  surface. 

Distances  along  the  Des  Moines  river,  measured  in  direct  lines  between  its  principal 
bends,  are  as  follows:  from  its  source  to  the  foot  of  lake  Shetek  (this  portion  being  commonly 
called  Beaver  creek),  24  miles;  to  a  point  on  the  south  line  of  Cottonwood  county,  two  miles  north 
of  the  north  end  of  Heron  lake,  48  miles;  to  its  great  bend,  56  miles;  to  Windom,  63  miles:  to 
Jackson,  81  miles;  to  the  state  line,  91  miles;  and  to  its  mouth  at  Keokuk.  about  385  miles.  Thus 
a  little  less  than  one-fourth  of  its  entire  length  lies  in  Minnesota. 

Elevations,  Saint  Paul  &  Sioux  City  division,  Chicago,  Saint  Paul,  Minneapolis  d-  Omaha  railway. 
From  profiles  in  the  office  of  T.  P.  Gere,  superintendent,  Saint  Paul. 

.Miles  from     Feet  above 
St.  Paul.          the  sea. 

Mountain  Lake,  depot 137.0  1300 

Bingham  Lake,  depot 143.2  1420 

Summit,  grade 144.1  143V 

Windom 147.8  1353 

Des  Moines  river,  water 148.1  1331 

Bluff  siding 149.7  1425 

Wilder -  .....154.0  1448 

Heron  lake,  water. .."! 159.0-159.5  1403 

Heron  Lake,  depot 160.3  1417 

'  Elevations,  Southern  Minnesota  division,  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  Saint  Paul  railti-u//. 
From  George  B.  Woodworth,  assistant  engineer.  La  Crosse. 

Miles  from      Feet  above 
La  Croase.         the  sea. 

Top  of  bluff  at  junction  of  branch  to  Jackson  depot 209.1  1446 

Des  Moines  river,  water 211.8  1288 

Des  Moines  river,  bridge 211.8  1353 

Summit,  grade 216.6  1517 

Lakefleld 220.6  1463 

Okabena 229.1  1410 

Crossing  Saint  Paul  &  Sioux  City  railroad 232.2  1414 

The  highest  portions  of  Cottonwood  county,  about  1500  feet  above  the 
sea,  are  in  Rose  Hill,  township,  in  western  Aino.  and  the  plateau  upon  the 


COTTONWOOD  AND  JACKSON  COUNTIES.  497 

Elevations.] 

west  part  of  the  quartzyte  ridge  in  southeastern  Storden  and  southwestern 
Amboy,  and  the  tops  of  the  Blue  mounds,  which  are  1450  to  1525  feet  above 
the  sea.  The  lowest  land  of  this  county,  nearly  five  hundred  feet  below 
these  tracts,  is  where  the  Cottonwood  river  enters  the  northeast  corner  of 
Germantown,  at  a  hight  of  about  1030  feet  above  the  sea.  The  elevation 
of  the  Little  Cottonwood  river  where  it  leaves  the  county  is  estimated  to 
be  1150  feet;  and  of  the  most  northern  tributary  to  the  Watonwan  river,  at 
the  east  line  of  Selma,  1100.  The  Des  Moines  river  descends  in  this  county 
approximately  from  1400  to  1330  feet  above  the  sea. 

Estimates  of  the  average  hight  of  the  townships  of  Cottonwood  county 
are  as  follows:  Selma,  1225  feet  above  the  sea;  Mountain  Lake,  including 
two  governmental  townships,  1300;  Delton,  1325;  Carson,  1375;  Lakeside, 
1410;  Germantown,  1200;  Amboy,  1400;  Dale,  1450;  Great  Bend,  1410;  High- 
water,  1225;  Storden,  1400;  Amo,  1450;  Springfield,  1430;  Ann,  1300;  West- 
brook,  1420;  Rose  Hill,  1450;  and  South  Brook,  1425.  The  mean  elevation 
of  Cottonwood  county,  derived  from  these  figures,  is  1360  feet. 

In  Jackson  county  the  greatest  altitudes  are  attained  by  the  inner 
terminal  moraine  which  extends  from  north  to  south  through  the  center 
of  the  county,  its  crests  being  1475  to  1550  feet  above  the  sea;  and  by  the 
outer  terminal  moraine,  which  has  about  the  same  elevation  from  Skunk 
and  Rush  lakes  to  Round  and  State  Line  lakes  in  the  southwest  corner  of 
the  county.  The  descent  of  the  Des  Moines  river  is  estimated  to  be  eighty 
feet,  from  1330  at  the  north  to  1250  feet,  approximately,  where  it  crosses 
the  state  line,  at  the  lowest  point  in  this  county.  Mean  hights  of  the 
townships  of  Jackson  county  are  estimated  as  follows :  Kimball,  1350 ; 
Enterprise,  1375;  Wisconsin,  1400;  Petersburg,  1375;  Christiana,  1400;  Bel- 
mont,  1410 ;  Des  Moines,  1420 ;  Micldletown,  1425 ;  Delafield,  1440 ;  Heron 
Lake,  1460;  Hunter,  1475;  Minneota,  1460;  Weimer,  1415;  West  Heron 
Lake,  1420;  Rust,  1440;  Sioux  Valley,  1460;  La  Crosse,  1425;  Alba,  1450; 
Ewington,  1500;  and  Round  Lake,  1520.  The  mean  elevation  thus  obtained 
for  the  whole  county  is  1430  feet. 

Soil  and  timber.  The  soil  of  Cottonwood  and  Jackson  counties  has  the 
same  nearly  uniform  fertility  that  characterizes  all  southern  and  western 
Minnesota.  A  black,  sandy  clay,  with  some  intermixture  of  gravel,  and 
containing  occasional  boulders,  forms  the  soil,  which  has  been  colored  to  a 

32 


498  TH£  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Soil  and  timber. 

depth  of  about  two  feet  below  the  surface  by  decaying  vegetation.  Un- 
modified glacial  drift  or  till,  the  same  as  the  soil,  excepting  that  it  is  not 
enriched  and  blackened  by  organic  decay,  continues  below,  being  yellowish 
gray  to  a  depth  of  10  or  20  feet,  but  darker  and  bluish  beyond,  as  seen  in 
wells.  This  deposit  contains  many  fragments  of  magnesian  limestone,  red 
quartzyte,  granites  and  crystalline  schists;  and  its  fine  detritus  is  a  mix- 
ture of  these  rocks  pulverized,  presenting  in  the  most  advantageous  pro- 
portions the  mineral  elements  needed  by  growing  plants.  Wheat  has  been 
the  principal  crop,  but  stock-raising  has  also  received  much  attention  in 
Jackson  county  during  several  years  past.  A  large  variety  of  crops  is 
profitably  cultivated  throughout  this  region,  including  wheat,  oats,  corn, 
garden  fruits  and  vegetables,  potatoes,  and  hay.  In  general,  Jackson  and 
Martin  counties  have  a  somewhat  more  sandy  soil  than  the  districts  adjoin- 
ing them  on  the  east,  north  and  west,  and  appear  to  be  therefore  slightly 
less  adapted  for  wheat-raising.  Besides  this  staple  product,  horses  and  cat- 
tle, pork  and  beef,  butter  and  cheese,  have  become  considerable  exports. 

From  1873  to  1876  Cottonwood  and  Jackson  counties,  in  company  with  all  southwestern 
Minnesota,  were  distressed  by  the  ravages  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  locust.  To  many  the  work  of 
plowing  and  sowing,  and  the  wheat  sown,  were  total  losses  during  these  years.  In  1880  frequent 
groves  were  noticeable  between  Fairmont  and  Worthington,  which  had  been  set  out  to  shield 
farm-houses  from  the  wind,  and  still  remained,  though  the  buildings  were  gone  and  the  farms 
deserted,  telling  where  in  this  struggle  the  grasshoppers  had  conquered.  Though  the  wheat  was 
nearly  everywhere  eaten  by  them  so  that  no  harvest  could  be  saved,  the  prairie  grass  suffered 
only  slightly,  and  from  this  epoch  herding  has  taken  an  important  place  in  the  agriculture  of 
Jackson  and  Martin  counties. 

The  opinion  prevails,  and  seems  to  rest  upon  a  correct  knowledge  of  facts,  that  the  yield  of 
wheat  generally  in  the  southern  tier  of  counties  of  Minnesota  during  the  past  fifteen  years 
or  so,  averaging  ten  to  fifteen  bushels  per  acre,  has  been  only  half  or  two-thirds  as  great  as  dur- 
ing the  preceding  ten  or  fifteen  years.  Much  land  remains  that  was  never  broken  with  the  plow, 
and  this  contrast  in  productiveness  is  exhibited  by  newly  broken  ground  in  all  respects  similar 
to  adjacent  tracts  that  were  first  cultivated  twenty  or  thirty  years  ago.  It  appears  also  that  the 
early  immigrants  found  wetter  seasons,  the  sloughs  more  frequently  impassable,  and  the  lakes 
mostly  standing  at  somewhat  higher  levels,  than  during  the  fifteen  years  next  before  1880.  To 
differences  in  rain-fall  thus  indicated,  and  differences  in  temperature  and  winds,  and  in  their 
distribution  through  the  year,  making  up  the  climate  as  a  whole,  we  must  attribute  the  diminu- 
tion in  the  wheat  crop.  Probably  these  general  climatic  changes  will  be  found  to  be  periodic; 
lessened  precipitation  of  rain  and  snow,  and  reduced  yields  of  wheat  through  several  years,  being 
succeeded  by  a  term,  perhaps  of  equal  duration,  bringing  as  great  rainfall,  and  as  plentiful  har- 
vests, as  have  ever  been  recorded.  The  more  wet  years  from  1880  to  1882  may  mark  the  begin- 
ning of  a  period  especially  favorable  for  wheat-raising  in  southern  Minnesota. 

These  counties  are  natural  prairie,  affording  rich  pasturage,  and  ready 
for  the  plow.  Less  than  a  hundredth  part  of  their  area  is  wooded.  This 
includes  small  groves  and  narrow  skirts  of  timber  and  brushwood  about 


COTTONWOOD  AND  JACKSON  COUNTIES.  499 

Potsdam  quartzytc.] 

the  shores  of  lakes,  along  the  large  creeks,  and  especially  along  the  whole 
extent  of  the  Des  Moines  river.  The  following  species  of  trees  and  shrubs 
are  found  at  Talcott  lake:  American  or  white  elm,  bur  oak/ white  ash, 
box-elder,  black  walnut,  willows,  prickly  ash,  smooth  sumach,  frost  grape, 
Virginia  creeper,  climbing  bitter-sweet,  wild  plum,  choke-cherry,  black 
raspberry,  rose,  thorn,  smooth  wild  gooseberry,  and  wolf  berry,  common; 
red  or  slippery  elm,  cottonwood,  hackberry,  waahoo,  and  black  currant, 
less  frequent.  Basswood  grows  at  Oaks  lake,  a  few  miles  farther  north. 
About  Spirit  lake,  which  lies  in  the  north  edge  of  Iowa  and  extends  into 
the  south  part  of  section  36,  Minneota,  the  timber  consists  principally  of 
bur  oak,  white  and  red  elm,  white  ash,  basswood,  sugar  maple,  box-elder, 
black  walnut  and  cottonwood. 

GEOLOGICAL   STRUCTURE. 

Potsdam  quartzyte.  The  only  exposures  of  bed-rock  in  this  district  are 
the  red  quartzyte  which  forms  a  prominent  ridge  in  the  north  part  of  Cotton- 
wood  county,  reaching  into  the  edge  of  Watonwan  and  Brown  counties. 
From  the  most  eastern  to  the  most  western  outcrop  of  this  rock  is  a  length  of 
twenty-three  miles;  and  the  width  upon  which  it  is  occasionally  exposed 
increases  from  a  half  mile  or  less  at  the  east  to  six  miles  at  the  west.  The 
contour  of  this  area  has  already  been  described  as  rising  in  a  massive  highland 
of  rock,  mostly  covered  by  a  smooth  sheet  of  till,  with  gracefully  rounded  top 
and  moderate  slopes.  The  general  character  of  this  formation,  and  the  loca- 
tion, extent,  and  special  features  of  its  outcropping  ledges  are  to  be  noted 
here. 

In  Courtland,  two  miles  east  of  New  Ulm  and  about  thirty  miles  east-northeast  from  this 
ridge  in  northern  Cottonwood  county,  and  again  in  Pipestone  and  Bock  counties,  fifty  miles  west- 
southwest  from  this  ridge,  the  same  rock-formation  has  extensive  exposures,  and  it  continues 
westward  in  Dakota  to  Dell  Rapids  and  Sioux  Falls  on  the  Big  Sioux  river,  and  to  Kockport  on 
the  James  rive?,  seventy  miles  west  of  Minnesota,  and  about  a  hundred  and  eighty  miles  west- 
southwest  from  New  Him.  All  these  outcrops  are  mainly  very  hard,  fine-grained  quartzyte,  dif- 
fering in  color  from  pinkish  gray  to  dark  dull  red,  always  having  some  red  tint;  and  varying  in 
the  thickness  of  its  beds  from  a  few  inches,  or  sometimes  only  a  half  inch  or  less,  to  one  or  two 
feet.  It  is  usually  perceptibly  tilted,  with  considerable  variability  in  the  direction  of  its  dips, 
which  vary  in  amount  from  one  or  two  to  fifteen  or  twenty  degrees,  and  rarely  attain  an  inclina- 
tion of  forty-five  degrees.  This  quartzyte  is  a  metamorphosed  sandstone.  At  a  few  places  it 
occurs  in  an  imperfectly  indurate!  condition,  being  a  more  or  less  crumbling  sandrock,  composed 
of  water-rounded  grains.  Sometimes,  too,  it  is  a  conglomerate,  enclosing  abundant  water-worn 
pebbles  up  to  an  inch  in  diameter,  what  was  originally  an  ordinary  fine  gravel  having  become  so 
cemented  as  to  form  a  very  compact  and  hard,  tough  rock;  and  by  diminution  in  the  number  of 
pebbles  scattered  through  it,  the  formation  exhibits  all  grades  between  this  pudding-stone  and  its 


500  THE  GEOLOGY  OP  MINNESOTA. 

[Potsdam  quartiyte. 

typical  condition  as  a  quartzyte.  Again,  it  occasionally  contains  layers,  from  less  than  an  inch  to 
several  feet  thick,  of  argillaceous  rock,  so  fine-grained  and  even  in  its  texture  as  to  appear  macro- 
scopically  homogeneous,  doubtless  metamorphosed  from  deposits  of  fine  silt  or  clay  in  the  midst 
of  beds  of  sand;  commonly  dull  red,  but  often  mottled  with  pale  spots  or  striped  by  the  same  lighter 
tints  in  parallelism  with  its  stratification;  soft  enough  to  be  easily  carved  and  polished,  and  in  its 
best  varieties  entirely  free  from  grit.  This  has  been  named  catlinite,  and  its  finest  layer  is  that 
which  has  been  worked  by  the  Indians,  to  whom  it  is  still  reserved,  at  the  celebrated  RedPipestone 
quarry. 

The  planes  of  bedding  of  this  quartzyte  frequently  show  very  distinct  and  beautiful  ripple 
marks,  such  as  are  made  by  waves  upon  the  sandy  shore  and  bottom  of  lakes  or  of  the  sea.  No 
fossils  have  been  detected  in  this  formation,  as  here  described  in  southwestern  Minnesota  and 
southeastern  Dakota:  and  f  ucoid  impressions,'rarely  observed,  are  the  only  remains  of  life  yet  found 
in  the  probably  equivalent  Cupriferous  series  of  red  quartzytes  and  sandstones  interstratified  with 
thick  basaltic  overflows  and  beds  of  tuff  and  tufaceous  conglomerate,  which  is  very  extensively 
developed  about  lake  Superior.  The  quartzyte  from  New  Ulm  to  the  James  river  is  closely  like 
the  sandstone  and  quattzyte  associated  with  trap  rocks  in  northeastern  Minnesota,  in  northern 
Wisconsin  and  northern  Michigan;  but  its  deposition  was  not  similarly  accompanied  by  outflows  of 
igneous  rock,  nor  has  this  formation  in  southern  Minnesota  been  intersected  by  trap  dikes.  Foster 
and  Whitney  referred  these  rocks  in  the  region  of  lake  Superior  to  the  Potsdam  age,  considering 
them  the  western  equivalent  and  representative  of  the  Potsdam  sandstone  in  New  York;  and  the 
explorations  by  this  survey  of  their  continuation  into  northeastern  Minnesota  sustain  this  conclu- 
sion,* while  the  observations  of  this  quartzyte  outcropping  in  the  southwest  part  of  the  state  and 
farther  west  indicate  that  it  belongs  to  the  same  epoch.  This  formation  underlies  the  Calciferous 
or  Lower  Magnesian  series,  which  outcrops  along  the  lower  part  of  the  Minnesota  river  from  a 
point  fourteen  miles  east-southeast  of  New  Ulm,  and  along  the  Saint  Croix  and  Mississippi  rivers. 

In  the  N.  E.  J  of  section  25,  Selma,  this  red  quartzyte  is  exposed  upon  an  eastward  slope  of 
till,  with  an  area  three  rods  long  from  northwest  to  southeast,  and  about  a  rod  wide,  rising  some 
two  feet  above  the  general  surface. 

In  the  S.  E.  J  of  section  23,  Selma,  this  rock  outcrops  on  a  southward  slope  along  a  distance 
of  about  twenty-five  rods  from  east  to  west,  with  a  width  of  two  or  three  rods  and  a  hight  of  only 
one  to  two  feet.  It  dips  about  ten  degrees  southward.  Both  these  ledges  have  been  slightly 
quarried.  They  are  the  ordinary,  very  hard  quartzyte,  intersected  by  systems  of  joints  which  give 
it  a  rhomboidal  fracture.  Other  outcrops  of  the  same  stone,  which  have  not  been  visited  in  this 
survey,  occur  northwestward  at  numerous  places  in  this  township  and  in  the  northeast  part  of 
Delton,  upon  the  high  ridge  and  in  the  hollow  where  the  north  branch  of  the  North  fork  of  Wat- 
onwan  river  crosses  it. 

The  quartzyte  also  has  frequent  exposures  in  Delton  along  nearly  the  whole  extent  of  the 
Little  Cottonwood  river  through  this  township,  and  in  its  tributary  ravines.  In  the  east  part  of 
the  S.  E.  i  of  section  8,  it  has  been  much  quarried  in  the  banks  and  channel  of  this  stream,  sup- 
plying rough  stone  used  for  foundations,  cellar  walls,  well  curbing  and  culverts,  or,  by  Russian 
immigrants,  for  chimneys,  being  sometimes  teamed  fifteen  miles.  It  occurs  in  layers  of  all  thick- 
nesses up  to  two  and  a  half  feet,  the  thinly  bedded  portions,  as  usually,  being  much  divided  by 
joints  into  rhomboidal  fragments  a  foot  or  less  in  length.  The  bedding  planes  are  often  ripple- 
marked  over  several  square  rods  together,  in  parallel  undulations  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch 
high  and  two  to  four  inches  apart  from  crest  to  crest.  The  dip  is  about  5°  S.  20°  W.  This  is 
some  twenty  rods  east  of  the  Little  Cottonwood  falls,  where  the  same  rock  in  its  upper  portion 
forms  layers  three  to  six  feet  thick,  dipping  about  six  degrees  to  the  south,  but  only  a  few  feet 
lower,  uear  the  level  of  the  stream,  is  thin-bedded  and  somewhat  contorted  and  irregular  in  strat- 
ification. 

Quartzyte  outcropping  in  the  north  part  of  the  S.  W.  J  of  section  18,  Delton  occurs  in  layers 
up  to  six  inches  thick,  dipping  about  3°  S.  70°  E.  Twenty  rods  farther  south  it  has  a  dip  of  the 
same  amount  but  changed  in  direction  to  S.  40°  E.,  all  these  bearings  being  referred  to  the  true 
meridian.  Its  only  exposures  observed  in  the  south  half  of  this  township  are  in  the  S.  E.  t  of 
section  30,  where  it  is  visible  at  numerous  places  along  an  extent  of  about  an  eighth  of  a  mile  in 

•Consult  Prof.  Winchell's  article  on  "  Tha  Potsdam  sandstone,"  in  the  tenth  annual  report,  pp.  123—136. 


COTTONWOOD  AND  JACKSON  COUNTIES.  5Q1 

Potsdam  quartzyte.] 

a  ravine  tributary  to  the  Watonwan  river.    No  other  outcrops  were  learned  of  upon  the  head- 
streams  of  this  river  farther  eastward  in  Delton. 

A  ledge  of  this  rock,  very  remarkably  striated,  as  described  on  a  following  page,,  and  bear- 
ing rude  Indian  inscriptions,  is  found  on  the  ridge  about  a  mile  north-northeast  from  the  Little 
Cottonwood  falls  and  quarry,  being  in  the  north  part  of  the  N.  W.  J  of  section  9,  Delton.  It  has 
an  area  about  twenty  rods  long  from  east  to  west,  and  four  to  eight  rods  wide.  The  dip  of  its 
stratification  was  not  distinctly  seen,  but  is  believed  to  be  about  five  degrees  southward,  which 
is  the  slope  of  the  surface.  Numerous  figures  are  pecked  on  this  rock,  representing  animals,  ar- 
rows, etc.,  similar  to  those  inscribed  by  the  Indians  on  the  quarlzyte  beside  the  boulders  called 
the  Three  Maidens,  near  the  Pipestone  quarry.  From  this  ledge  westward  the  same  typical 
quartzyte  frequently  outcrops  upon  the  higher  part  of  this  ridge  and  on  its  northern  slope  through 
the  northwest  part  of  Delton,  northern  Amboy  and  northeastern  Storden. 

In  the  S.  W.  \  of  section  2,  Amboy,  a  ravine  ten  to  fifteen  feet  deep  extends  east-northeast 
in  a  straight  course  about  forty  rods,  varying  from  two  to  three  rods  in  width,  bordered  by  verti- 
cal walls,  ten  to  fifteen  feet  high,  of  rough,  thick-bedded  quartzyte,  of  red  or  reddish  gray  color, 
nearly  level  in  stratification,  mostly  much  divided  by  joints.  The  eastern  half  of  this  ravine 
holds  a  long  pool,  ten  to  twenty  feet  wide,  and  five  to  eight  feet  deep.  At  the  top  of  the  wall  of 
rock  south  of  the  west  part  of  this  pool,  the  much  jointed,  deep  red,  striated  surface  is  in  many 
places  soft  and  like  pipestone  to  the  depth  of  an  eighth  of  an  inch;  but  within,  these  small  jointed 
masses  are  gritty  and  hard,  the  pipestone  being  only  a  thin  coating  at  the  bedding-planes.  At 
the  western  end  of  this  ravine,  on  its  north  side,  eight  feet  above  the  rivulet  that  flows  east  into 
the  pool,  this  rock  encloses  a  layer,  nearly  level,  varying  from  four  inches  to  a  foot  in  thickness, 
somewhat  like  the  pipestone  of  the  famous  quarry  in  Pipestone  county,  having  nearly  the  same 
very  fine  texture  and  dark  red  color,  but  not  so  hard,  and  at  this  place,  through  its  extent  of 
twenty  feet  exposed  to  view,  easily  divisible  into  small  flakes  and  fragments  because  of  joints, 
and  therefore  not  seen  in  any  solid  mass.  The  edge  of  this  layer  has  been  mostly  removed  by 
weathering  to  a  depth  of  two  to  six  feet  into  the  wall  of  tough,  reddish  gray  quartzyte,  which 
overhangs  and  underlies  it.  The  divisions  of  this  very  fine-grained  bed  from  the  coarse  quartz- 
yte are  not  definite  lines,  but  these  unlike  sediments  are  more  or  less  blended  and  interstratified 
through  one  to  six  inches.  Both  above  and  below,  the  quartzyte  in  some  portions  contains  peb- 
bles up  to  a  third  or  half  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  and  is  quite  variable  in  texture,  but  is  nowhere 
finely  laminated.  At  a  few  places  the  pipestone  also  is  found  to  contain  these  small  gravel 
stones;  and  a  few  fragments  of  pipestone  up  to  three  inches  in  diameter  are  seen  enclosed  in  the 
quartzyte  within  one  to  two  feet  above  the  pipestone  layer. 

Picturesque  falls  are  produced  by  this  formation  in  the  N.  E.  \  of  section  36,  Germantown. 
The  rock  here  is  mostly  a  very  coarse-grained,  thick-bedded  sandstone,  slightly  iron  rusty  or  red- 
dish in  color.  Nearly  all  of  it  is  somewhat  friable,  being  thus  unlike  the  other  exposures  of  this 
formation  in  this  county.  In  some  portions,  however,  it  is  here  very  hard  and  compact,  and  then 
usually  has  a  deeper  red  hue.  Its  dip  is  about  5°  S.  10°  E.  Besides  this  general  dip,  the  beds 
often  show  oblique  lamination.  This  rock  is  in  some  places  slightly  conglomerate,  holding  peb- 
bles of  white  quartz,  and  less  frequently  of  red  felsyte,  or  possibly  jasper,  the  largest  seen  being 
an  inch  long.  These  falls  are  about  two  miles  northeast  from  the  gorge  last  described,  being  on  a 
lower  part  of  the  same  stream,  which  is  one  of  the  sources  of  Mound  creek.  Along  its  intervening 
course  and  within  short  distances  from  it  on  each  side  this  formation  has  frequent  outcrops, 
notably  for  a  quarter  of  a  mile  south  and  southwest  from  the  falls.  The  stream  descends  thirty 
feet  in  a  succession  of  little  cascades,  within  a  distance  of  twenty  rods;  next  below  which  is  a  basin 
some  six  rods  long  and  four  rods  wide,  bordered  by  vertical  or  overhanging  walls  of  rock,  about 
thirty  feet  high.  At  its  east  end  this  basin  is  so  contracted  that  for  a  distance  of  about  twenty 
feet  these  walls  of  rock  are  only  eight  to  fifteen  feet  apart.  Below,  for  the  next  twenty-five  rods, 
the  gorge  is  four  to  six  rods  wide,  bordered  by  vertical  walls  of  reddish  sandstone  or  quartzyte, 
which  decline  from  thirty  to  twenty  and  ten  feet  in  hight.  The  same  rock  is  seen  thence  neaily 
all  the  way  for  a  half  mile  east,  mostly  forming  cliffs  fifteen  to  twenty  feet  high  at  the  south  side 
of  this  creek,  to  the  junction  of  another  stream  from  the  south  in  section  31,  Stately,  Brown 
county,  which  also  has  an  interesting  fall  formed  by  the  quartzyte. 

The  most  western  exposure  of  this  rock  learned  of  in  Cottonwood  county  is  in  the  N.  W.  J 
of  section  28,  Storden,  on  land  of  C.  P.  Carlson.  Typical  quartzyte,  very  compsct  and  tough, 
varying  in  color  from  dull  red  to  slightly  reddish  gray,  is  here  exposed  in  the  bed  of  a  stream 


502  THE  GEOLOGY  OP  MINNESOTA. 

[Potsdam  quartzytc, 

tributary  to  Highwater  creek,  along  a  distance  of  fifteen  rods  or  more  from  north  to  south,  with  a 
width  of  two  to  four  rods.  Its  dip  is  about  five  degrees  to  the  southeast  or  S.  60°  E.  It  is  much 
divided  by  joints  and  is  thereby  somewhat  fractured  into  rhomboidal  pieces.  Ripple-marks  were 
seen  in  several  places,  the  undulations  being  two  to  three  inches  wide.  Fragments  of  red  pipe- 
stone  up  to  two  inches  in  diameter  occur  rarely  in  this  rock. 

Another  outcrop  is  reported  one  mile  northeast  from  the  last,  on  the  N.  E.  }  of  section  21, 
Storden,  in  a  ravine;  and  others  occur  a  half  mile  southeast  of  Carlson's,  near  the  center  of  section 
27,  in  the  bed  of  small  ponds  through  which  the  brook  flows. 

The  west  part  of  the  S.W.  J  of  section  6,  Dale,  has  considerable  exposures  of  quartzyte,  scarcely 
rising,  however,  above  the  general  surface  of  the  till,  along  a  distance  of  twenty  rods  and  more 
from  north  to  south,  on  a  westward  slope,  about  a  mile  east  from  the  east  end  of  lake  Augusta. 
These  ledges  are  owned  and  have  been  slightly  quarried  by  Peter  Schmith.  The  stone  varies  in 
color  from  yellowish  gray  to  a  dull  red,  is  much  jointed,  and  has  a  dip  at  the  quarry  of  about  five 
degrees  northeast.  Laminae  of  pipestone  from  a  fourth  to  a  third  of  an  inch  thick,  deep  red, 
traversed  by  whitish  veins,  in  their  predominant  red  color  and  soft  slaty  texture  closely  like  the 
pipestone  of  Pipestone  quarry,  were  noted  here  upon  the  surface  about  fifteen  feet  east  of  the 
quarried  excavations,  occurring  at  bedding  planes  along  an  extent  of  about  two  rods.  Here,  also, 
fragments  of  this  deep  red  pipestone,  up  to  one  or  two  inches  in  diameter,  are  enclosed  in  the 
quartzyte,  which  is  mostly  of  a  more  grayish  red  color. 

Several  other  outcrops  of  this  rock,  similar  in  extent  and  character,  occur  within  a  distance 
of  a  mile  to  the  south  and  southwest  through  section  7,  Dale,  and  in  the  east  edge  of  section  12, 
and  perhaps  also  of  section  1,  Amo.  These  most  southern  exposures  of  this  area  of  quartzyte 
were  examined  by  Prof.  Winchell  in  1873,  and  have  been  described  on  pages  159  and  160  of  the 
second  annual  report.  The  dip  at  one  place  near  the  east  line  of  section  12,  Amo,  is  recorded  to 
be  "4°  or  5°  N.  10°  W.  The  stone  is  very  hard,  but  banded  with  light  and  red  beds,  evident  on 
the  planed  surface  and  on  the  fractured  side." 

The  observations  of  dip  recorded  in  the  foregoing  pages  indicate  that 
these  Potsdam  strata  in  Selma,  Delton,  Stately  and  Germantown  are  mono- 
clinal,  dipping  generally  about  five  degrees  southward;  and  that  probably 
farther  west  in  Germantown,  Amboy,  Storden,  Dale  and  Amo,  where  a 
greater  width  is  exposed,  they  are  synclinal,  on  the  north  dipping  about 
five  degrees  toward  the  south,  and  on  the  southwest  dipping  an  equal 
amount  toward  the  northeast  and  north.  From  the  Little  Cottonwood 
falls  in  Delton  along  the  distance  of  three  miles  northerly  to  the  falls  in 
section  36,  Germantown,  Prof.  Winchell  in  a  recent  reconnoissance  found 
numerous  outcrops  of  the  rock  with  a  nearly  uniform  southward  dip  of 
about  five  degrees,  from  which  he  computes  the  thickness  of  the  formation 
exposed  between  those  points  to  be  approximately  1380  feet.  Stratigraph- 
ically,  the  lowest  of  the  beds  thus  observed  are  at  the  falls  on  Mound  creek 
in  Germantown,  where  outcrops  extending  twelve  hundred  feet  from  north 
to  south,  with  a  dip  of  five  degrees  toward  the  south,  give  a  thickness  of 
100  feet  for  the  friable  sandstone  seen  at  that  place.  This  forms  the  base 
of  the  strata  measured,  lying  below  beds  of  very  hard  and  compact  quartz- 
yte, which  are  almost  a  quarter  of  a  mile  thick.* 

*See  an  instructive  paper,  by  Prof.  R.  D.  Irving,  on  the  nature  of  the  induration  of  sandstones  and  quartzytes  in 
Wisconsin,  probably  of  the  same  kind  with  the  induration  of  this  quartzyte,  American  Journal  oj Science, (3),  vol.  xxv, 
pp.  401-411,  June,  1883'. 


COTTONWOOD   AND  JACKSON    COUNTIES.  503 

Glacial  striae.] 

Fifteen  miles  south-southwest  from  the  rock  outcrops  of  Dale  and  Amo,  this  Potsdam 
formation  is  reached  in  the  railroad  well  at  Heron  Lake  at  a  depth  of  186  feet,  its  first  34  feet,  to 
a  total  depth  of  220,  being  a  reddish  quartzyte  or  sandstone,  underlain  by  a  whitish  gray  quartzyte. 
This  is  the  only  well  in  Jackson  county  which  goes  through  the  drift,  and  no  wells  were  learned 
of  in  southenv-or  western  Cottonwood  county  that  penetrate  to  the  bed-rock. 

It  does  not  seem  certain  that  the  Heron  Lake  well  encounters  anything  but  drift  deposits 
above  the  Potsdam  quartzyte;  but  its  section  from  115  to  186  feet  may  be  through  Cretaceous 
beds,  which,  however,  were  learned  of  in  no  other  well  in  these  counties.  The  order  of  deposits 
found  was  soil,  2  feet;  yellow  till,  13;  blue  till,  100;  yellow  clay,  10;  dark,  very  hard  and  dry,  fine 
silt,  like  dried  mud,  16  feet;  light  gray  clay,  free  from  gravel,  24;  and  interstratified  sand  and  fine 
gravel,  21  feet,  being  in  total  186  feet,  to  the  Potsdam  rocks  before  described. 

Drift  and  contour. 

The  surface  of  the  Potsdam  quartzyte  in  many  places  shows  distinct 
glacial  markings,  notes  of  which  are  presented  in  the  following  table. 
These  bearings  are  referred  to  the  true  meridian,  from  which  the  magnetic 
needle  here  has  a  variation  of  about  ten  degrees  to  the  east. 

Courses  of  glacial  striae,  in  Cottonwood  county. 

• 

Selma,  N.  E.  }  of  sec.  25 S.  20°  E. 

Selma,  S.  E.  \  of  sec.  23 S.  20°  E., 

and  varying  from  this  two  or  three  degrees  on  each  side. 

Delton,  S.  E.  }  of  sec.  30 S.  15°  E. 

Delton,  S.  W.  }  of  sec.  18 S.  15°  E. 

Delton,  N.  W.  \  of  sec.  18 S.  25°  E. 

Delton,  N.  W.  \  of  sec.  9 mostly  S.  25°  to  40°  E.; 

also  all  courses  from  S.  to  S.  80°  E.,  intersecting  upon  the 

same  surface. 
Amboy,  south  part  of  sec.  2,  near  (north  of)  a  school  house. .    ,       mostly  S.  40*  E.; 

and,  within  a  distance  of  one  rod  from  striae  of  this  course, 

also S.  45°  and  55°  E. 

Amboy,  S.  W.  J  of  sec.  2,  at  the  pipestone  locality,  about  a 

quarter  of  a  mile  northwest  from  the  last S.  35°  to  50°  E., 

and  rarely  deflected  to  S.  70°  E. ,  all  intersecting  on  the  same 

surface. 
Germantown,  N.  E.  J  of  sec.  36,  about  thirty  rods  southwest 

from  the  falls S.  30°  E.  and  S.  70°  E.  (fig.  35) 

Five  rods  east  from  the  last,  stria?  were  noted  at  different 

spots  within  a  space  of  about  one  rod  square  of  nearly  level 

rock,  bearing  S.  30°,  50°  and  70°  E. 

Generally  here  these  marks  have  been  effaced,  and  none  could 

be  found  on  the  ledge  described  in  the  N.  W.  J  of  sec.  28, 

Storden. 

Dale,  S.  W.  }  of  sec.  6 S.  20°  to  25°  E. 

Dale,  south  part  of  sec.  7 S.  34°  E. 

Amo,  east  part  of  sec.  12 S.  30°  to  32°  E. 

Near  the  Little  Cottonwood  falls,  in  the  S.  E.  J  of  section  8,  Delton,  and  at  points  on  the 
north  side  of  the  quartzyte  ridge  in  the  northwest  part  of  this  township,  the  ar.gles  of  projecting 
ledges  of  this  rock  were  observed  to  be  rounded  off  by  glaciation. 

The  most  remarkable  deflections  and  intercrossing  of  glacial  striae  ever  seen  by  the  writer, 
were  found  at  the  locality  mentioned  in  the  N.  W.  }  of  section  9,  Delton.  It  is  on  the  southern 
slope  of  the  rid^e  formed  by  this  quartzyte,  as  already  described.  This  ridge  is  elevated  about 
300  feet  above  the  lowland,  which,  from  its  base  two  or  three  miles  farther  north,  extends  north- 
ward more  than  fifty  miles,  across  the  basin  of  the  Minnesota  river;  but  its  bight  above  the  aver- 


504  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Glacial  itria-. 

age  surface  to  the  south  and  southwest  is  slight,  probably  not  exceeding  50  feet.  Its  length  is 
about  twenty-five  miles,  extending  from  east  to  west;  and  this  locality  is  near  the  middle  of  its 
extent.  Very  distinct  glacial  markings  occur  here  promiscuously  crossing  each  other  in  all  di- 
rections between  north  to  south  and  S.  60"  E.,  and,  very  rarely,  S.  80°  E.;  but  a  great  majority 
are  between  S.  25"  E.  and  S.  40"  E.  Many  are  from  ten  to  thirty  feet  or  more  in  length,  and 
from  an  eighth  to  a  half  of  an  inch  deep;  others  are  very  delicate  lilies.  Curved  strise  were  ob- 
served at  one  place;  two  or  three  parallel  furrows  (fig.  36),  covering  a  width  of  several  inches  and 
extending  about  ten  feet  to  the  southeast,  were  gradually  deflected  nine  inches  southerly  from 
their  direct  course  in  the  last  four  feet.  All  the  other  very  abundant  intercrossed  striae  observed 
here  are  straight,  or  deviate  only  slightly  from  straight  courses.  The  outcrop  containing  pipe- 
stone  in  section  2,  Amboy,  furnished  the  only  similar  instance  seen  in  these  counties.  Here  sev- 
eral parallel  glacial  scratches  bend  twenty  or  thirty  degrees  in  a  length  of  about  eight  inches  (fig. 
37).  The  curvature  of  these  ice-marks,  where  no  obstacle  existed  to  cause  deflection,  indicate 
that  they  were  engraved  during  the  final  melting  and  recession  of  the  ice-sheet, when  it  had  be- 
come thin,  and  that  its  margin  at  the  date  of  this  curved  striation  was  near,  perhaps  within  a  few 
rods.  In  such  a  situation  the  unequal  melting  of  the  edge  of  the  ice  must  produce  changes,  such 
as  are  thus  recorded,  in  the  direction  of  its  motion.*  The  prominence  of  the  quartzyte  ridge 
doubtless  gave  unusual  irregularity  to  the  outlines  of  the  retreating  ice-border  in  northern  Cot- 
tonwood  county,  which,  by  the  resulting  deflections  of  the  glacial  current,  appears  to  have  been 
the  cause  of  the  singularly  varying  and  intercrossed  striation  of  this  region. 

During  the  greater  part  of  the  last  glacial  epoch  the  ice-fields  here 
appear  to  have  flowed  in  a  nearly  south-southeast  course;  but  when  they 
were  being  melted  away,  the  direction  of  movement  close  to  the  ice-border 
would  be  often  deflected  because  it  must  flow  toward  the  nearest  part  of 
this  irregular  and  changing  boundary,  which  here  and  there  became  in- 
dented by  bays  of  small  or  large  extent.  The  intersecting  striae  on  the 
ledge  in  section  9,  Delton,  record  very  changeable  glacial  currents,  now 
deflected  to  a  due  south  course,  twenty  degrees  to  the  right  from  the  direc- 
tion which  they  had  previously  held  through  this  glacial  epoch,  but  presently 
diverging  as  much  or  twice  or  three  times  as  much  to  the  left,  attaining 
a  southeast  or  even  a  nearly  east  course.  The  medial  moraine  directly 
south  of  this  locality,  in  Carson  and  Lakeside,  suggests  that,  when  the  ice 
retreated,  probably  two  glacial  currents  converged  here,  pushing  against 
each  other,  and  that  the  striae  bearing  south  were  made  by  the  current  on 
the  east,  and  those  bearing  S.  60°  to  80°  E.  by  the  current  on  the  west. 

Divergences  to  the  east  from  the  prevailing  direction  of  glaciation 
were  noted  also  four  miles  farther  northwest,  in  Amboy  and  Germantown, 
upon  the  northern  slope  and  at  the  north  base  of  this  massive  ridge.  In 
Germantown  a  surface  about  a  yard  square  was  observed,  on  half  of  which 
the  striae  bear  uniformly  S.  30°  E.,  and  on  the  other  half  S.  70°  E.,  as  shown 
in  fig.  35,  these  portions  meeting  at  a  slightly  beveled  angle  from  which 

•Similar  curved  strise  are  recorded  and  figured  by  Desor  ( Foster  and    Whitney's  Report  on  the  take  Superior  land 
district,  part  I.,  p.  206),  and  by  Andrews  (Am.  Jour.  Sc«.(.3),  vol.  xxvi,  p.  100,  Aug.,  1883). 


COTTON  WOOD  AND  JACKSON  COUNTIES.  5Q5 

Glacial  striae.     Moraines.] 

each  side  slopes  down  two  or  three  degrees.*  The  former  of  these  courses  of 
striation  is  probably  that  which  prevailed  till  the  departure  of  the  ice-sheet, 
when  the  great  quartzyte  ridge  and  the  irregularity  of  the  glacial  melting 
caused  a  deflection  of  forty  degrees  toward  the  east.  The  later  ice-current 
was  steadily  maintained  during  a  considerable  time,  sufficient  for  planing 
off  a  part  of  this  surface  of  very  hai'd  quartzyte,  but  not  touching  the  ad- 
joining part,  which  could  only  escape  by  having  a  thin  covering  of  drift. 


FIG.  35.  Fio.  36.  FIG.  37. 

IS  THE  K.  E.  !i  OF     IN  THE  IT.  W.  %  OF     I»  THE  8.  W.  J^ 
SEC.  36,  GERMASTOWW.    SEC.  9,  DELTON.     OF  SEC.  2.  AMBOY. 
SKETCHES  OF  GLACIAL  STRLE  ON  THE  QUARTZYTE  IN  COTTONWOOD  COUNTY. 

The  drift  spread  over  Cottonwood  and  Jackson  counties  is  principally 
till,  in  part  morainic,  being  accumulated  in  knolls  and  hills,  or  with  a 
prominently  rolling  surface  in  massive,  smoothly  sloping  swells,  but  fpr 
the  greater  part  it  is  only  gently  undulating  in  contour.  Its  thickness  on 
the  quartzyte  ridge  varies  from  nothing  to  probably  fifty  feet  or  more,  and 
in  other  portions  of  these  counties  it  probably  varies  from  one  hundred  to 
two  hundred  feet  in  depth.  The  moraines  to  be  described  were  formed  at 
the  west  border  of  the  ice-sheet  of  the  last  glacial  epoch,  the  first  when 
this  ice  covered  its  maximum  area,  and  the  second  after  it  had  receded 
considerably  from  its  farthest  limits,  when  its  retreat  was  interrupted  by  a 
halt  and  perhaps  even  by  some  re-advance. 

First  terminal  moraine.  The  outer  or  western  morainic  belt  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies  ex- 
tends into  the  south  edge  of  this  state  along  its  course  of  twenty  miles  next  west  of  Spirit  lake, 
where  the  greater  part  of  its  width  lies  in  Iowa.  From  the  Little  Sioux  river  at  the  west  side  of 
Minneota,  through  Sioux  Valley  and  Round  Lake  townships,  to  Indian  lake  in  southeastern 
Nobles  county,  the  part  of  this  formation  in  Minnesota  is  characterized  by  numerous  small 
ridges,  hillock?,  and  swells  of  till,  and  is  from  one  and  a  half  to  five  miles  wide,  reaching  north 
to  Skunk  lake,  to  a  half  mile  beyond  Rush  lake,  to  Plum  Island  and  Round  lakes,  and  to  the 
north  end  of  Indian  lake.  Its  greatest  extent  north  in  this  distance  is  at  the  north  side  of  Round 
lake;  but  south  of  this  a  tract  about  two  miles  wide  and  three  miles  long  to  the  east  from  State 
Line  lake,  is  smooth  and  only  slightly  undulating,  though  enclosed  by  rolling  or  knolly  morainic 
areas. 

Second  terminal  moraine.  The  inner  or  eastern  of  the  two  terminal  moraines  upon  the  Co- 
teau des  Prairies  extends  from  the  west  side  of  Spirit  lake  north  through  the  central  range  of 
townships  in  Jackson  county.  The  width  of  this  belt  is  from  three  to  six  miles.  Its  surface  is 

•Compare  similar  observations  in  Rock  county,  reported  in  chapter  xviii. 


506  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Moraines. 

prominently  rolling,  mostly  in  massive  swells,  20  to  40  feet  above  the  depressions,  but  at  many 
places  in  small,  steep  knolls  and  hillocks  of  similar  hight.  The  elevation  of  the  range  above  the 
general  level  is  from  40  to  75  feet.  Its  material  is  till,  which  here  contains  more  gravel  and  boul- 
ders than  on  its  smooth,  slightly  undulating  areas  which  extend  at  each  side  beyond  the  limits  of 
the  county.  In  Minneota  this  morainic  belt  is  about  three  miles  wide,  reaching  from  Little  Spirit 
lake  and  Clear  lakes  west  to  the  Little  Sioux  river.  It  here  has  many  knolls  and  short  ridges 
which  continue  into  Hunter,  and  are  crossed  seven  to  ten  miles  west  of  Jackson  by  the  road  to 
Worthiugton.  Farther  to  the  north,  the  moraine  forms  a  prominently  rolling  tract,  about  six 
miles  wide,  between  the  Des  Moines  and  Heron  lake,  rising  in  smooth  massive  swells  50  to  75 
feet  above  the  general  level  at  the  top  of  the  bluffs  of  the  river,  and  75  to  100  feet  above  the  lake. 

In  the  southwest  part  of  Cottonwood  county,  this  belt  of  notably  rolling  and  hilly  drift  occu- 
pies the  west  half  of  Great  Bend,  the  north  part  of  Springfield,  northeastern  South  Brook,  south- 
western Amo,  and  nearly  all  of  Rose  Hill.  Its  width  in  these  townships  varies  from  two  to  five 
miles.  To  the  northwest  from  the  offset  of  the  Des  Moines  river  which  crosses  this  formation 
in  Springfield,  it  lies  a  few  miles  northeast  of  this  river  and  parallel  with  it,  having  within  the 
limits  of  this  county  and  especially  in  Rose  Hill  township  a  prominently  rolling  contour  in  smooth 
swells,  20  to  40  feet  above  the  intervening  hollows  and  frequent  lakes.  To  the  south  from  this 
offset  and  the  great  bend  of  the  Des  Moines,  the  second  terminal  moraine  lies  west  of  this  river 
and  approximately  parallel  with  it,  their  distance  apart  being  from  one  to  ten  or  twelve  miles, 
along  an  extent  of  a  hundred  and  forty  miles,  through  Jackson  county  and  onward  in  a  nearly 
south-southeast  course  to  Pilot  mound  and  Mineral  ridge  in  northern  Boone  county  near  the  cen- 
ter of  Iowa. 

The  most  conspicuous  portion  and  most  roughly  broken  contour  of  this  morainic  belt  in  Cot- 
tonwood county  are  in  the  west  part  of  Great  Bend,  where  a  group  or  range  of  hills,  known  as  the 
Blue  mounds,  begins  three  miles  west  of  Windom  and  thence  extends  three  or  four  miles  in  a  north- 
west course,  with  a  width  varying  from  a  half  mile  to  one  and  a  half  miles,  lying  between  the  Des 
Mojnes  river  on  the  northeast  and  Spring  lakes  on  the  southwest.  These  hills  are  composed  of 
till  with  frequent  boulders,  and  rise  in  very  irregular  slopes  to  hights  100  to  175  feet  above  the 
river  and  25  to  75  feet  above  the  general  level  at  their  west  side.  The  most  elevated  of  these 
mounds,  in  sections  17  and  20,  are  visible  from  the  southeast  part  of  Murray  county,  fifteen  miles 
to  the  west;  but  from  the  east  they  can  only  be  seen  within  a  distance  of  six  or  eight  miles. 

Medial  moraine.  Across  the  Des  Moines  river,  the  land  ascending  from  it  east  of  Windom, 
opposite  to  the  Blue  mounds,  has  similar  but  less  prominent  morainic  features.  It  consists  of 
irregular  knolls,  hillocks,  and  low  ridges  of  till,  with  enclosed  hollows  and  lakes,  occupying  a 
width  of  two  or  three  miles,  and  gradually  rising  in  this  distance  about  100  feet  above  the  Des 
Moines  river.  This  tract  seems  to  be  part  of  a  medial  moraine  (so  called  because  formed  between 
opposing  ice-currents),  connected  with  the  second  terminal  moraine  as  a  branch  from  its  northeast 
side,  and  extending  north  through  the  two  western  ranges  of  sections  in  Lakeside  and  Carson. 
Its  most  broken  portion  is  found  in  sections  17,  8  and  5.  Carson,  which  have  many  small  hillsand 
ridges  40  to  75  feet  high,  mostly  trending  from  north  to  south,  composed  of  till  with  abundant 
boulders.  Ten  miles  north  from  these  hills  in  Carson  is  the  morainic  tract  through  which  Mound 
creek  flows  in  Stately,  but  the  intervening  area,  across  which  the  quartz jte  ridge  extends  from 
east  to  west,  is  destitute  of  such  knolly  drift  deposits. 

East  of  the  second  moraine,  the  country  extending  from  it  to  the  Des  Moines  river  in  southern 
Jackson  county  is  till,  nearly  flat  through  the  central  part  of  Middletown  for  five  or  six  miles 
northeast  from  Spirit  lake;  moderately  undulating  in  the  eastern  third  of  Minneota;  and  in  the 
west  part  of  Des  Moines  township  massively  rolling,  in  parallel  swells  that  trend  nearly  from 
north  to  south,  sloping  gently  down  on  their  east  and  west  sides  to  the  intervening  depressions 
which  are  30  to  50  feet  lower,  the  distance  between  the  tops  of  these  undulations  being  from  a 
half  mile  to  one  or  two  miles. 

The  surface  of  the  part  of  Jackson  county  east  of  the  Des  Moines  river  is  a  smooth,  nearly 
flat,  but  everywhere  more  or  less  undulating  sheet  of  till,  sloping  eastward  ten  to  twenty  feet 
per  mile.  Its  descent  on  the  line  of  the  Southern  Minnesota  railroad  is  173  feet  in  eleven  and  a  half 
miles  from  the  junction  of  the  branch  to  Jackson,  at  the  top  of  the  eastern  bluff  of  the  Des  Moines. 

Beyond  the  knolly  and  broken  ascent  east  from  the  Des  Moines  river  in  the  vicinity  of  Win- 
dom, the  contour  changes  to  a  smooth  and  nearly  flat  expanse  of  till,  which  thence  extends  seventy- 


COTTONWOOD  AND  JACKSON  COUNTIES.  5Q7 

Moraines.    Interglacial  drainage.] 

five  miles  eastward,  descending  with  an  imperceptible  slope  to  the  Blue  Earth  river,  and  beyond 
this  rising  in  the  same  manner  to  the  belts  of  drift  hills  at  the  sources  of  the  Le  Sueur  and  Cannon 
rivers,  well  named  by  Nicollet  "  the  N.  E.  prong  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies,"  since  they  are  of 
the  same  age  with  the  moraines  of  these  counties  and  a  curved  continuation  from  them  (see  page 
406).  The  eastern  two-thirds  of  Lakeside  and  Carson,  and  all  of  Mountain  Lake  township,  in- 
cluded in  the  vast  area  of  intra-morainic  till,  are  slightly  undulating  and  differ  only  five  to 
ten  feet  in  broad  swells  and  depressions  from  being  a  perfect  plain.  This  expanse,  stretching  on 
all  sides  to  the  horizon,  would  be  commonly  called  level,  but  the  survey  of  the  Saint  Paul  &  Sioux 
City  railroad  shows  that  its  descent  eastward  is  uniformly  about  twenty  feet  per  mile  through 
these  townships,  or  some  200  feet  in  the  ten  miles  from  the  railroad  summit  a  mile  west  of  Bing- 
ham  Lake  to  the  east  line  of  this  county.  If  the  same  slope  were  continued  westward  it  would 
pass  over  the  summit  of  the  Blue  mounds;  hence  they  cannot  be  seen  east  of  Bingham  Lake. 

Mountain  lake,  which  has  given  its  name  to  a  railroad  station  and  township,  is  so  called  be- 
cause it  contains  an  island  that  rises  about  35  or  40  feet  in  steep  bluffs,  attaining  the  same  hight 
with  the  bluffs  that  surround  the  lake,  even  with  the  average  surface  of  its  vicinity.  The  prob- 
able origin  of  this  depression  and  of  its  steep  enclosing  bluffs,  has  been  pointed  out  in  treating  of 
the  chains  of  lakes  in  Martin  county,  the  most  western  of  which  appears  to  have  its  beginning  in 
this  lake. 

West  of  the  second  moraine,  the  eastern  shore  of  Heron  lake  mainly  rises  in  gradual  slopes  of 
till,  reaching  the  summits  of  the  morainic  belt  at  a  distance  of  three  or  four  miles;  the  south  end 
of  this  lake,  lying  within  the  edge  of  the  moraine,  is  enclosed  by  banks  about  forty  feet  high;  but 
on  the  west  and  southwest  is  a  very  flat  expanse  of  till,  10  to  20  feet  above  the  lake,  only  undu- 
lating five  to  ten  feet  in  slopes  a  mile  long,  stretching  with  slowly  increasing  hight  as  far  as  the 
view  extends  westward.  On  the  Sioux  City  railroad  in  the  ten  miles  southwest  from  Heron  Lake 
to  Hersey,  the  ascent  is  68  feet;  in  eight  miles  on  its  branch  from  Heron  Lake  northwest  to  Dun- 
dee, 26  feet;  and  on  the  Southern  Minnesota  railroad  in  seven  miles  northwest  from  its  intersec- 
tion with  the  Sioux  City  line  to  De  Forest,  is  32  feet.  Trains  approaching  De  Forest  from  the 
southeast  come  into  sight  near  the  south  end  of  Heron  lake,  and  are  visible  during  forty  minutes 
before  their  arrival.  This  smooth  plain  of  till  continues  south  through  Rust  and  Ewington  town- 
ships, having  the  same  slight  ascent  to  the  west,  and  crossed  from  north  to  south  or  southeast  by 
occasional  water-courses  and  sloughs  ten  to  twenty  feet  below  the  general  level. 

Interglacial  drainage.  Heron  lake  lies  in  the  continuation  of  the  southeast  course  of  the 
upper  Des  Moines  river  below  lake  Shetek.  There  seem  to  be  good  reasons  for  believing  that 
lake  Shetek,  this  part  of  the  Des  Moines,  Heron  lake,  and  Spirit  and  Okoboji  lakes  in  Iowa,  re- 
semble the  chains  of  lakes  of  Martin  county,  in  occupying  portions  of  what  was  originally  a  con- 
tinuous valley  excavated  by  interglacial  drainage  in  the  thick  till  of  the  earlier  and  severer  gla- 
cial epoch,  before  the  time  of  the  last  ice-sheet  by  which  the  terminal  moraines  in  this  and  ad- 
joining states  were  formed.  It  is  probable  that  the  Des  Moines  river  then  continued  southeast 
where  Heron  lake  is  now,  and  oi^vard  in  the  same  course  through  Hunter,  where  the  rolling 
and  hilly  drift  of  the  second  terminal  moraine  now  forms  a  watershed  a  hundred  feet  above 
Heron  lake;  thence  southward  at  the  east  side  of  Minneota  to  Spirit  lake  and  the  Okoboji  lakes; 
then,  from  West  Okoboji  lake  south  along  the  course  of  the  Little  Sioux  river,  which  now  re- 
ceives the  outflow  of  these  lakes,  to  its  bend  three  miles  east  of  Spencer;  and  thence  eastward 
about  twenty  miles,  by  Trumbull,  Palo  Alto  and  Lost  Island  lakes,  re-entering  the  present  val- 
ley of  the  Des  Moines  river  at  Emmettsburg.  Hights  along  this  distance  are  approximately  as 
follows:  lake  Shetek,  about  1,475  feet  above  the  sea;  the  Des  Moines  river  at  its  point  nearest  to 
Heron  lake,  about  1,375;  Heron  lake,  1,403;  railroad  summit  between  Heron  lake  and  Jackson, 
1,517;  Spirit  lake,  about  1,400;  the  Okoboji  lakes,  about  four  feet  lower  than  Spirit  lake;  Little 
Sioux  river  at  Spencer,  about  1,300;  lakes  and  lowest  part  of  the  divide  between  Spencer  and 
Emmettsburg,  about  1,350;  and  the  Des  Moines  river  at  Emmettsburg,  about  1,125.  The  re- 
markable depth  of  the  south  part  of  West  Okoboji  lake,  exceeding  one  hundred  feet,  is  thus  very 
probably  in  an  unfilled  portion  of  an  interglacial  valley,  elsewhere  choked  up  with  the  drift  of 
the  later  ice-sheet  by  which  the  morainic  hills  and  swells,  partly  rough  and  partly  smooth,  ad- 
joining this  lake  and  covering  most  of  northern  Dickinson  county,  in  Iowa,  were  accumulated. 

'At  Emmettsburg  this  interglacial  Des  Moines  river  was  joined  by  a  large  tributary  from  the 
north,  formed  by  the  union  of  the  streams  whose  courses  are  marked  by  the  chains  of  lakes  in 


508  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Glacial  drainage , 

Martin  county,  and  flowing  southwestward  across  Emmett  county  at  right  angles  to  the  present 
East  fork  of  the  Des  Moines.  Portions  of  its  channel  are  preserved  in  Swan  lake,  six  and  a  naif 
miles  long  from  northeast  to  southwest,  and  from  one-fourth  to  two-thirds  of  a  mile  wide,  only 
ten  to  fifteen  feet  deep,  but  occupying  a  hollow  twenty-five  to  fifty  feet  below  the  gently  undu- 
lating expanse  of  till  on  both  sides;  and  in  the  High  lakes,  nearly  three  miles  long,  lying  one  to 
three  miles  south  of  the  soutwest  end  of  Swan  lake.  This  river  probably  coincided  in  its  course 
with  the  present  Des  Moines  southward  from  the  north  line  of  Palo  Alto  county.  Medium  lake, 
which  readies  four  and  a  half  miles  northeast  from  Emmettsburg,  varying  from  a  quarter  to  a 
half  of  a  mile  in  width,  mostly  ten  to  fifteen  feet  deep,  with  a  bottom  some  forty  feet  below  the 
average  of  this  moderately  undulating  region,  but  at  one  point,  a  little  north  of  its  center,  found 
to  be  more  than  fifty  feet  deep,  its  surface  being  about  thirty  feet  above  the  Des  Moines  river, 
probably  marks  the  position  of  another  interglacial  tributary  of  the  Des  Moines,  joining  it  at 
nearly  the  same  place  with  the  branch  from  Martin  county. 

Drainage  during  the  last  glacial  epoch.  Very  significant  changes  in  the  drainage  of  this  region 
have  been  produced  by  the  lobe  of  the  ice-sheet  which  covered  these  counties  and  a  width  of  about 
a  hundred  miles  eastward  during  the  last  glacial  epoch.  From  the  south  end  of  Heron  lake  to 
Okoboji  township  in  southern  Dickinson  county,  Iowa,  the  interglacial  channel  of  the  Des  Moines 
has  been  principally  lost  by  being  filled  with  the  drift  of  terminal  moraines,  accumulated  at  the 
west  border  of  the  ice.  The  outer  belt  of  these  deposits  extends  in  Iowa  from  Storm  Lake  in 
Buena  Vista  county  northward  through  eastern  Clay  county  to  the  Okoboji  lakes,  and  thence 
westward  to  Ocheyedan  mound  in  Osceola  county.  Thence  passing  into  Minnesota,  it  reaches 
northwesterly  through  the  central  part  of  Nobles  county,  western  Murray  county,  and  the  most 
northeast  township  of  Pipestone  county,  forming  there  and  farther  northwest  the  highest  part  of 
the  Coteau  des  Prairies.  The  present  basin  of  the  Des  Moines  river  from  central  Iowa  northwest- 
ward was  entirely  covered  by  this  ice-sheet;  but  a  small  part  of  its  interglacial  valley,  in  southern 
Dickinson  and  northern  Clay  county,  Iowa,  and  most  of  the  basin  of  Ocheyedan  creek,  here  trib- 
utary from  the  northwest,  were  outside  the  ice-lobe,  by  which  they  were  dammed  and  their  drain- 
age in  the  old  course  to  the  east  and  southeast  was  made  impossible.  A  lake  about  a  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  deep  and  covering  the  greater  part  of  Clay  county,  was  thus  formed  at  the  west  side  of 
the  ice-lobe,  until  its  overflow  cut  the  deep,  trough-like  valley  or  channel  in  which  the  Little  Sioux 
river  now  flows  along  the  south  side  of  Clay  county  and  in  northeastern  Cherokee  county,  150  to 
200  feet  deep,  and  in  some  places  only  a  quarter  of  a  mile  wide  between  the  tops  of  its  bluffs, 
which  consist  wholly  of  glacial  drift.*  This  outlet  was  so  deeply  excavated  while  the  ice-sheet 
lay  as  a  barrier  on  the  east  that  after  its  departure  the  stream  continued  to  flow  by  this  passage 
to  the  Missouri,  through  a  broad  area  of  till  which  has  its  surface  100  to  150  feet  higher  than  the 
divide  between  the  Little  Sioux  and  Des  Moines  rivers  east  of  Spencer. 

In  northern  Clay  county,  where  the  Little  Sioux  river  takes  the  place  of  the  interglacial  Des 
Moines,  the  broad  and  deep  valley  eroded  by  that  stream  before  the  last  glacial  epoch  has  become 
nearly  filled  with  modified  drift,  which  forms  an  extensive  plajp,  ten  miles  long  and  two  to  four 
miles  wide,  bordering  the  Little  Sioux  river  through  Summit,  Kiverton  and  Spencer,  reaching 
west  to  Stony  and  Ocheyedan  creeks.  These  fluvial  beds  of  gravel  and  sand  were  deposited  after 
the  excavation  of  the  channel  of  the  Little  Sioux  river,  by  which  the  lake  that  previously  existed 
here  had  been  drained  into  the  Missouri;  and  they  are  thus  shown  to  have  been  supplied  during 
the  latter  part  of  this  epoch,  while  the  ice-sheet,  in  which  they  had  been  held,  was  being  melted 
away. 

The  decline  and  departure  of  this  ice  was  interrupted  by  a  halt  and  probably  by  a  re-advance, 
forming  a  second  or  inner  line  of  terminal  moraine,  which  reaches  through  Murray,  Cottonwood 
and  Jackson  counties,  from  the  east  side  of  lake  Shetek  southeast  to  the  Blue  mounds  west  of 
Windom,  and  thence  south  to  Spirit  lake,  and  continues  southeast  in  Iowa  within  a  few  miles 
west  of  the  Des  Moines  river  to  Pilot  mound  and  Mineral  ridge.  At  this  time  the  drainage  from 
the  head  of  the  Des  Moines  basin,  in  Murray  county,  and  the  waters  of  Heron  lake  and  its  tribu- 
taries went  southward  through  West  Heron  Lake,  Bust  and  Sioux  Valley  townships,  and  were 
carried  by  the  Little  Sioux  to  the  Missouri  river,  instead  of  going  southeast  as  now  to  the  Missis- 
sippi. Heron  lake  then  stood  about  twenty  feet  higher  than  now,  probably  covering  three  times 
its  present  area.  The  shallow  channel  of  its  overflow  has  become  partly  filled  by  the  silt  of  tribu- 

•White's  Geology  of  Iowa,  vol.  ii.,  p.  205. 


COTTON  WOOD  AND  JACKSON  COUNTIES..  509 

Glacial  drainage.      Boulders.] 

taries,  and  contains  a  succession  of  sloughs  and  small  reedy  lakelets,  connected  at  time  of  high 
water  by  a  stream,  which  is  the  head  and  most  northern  source  of  the  Little  Sioux  river. 

Farther  recession  of  the  ice  gave  to  the  waters  of  Heron  lake  and  the  upper  Des  Moines 
river  a  lower  outlet  by  the  present  course  northeast  across  the  second  terminal  moraine  at  the 
north  side  of  the  Blue  mounds,  and  thence  southeasterly  along  the  east  side  of  this  moraine. 
This  avenue  of  drainage  became  marked  by  a  considerable  valley  eroded  while  the  ice  yet  lay  as 
a  barrier  upon  the  east  part  of  Cottonwood  and  Jackson  counties;  for  the  top  of  the  bluffs,  and 
the  general  surface  of  the  country,  bordering  the  Des  Moines  in  eastern  Jackson  county  are  slightly 
higher  than  the  watershed  between  Heron  lake  and  the  Little  Sioux  river;  and,  furthermore,  the 
natural  slope  in  eastern  Cottonwood  and  northeastern  Jackson  county  is  eastward,  so  that  this 
river  could  not  flow  here  to  the  south-southeast  unless  its  valley  had  been  thus  formed  before  the 
ice-sheet  was  melted  at  its  east^side,  being  excavated  sufficiently  deep  to  hold  the  stream  after- 
ward in  this  course. 

An  exception  to  the  generally  smooth  contour  of  the  drift-sheet  north  of  the  quartzyte  ridge 
is  found  in  a  quite  roughly  hilly  morainic  area,  apparently  isolated,  which  lies  mainly  in  the  north 
half  of  Stately,  the  most  southwest  township  of  Brown  county,  and  extends  into  Germantown  to 
the  west  side  of  section  12.  Its  abrupt  mounds  and  ridges  of  stony  till  are  25  to  75  feet  high, 
having  their  greatest  prominence  in  Stately  along  the  lower  part  of  Mound  creek.  This  tract  ap- 
pears to  belong  to  a  third  terminal  moraine.*  Through  the  middle  of  Germantown  a  notable 
valley,  having  a  flat  bottom  of  stratified  gravel  and  sand,  enclosed  by  moderately  steep  slopes 
which  rise  about  forty  feet  to  the  undulating  surface  of  the  till  on  each  side,  was  observed,  ex- 
tendii:g  five  or  six  miles  in  an  east-southeast  course  from  near  Dry  creek  at  the  north  side  of 
section  17  in  this  township,  to  Mound  creek  at  the  east  side  of  section  30,  Stately.  Another  val- 
ley of  similar  character  was  noted  three-fourths  of  a  mile  farther  south,  running  parallel  with  the 
last  through  the  north  part  of  sections  25  and  26,  Germantown.  These  deserted  water-courses 
were  probably  formed  during  the  departure  of  the  last  ice-sheet.  Upon  this  region  its  border 
doubtless  retreated  to  the  north  and  northeast;  and  while  it,  still  lay  as  a  barrier  upon  the  north 
part  of  Germantown  and  was  accumulating  the  morainic  hills  that  lie  a  few  miles  to  the  north- 
east in  Stately,  the  drainage  from  its  melting  was  carried  by  these  valleys  southeasterly.  Farther 
northwest,  the  land  for  a  considerable  distance  along  the  probable  course  of  the  ice-margin  in 
this  stage  of  its  retreat  is  lower  than  where  these  valleys  occur,  and  therefore  would  be  occupied 
by  a  lake;  and  again  southeastward,  from  the  south  part  of  Stately  to  Silver  Lake  in  Martin 
county,  a  narrow  glacial  lake  probably  extended  along  the  border  of  the  ice- sheet,  having  a  hight 
about  1200  feet  above  the  sea,  and  overflowing  south  of  Iowa  lake  to  the  East  fork  of  the  Des 
Moines  river. 

Boulders  and  pebbles.  The  boulders  of  the  drift  in  these  counties  are 
mainly  granite  and  syenite,  crystalline  schists,  quartzyte,  and  limestone. 
The  quartzyte  ridge  in  northern  Cottonwood  county  has  supplied  from 
a  tenth  to  a  half  of  the  large  rock-fragments  in  the  drift  south  of  it.  In 
traveling  from  Fairmont  to  Worthington,  boulders  and  pebbles  of  quartz- 
yte are  first  seen  abundantly  in  the  vicinity  of  Jackson,  and  are  plentiful 
thence  westward.  At  the  northwest  side  of  Spirit  lake  this  formation  has 
supplied  a  ^ixth  part  of  the  larger  stones  and  boulders,  but  its  proportion 
in  the  beach-gravel  is  only  a  fifteenth  or  twentieth.  Of  a  hundred  and 
fifty  small  pebbles  counted  on  a  space  one  foot  square  of  the  beach  at  the 
west  side  of  Spirit  lake,  half  were  magnesian  limestone,  probably  derived 
from  the  formation  that  outcrops  near  Winnipeg;  and  the  other  half  were 

•See  page  479;  also  tlie  report  of  Brown  and  Redwood  counties. 


510  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Wells 

granite  and  syenite,  schists,  white  quartz,  the  red  quartzyte,  etc.  One  peb- 
ble, two  inches  long,  of  pipestone,  one  of  conglomerate,  and  seven  or  eight 
of  the  ordinary  quartzyte,  doubtless  all  derived  from  the  Potsdam  forma- 
tion in  Cottonwood  county,  were  included  in  this  number.  Among  the 
large  boulders,  over  one  foot  in  diameter,  in  these  counties,  it  may  be  that 
a  twentieth  part  are  limestone.  At  Windom  limestone  containing  Eeceptac- 
ulites  was  found  in  the  drift  by  Mr.  Savidge,  in  digging  his  cellar. 

Modified  drift.  The  only  noteworthy  deposits  of  modified  drift  ob- 
served are  the  terraces  in  the  Des  Moines  valley  at  Jackson,  which  have 
been  already  described  on  page  496. 

Wells  in  Cottonwood  county. 

Kecords  of  the  deposits  of  drift  dug  through  for  wells  in  Cottonwood  county  are  as  follows: 
.     Selma.    C.  J.  Gabrielson;  sec.  10:  well,  18  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,14;  blue  till,  harder, 
but  spaded,  2  feet;  water  seeps. 

Silas  Blackmun;  sec.  10:  well,  22  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  16;  harder  blue  til),  4;  water 
rose  two  and  a  half  feet,  in  very  large  supply,  from  a  compact  and  hard  gravelly  layer  at  the, 
bottom. 

Mountain  Lake.  Eailroad  well :  dug  67  feet,  and  bored  5  feet  more,  stopped  by  a  boulder ; 
obtaining  a  fair  supply  of  water,  but  probably  all  from  the  upper  part  of  the  well. 

Lake  hotel;  Frank  Shaubut,  proprietor:  well,  64  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  24;  blue  till,  very 
hard  and  compact,  38  feet ;  water  rose  from  the  bottom  to  stand  eight  feet  below  the  top  in  • 
twelve  hours.  This  water  was  good  the  first  year,  but  afterward  gradually  became  very.offen- 
sive  to  smell  and  taste,  so  that  the  well  is  no  longer  used.  It  has  wooden  curbing,  the  decay  of 
which  was  probably  the  source  of  its  contamination.  Another  well,  four  rods  east  from  the  last, 
found  soil  2  feet,  and  yellow  till,  24  feet,  from  which  water  seeps  in  good  supply  and  of  excellent 
quality. 

Most  of  the  wells  at  Mountain  Lake  village  are  15  to  35  feet  deep.  The  yellow  till  varies  in 
thickness  from  15  to  30  feet,  succeeded  by  blue  till. 

A.  L.  Warren;  sec.  34,  about  a  mile  east  of  the  depot:  well,  45  feet;  soil  2 ;  yellow  till,  28; 
yellowish  gray  quicksand,  15  feet,  not  passed  through;  plenty  of  water.  The  only  other  well  in 
this  region  that  finds  this  quicksand  is  a  neighbor's,  some  ten  rods  south. 

Delton.  S.  M.  Beaty;  N.  W.  J  of  sec.  18:  well,  28  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  18;  Pots- 
dam quartzyte,  8;  water  came  in  slowly,  and  holds  through  the  year  ten  to  fifteen  feet  deep. 

This  township  has  two  flowing  wells,  the  only  ones  learned  of  in  Cottonwood  county:  Joseph 
S.  Naramore's,  in  sec.  12,  38  feet  deep,  which  has  overflowed  six  years ;  and  Richard  Lahart's 
well,  about  16  feet  deep,  in  sec.  34. 

Carson.  Arthur  Minion;  sec.  4:  well,  22  feet;  soil,  2  feet;  yellow  till,  shaded,  10;  blue  till, 
much  harder,  picked,  10;  water  rose  from  sand  and  gravel  fifteen  feet  in  as  many  minutes  Frag- 
ments of  lignite  are  often  found  in  the  wells  of  this  region. 

Lakeside.  Lakeside  mill  (steam  flouring  mill),  at  Bingham  Lake:  well,  100  feet  deep; 
dug  50  feet  and  bored  below,  all  in  till;  has  forty  feet  of  water.  Other  wells  at  Bingham  Lake 
are  15  to  20  feet  deep,  with  plenty  of  good  water.  Stoned  wells  in  this  township  iivariably  have 
good  water;  but  those  curbed  with  wood  all  become  poor  because  of  its  decay. 

Germantown.  Colin  Buchanan  ;  sec.  20:  well,  23  feet;  soil,  1  foot;  yellow  till,  spaded.  20 
feet,  containing  a  sandy  layer  at  ten  feet,  which  was  one  and  a  half  feet  thick  and  dipped  45°  to 
the  north;  gravel  and  sand,  2  feet,  from  which  water  rose  six  feet  in  three  hours. 

Amboy.  Henry  Stubb;  sec.  24:  well,  30  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  13  feet,  its  last 
five  feet  being  most  sandy  and  gravelly,  but  also  the  hardest;  blue  till,  likewise  spaded,  15  feet; 
water  rose  ten  feet  in  one  day  from  gravel  and  sand.  Several  pieces  of  lignite,  up  to  six  inches 
in  length,  were  found  in  this  well.  All  the  wells  in  Amboy  and  Delton  have  good  water. 


COTTON  WOOD  AND  JACKSON  COUNTIES.  51 1 

Wells.] 

Dale.  J.  Q.  Picket ;  sec.  2  :  well,  20  feet;  soil,  2 ;  yellow  till,  spaded,  18 ;  water  rose  five 
feet  in  one  day.  The  majority  of  the  wells  in  Dale  have  excellent  water;  but  some,  because  of 
wooden  curbing,  become  too  offensive  to  be  used. 

Windom.  R.  R.  Jenness;  well,  70  feet;  soil,  2  feet;  coarse  gravel  with  many  large  boulders, 
5  feet;  till,  yellow  at  top  for  a  few  feet,  blue  below,  very  hard,  62  feet;  white  sand,  1  foot,  and  ex- 
tending deeper,  from  which  water  rose  forty  feet  in  a  quarter  of  an  hour. 

S.  S.  Johnson;  well,  60  feet;  soil,  2;  gravel,  4;  till,  as  in  Mr.  Jenness'  well,  54  feet;  water 
rose  from  sand  at  the  bottom  fifty-seven  feet  in  two  hours,  but  afterward  fell  away  by  soaking 
into  the  ground,  and  now  usually  stands  ten  feet  below  the  surface.  At  the  top  of  the  sand  from 
which  the  water  came,  were  branches  of  wood  and  gasteropocl  shells,  probably  interglacial,  in  a 
thin  layer  of  muck.  The  water  at  first  was  very  dark  and  disagreeable  to  the  taste,  like  that  of 
a  peat  swamp  (perhaps  because  of  the  decay  of  wooden  curbing);  but  since  the  first  two  years  it 
has  been  of  good  quality.  Within  fifteen  rods  from  this  well  are  others  that  get  a  large  supply 
of  water  in  gravel  at  12  or  15  feet. 

Highwater.  G.  II.  Beng;  N.  W.  J  of  sec.  23 :  well,  40 ;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  becoming  dark 
below,  mostly  picked,  38;  water  rose  seven  feet  in  a  half  day,  from  gravel  and  sand.  This  is  on 
a  rounded  swell,  twenty  or  thirty  feet  above  the  country  all  around  for  several  miles. 

R.  Hogenson ;  sec.  30  :  well,  21  feet ;  soil,  2 ;  yellow  till,  spaded,  9 ;  much  harder  blue  till, 
picked,  10  feet;  the  only  water  found  seeps  into  the  well  at  the  base  of  the  yellow  till.  This  gla- 
cial drift  at  the  depth  of  eighteen  feet  contained  a  piece  of  lignite,  three  feet  long  and  nine  inches 
thick,  weighing  about  a  hundred  pounds.  Another  lump  of  lignite,  nearly  equal  in  size,  has  been 
found  within  about  a  mile  to  the  southwest,  in  the  bed  of  Dutch  Charley's  creek  in  section  36,  Ann. 

C.  Peterson;  sec.  30:  well,  35  feet;  soil,  3;  yellow  till,  picked,  17;  dark,  bluish  and  brownish 
till,  with  irony  seams  and  small  pieces  of  lignite,  15  feet;  water  rose  eight  feet  in  one  day  from 
sand  and  gravel  at  the  bottom,  not  dug  through  but  found  to  be  at  least  two  feet  thick. 

Storden.  Charles  Swenson;  sec.  22  :  well,  20;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  15;  blue  till,  very  hard,  3 
feet;  water  rose  five  feet  from  gravel  and  sand  at  the  bottom. 

Charles  H.  Ripke;  N.  E.  i  of  sec.  26:  well,  16  feet;  all  yellow  till,  partly  hard  and  picked; 
to  a  layer  of  gravel,  about  one  foot  thick,  from  which  water  rose  six  feet  in  a  half  day.  All  the 
wells  upon  this  highland,  underlain  by  the  red  quartzyte,  have  excellent  water. 

Ann.  Ilogen  Anderson;  S.  E.  J  of  sec.  24:  well,  18  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  picked,  16  feet; 
the  water  seeps. 

Hose  Hill.  Jacob  Tabert;  sec.  20:  well,  42  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  32;  gravel  and 
sand,  1  foot;  blue  till,  harder  than  that  above,  7  feet,  and  extending  below ;  water  comes  spar- 
ingly from  the  gravel  and  sand,  failing  in  very  dry  seasons. 

Jacob  Wall;  S.  W.  i  of  sec.  28:  well,  20;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  18;  water  rose  eight  feet  in  two 
hours  from  sand  at  the  bottom. 

Wells  in  Jackson  county. 

Wisconsin.  John  M.  Utter;  N.  W.  }  of  sec.  21:  well,  72  feet,  the  deepest  in  this  township; 
soil,  2  feet;  yellow  till,  15  feet;  blue  till,  not  harder  than  the  yellow  till,  but  worse  to  dig,  because 
of  its  tenacity,  55  feet;  water  comes  slowly  from  sandy  streaks,  a  half  inch  to  two  inches  thick, 
in  the  blue  till,  especially  in  the  last  twenty  feet. 

JJes  Moines.  Joseph  Thomas;  S.  E.  }  of  sec.  24,  about  a  mile  east  of  Jackson:  well,  33  feet; 
soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  10;  harder  blue  till,  picked,  21;  water  rose  to  ten  feet  below  the  top  in 
one  day.  Wells  in  this  vicinity,  on  the  upland  above  the  Des  Moines  valley,  are  15  to  30,  and 
rarely  50  feet  deep,  all  in  till. 

Jackson.  G.  C.  Chamberlin:  well,  130  feet  deep,  situated  about  30  feet  above  the  Des  Moines 
river,  below  which  it  thus  goes  100  feet,  this,  added  to  the  depth  of  this  valley,  being  about  200 
feet  below  the  original  surface  of  the  drift-sheet ;  this  well,  below  its  2  feet  of  soil,  was  all  till, 
yellowish  above,  but  mainly  bluish,  enclosing  dark  sandy  streaks,  but  no  considerable  layers  of 
sand  or  gravel  and  no  water,  and  having  throughout  some  intermixture  of  stones  and  gravel,  one 
boulder  weighing  about  fifty  pounds  being  found  at  the  depth  of  a  hundred  feet.  Sticks  of 
wood  and  small  gasteropod  shells  were  obtained  at  about  the  same  depth.  This  well  became 
filled  with  surface  water,  but  was  not  used,  and  has  been  filled  up.  At  a  point  twenty  feet  from 
the  foregoing,  another  well  has  been  dug  26  feet  deep,  in  till,  mostly  yellow  but  blue  below,  yield- 
ing a  plenty  of  water. 


512 


THE  GEOLOGY  OP  MINNESOTA. 


[Wells.    Water  analysis. 


Most  of  the  wells  at  Jackson  find  an  ample  supply  of  excellent  water  at  depths  from  20  to  30 
feet. 

Delafield.  M.  A.  Foss;  sec.  18:  well,  22  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  10;  much  harder  blue  till, 
10;  water  rose  six  feet  in  three  hours,  from  a  vein  of  sand  three  inches  thick. 

Heron  Lake.  M.  A.  Foss;  at  Lakefleld,  in  the  S.  VV.  J-  of  sec.  33:  well,  21  feet;  soil,  2  feet, 
yellow  till,  picked,  16;  quicksand,  3  feet;  water  is  five  feet  deep. 

Hunter.  Railroad  well,  68  feet  deep;  in  the  N.  \V.  J  of  sec.  3,  one  mile  east  of  Lakeiield  : 
soil,  2  feet;  yellow  till,  about  20;  harder  blue  till,  18;  gray  quicksand,  4  feet;  blue  till,  24  feet,  and 
extending  deeper;  water  came  in  sandy  steaks  in  the  last  three  feet,  and  rose  in  three  days  to  be 
forty  feet  deep. 

Minneota.  William  Austin;  S.  W.  J  of  sec.  25:  well,  27  feet;  soil,  3;  yellow  till,  spaded,  24; 
water  seeps,  filling  the  well  usually  to  a  depth  of  nine  feet. 

Weimer.  The  deep  railroad  well  at  Heron  Lake,  penetrating  to  the  Potsdam  sandstone,  has 
been  described  on  page  503.  The  common  wells  of  Heron  Lake  are  10  to  20  feet  deep,  finding  2 
to  4  feet  of  soil,  and  yellow  till,  which  is  spaded,  for  all  below.  The  water  is  naturally  good,  but 
by  the  decay  of  wooden  curbing  is  often  made  objectionable  to  both  taste  and  smell. 

Sioux  Valley.  A.  McCulla;  sec.  34:  well,  36  feet;  soil,  3;  yellow  till,  picked,  17;  sand  and 
gravel,  4  feet;  blue  till,  much  harder  than  the  upper  till,  12  feet;  water  rose  ten  feet  in  two  days 
from  springs  in  the  blue  till. 

La  Crosse.  E.  Nelson;  sec.  13:  well,  30  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  11;  yellow  "hardpan,  almost 
as  hard  as  rock,"  17  feet;  water  rose  five  feet  from  sand  at  the  bottom,  but  the  well  is  sometimes 
filled  to  the  top  with  surface-water. 

Eieington.  Nelson  Jordan;  N.  W.  t  of  sec.  30:  well,  30  feet;  soil,  3;  yellow  till,  spaded,  12; 
darker  and  harder  gray  till,  picked,  15;  water  seeps  from  the  lower  part  of  the  yellow  till,  filling 
the  well  to  a  depth  of  fifteen  feet. 

Mound  Lake.  J.  Walker;  sec.  14:  well,  19  feet;  soil,  2;  sand,  4  feet;  yellow  till,  spaded,  8 
feet;  blue  till,  very  tenaceous,  but  not  harder  than  the  yellow  till,  5  feet;  water  comes  in  the  lower 
part  of  the  yellow  till,  usually  standing  ten  feet  deep. 

The  drift  contains  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  carbonates  of  lime 
and  magnesia,  giving  a  very  productive  soil,  and  making  the  water  of  springs 
and  wells  hard  ;  but  it  supplies  no  noticeable  admixture  of  the  bitter  and 
alkaline  ingredients  which  are  found  abundantly  in  the  water  of  some  dis- 
tricts farther  west. 

Analysis  of  the  water  of  Heron  lake. 

A  sample  of  the  water  of  Heron  lake,  collected  in  June,  1882,  was  analyzed  by  Mr.  W.  A. 
Noyes.  with  the  following  result:* 

Chemical  series,  No.  128.    Composition  of  residue  from  evaporation. 

Parts  per 
1,OUO,UOO. 

Silica 7.1 

Alumina  and  oxide  of  iron 1.7 

Carbonate  of  lime 102.7 

Sulphate  of  lime 47.9 

Nitrate  of  lime 5.0 

Carbonate  of  magnesia 76.3 

Carbonate  of  lithia traces. 

Sulphate  of  potash 8.0 

Nitrite  of  potash traces. 

Sulphate  of  soda 18.5 

Chloride  of  sodium :      5.1 

Total..  272.3 


Percentage. 

2.6 

Graina 
per  gallon. 

0.41414 

0.6 

0.09916 

37.7 

5.99049 

17.6 

2.79241 

1.8 

0.29165 

28.0 

4.45058 

3.0 

6.8 
1.9 


0.46664 

1.07911 
0.29748 


100.00        15.88166 


*  Eleventh  annual  report. 


COTTONWOOB  AND  JACKSON  COUNTIES.  513 

Material  resources. ; 

Iodine,  bromine  and  phosphoric  acid,  absent  Test  with  potassium  permanganate  showed 
2.6  parts  oxygen  consumed  by  organic  matter  per  1,000,000  water.  Hardness,  22  degrees.  The 
water  is  notable  for  excessive  hardness,  due  to  sulphate  of  lime  and  carbonates  of  lime  and 
magnesia, 

Travertine.  Small  deposits  of  travertine,  or  calcareous  tufa,  made  by  springs  that  issue 
from  the  drift,  often  called  "petrified  moss"  from  its  having  incrusted  moss  and  leaves,  thereby 
preserving  their  forms,  occur  in  Jackson  county  on  the  east  side  of  the  ravine  of  a  creek  near  the 
center  of  section  26,  Petersburg;  and  on  the  southeast  side  of  a  creek  near  the  center  of  section 
15,  Des  Moines,  about  two  miles  northwest  from  Jackson  and  some  50  feet  above  the  Des  Moines 
river. 

MATERIAL   RESOURCES. 

Agriculture  must  be  the  chief  industry  and  source  of  wealth  to  Cotton- 
wood  and  Jackson  counties.  Their  soil,  their  narrow  belts  of  timber  beside 
rivers  and  lakes,  the  natural  pasturage  and  plough-land  of  their  broad  ex- 
panse of  prairie,  have  been  treated  of  on  a  former  page  of  this  report. 
Items  to  be  noticed  here  are  water-powers,  building  stone,  lime,  bricks, 
and  peat. 

Water-powers.  The  only  water-power  used  in  Cottonwood  county  is 
that  of  the  Windom  mills,  on  the  Des  Moines  river,  owned  by  Collins  & 
Drake;  head,  nine  feet;  three  run  of  stone;  a  large  flouring  mill. 

Another  excellent  water-power  is  available  on  this  river  a  mile  below 
Talcott  lake,  where  a  dam  may  be  built  which  would  make  this  lake  a  res- 
ervoir, raising  it  three  or  four  feet. 

In  Jackson  county  the  Des  Moines  river  supplies  three  powers,  all  used 
by  flouring  mills.  These  are  the  Brown  brothers'  mill,  in  section  28,  Bel- 
mont,  having  a  head  of  about  nine  feet;  the  Des  Moines  Valley  mills,  owned 
by  E.  P.  Skinner,  in  section  10,  Des  Moines,  three  miles  northwest  from 
Jackson,  with  a  head  of  about  eight  feet;  and  the  Jackson  mills,  at  Jack- 
son, owned  by  J.  W.  Hunter,  with  head  of  nine  feet  and  three  run  of  stone. 

Building  stone.  The  Potsdam  quartzyte  of  northern  Cottonwood  county 
has  been  somewhat  quarried,  as  already  mentioned,  in  sections  23  and  25, 
Selma,  in  section  8,  Delton,  and  in  section  6,  Dale.  Owing  to  the  very  hard 
and  gritty  nature  of  this  rock  and  its  tendency  to  rhomboidal  fracture,  it 
supplies  only  rough  blocks,  seldom  of  large  dimensions,  yet  quite  suitable 
for  common  foundations  and  walls,  and  for  the  masonry  of  culverts  and 
small  bridges. 

Lime.  Boulders  of  magnesian  limestone,  gathered  from  the  drift,  are 
burned  for  lime  by  Lars  Rasmusson,  in  section  11,  Des  Moines,  about  two 

33 


514"  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Lime.     Bricks.     Peat. 

miles  north  of  Jackson.  These  yield  white  lime,  of  which  he  usually  burns 
two  kilns,  each  containing  about  a  hundred  bushels,  yearly.  It  is  sold  at 
forty  to  fifty  cents  per  bushel.  Other  lime-burners  of  Jackson  county  are 
Andrew  Monson,  in  Belmont,  and  Ole  Solem,  in  Christiana.  No  lime  is 
made  in  other  parts  of  this  county  nor  in  Cottonwood  county,  not  because 
of  scarcity  of  limestone  boulders,  which  are  plentiful,  but  because  this  re- 
gion has  little  timber,  fuel  being  consequently  too  expensive  for  this  use. 

On  the  southwest  side  of  Spirit  lake,  white  lime  is  burned  from  bould- 
ers by  A.  Kingman,  who  sells  it  at  seventy-five  cents  per  bushel,  oak  wood 
being  worth  $5  per  cord. 

Bricks.  The  only  brick-making  that  has  been  done  in  these  counties 
is  by  Major  H.  F.  Bailey,  at  the  west  side  of  the  Des  Moines  river  about  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  south  of  Jackson.  A  kiln  of  bricks  was  made  here  about 
ten  years  ago,  but  none  afterward  till  1879,  when  another  kiln  of  100.000 
was  burned.  These  are  red  bricks  of  good  quality,  and  are  sold  for  $8  per 
M.  No  sand  is  mixed  with  the  clay,  which  is  dug  a  few  rods  northeast 
from  the  kiln,  at  a  hight  of  six  to  twelve  feet  above  the  river.  The  soil  at 
the  surface  is  removed  to  a  depth  of  two  or  three  feet,  and  the  next  five  or 
six  feet  are  yellow  clay,  free  from  gravel,  and  levelly  stratified. 

Peat.  An  exploration  of  the  peat  of  southern  Minnesota  was  made  in 
1873  by  Prof.  Winchell,  whose  descriptions,  in  the  second  annual  report  of 
this  survey,  embrace  the  following  notes  pertaining  to  Cottonwood  county. 

Mountain  Lake.  "  Near  Mountain  Lake  station,  on  land  of  A.  A.  Soule,  a  coarse  turf-peat 
covers  the  surface  of  a  dry  slough  to  the  depth  of  ten  to  eighteen  inches.  Near  a  spring,  along 
the  side  of  this  slough,  which  is  tributary  to  Mountain  lake,  the  surface  quakes  and  the  peat  is 
thickest." 

"Around  Mountain  lake  the  land  is  low.  and  is  flooded  in  the  wet  season.  This  low  land 
contains  considerable  peat  for  some  distance  out  toward  the  lake.  The  surface  shakes  under  the 
tread.  It  is  covered  in  the  summer  with  a  tall  grass,  which  much  resembles  the  wild  rice,  yet 
the  softest  places,  where  the  peat  occurs  purest,  are  furnished  with  a  short  grass.  Peat  here  is 
two  or  more  feet  thick.  The  land  examined  is  owned  by  A.  A.  Soule."  This  peat,  taken  two 
feet  below  the  surface,  analyzed  by  Prof.  8.  F.  Peckham,  was  found  to  contain,  when  air-dried, 
8.69  per  cent,  of  hygrometric  water,  31.90  of  organic  matter,  and  59.41  of  ash  (No.  1).*  He  esti- 
mated a  hundred  pounds  of  it  to  be  equivalent  to  forty-two  pounds  of  oak  wood. 

Lakeside.  ''Sec.  24;  land  of  8.  O.  Taggart.  In  a  dry  slough,  covering  many  acres,  the  sur- 
face consists  of  a  turf-peat,  to  the  depth  of  about  a  foot,  passing  into  black  mud  and  sand.  The 
very  top  is  fibrous  and  even  spongy."  The  analysis  of  this,  by  Prof.  Peckham,  gave  10.80  per 
cent,  of  hygrometric  water,  16.33  of  organic  matter,  and  72.87  of  ash  (No.  2);  a  hundred  pounds 
being  equivalent  to  twenty-one  pounds  of  oak  wood. 

Peat  is  again  found  farther  west  in  the  same  township,  also  on  "land  of  S.  O.  Taggart,  5 
miles  east  of  Windom.  In  a  narrow  spring  ravine,  where  water  stands  or  slowly  runs  throughout 


*Number«  refer  to  the  table  of  analyses  of  these  peat  ashes,  by  Prof.  Peckham  on  page  516. 


COTTONWOOD  AND  JACKSON  COUNTIES.  5^5 

Peat.] 

the  year,  and  near  its  head,  a  thickness  of  a  foot  or  more  of  turf-peat  may  be  taken  out  over  a 
space  of  a  few  rods  square.  It  is  thicker  and  better  near  the  head  of  the  ravine  than  at  any  other 
point,  owing  to  the  more  constant  protection  of  the  grass  and  roots  from  the  prairie  fires." 

"Other  similar  peaty  ravines  occur  on  land  of  Miss  Ellen  Imus,  near  that  of  Mr.  Taggart." 

Great  Bend.  "N.  E.  }  of  sec.  38;  land  of  A.  J.  Hall.  In  a  turfed  ravine,  where  water  stands 
or  slowly  oozes  through  the  turf,  sloping  gently  toward  the  Des  Moines  river,  a  turf-peat  may  be 
taken  out  to  the  depth  of  a  foot  or  twenty  inches.  The  belt  containing  peat  is  from  ten  to  twenty 
feet  wide,  and  similar  in  its  situation  to  that  of  Mr.  S.  O.  Taggart,  but  more  extensive.  It  shakes 
under  the  feet  for  three  or  four  feet  about,  but  a  horse  can  walk  safely  over  it  in  most  places  in 
the  dry  season.  Indeed,  it  is  mown  for  hay  every  year.  An  irony  scum  lies  on  the  ground  and 
on  the  grass  stalks.  The  peat  itself  is  a  turf,  but  contains  shells  and  some  grit. 

"Another  similar  ravine  is  on  the  same  claim.  Numerous  others  might  be  located  along  the 
ravines  that  cross  the  Des  Moines  bluffs." 

"N.  E.  J  of  sec.  30;  land  of  Arthur  Johnson.  Turf-peat  occurs  in  a  ravine,  twenty  feet 
over,  where  fuel  can  be  taken  out." 

Amo.  "Sec.  13.  A  slough  that  shakes  is  in  the  valley  that  forms  the  prolongation  of  the 
Des  Moines  valley  northwestward  above  the  great  bend  a  few  miles  above  Windom,  and  has  a 
spongy  peat  about  two  feet  in  thickness,  with  black  mud  below.  It  covers  six  or  ten  acres." 
This  peat,  taken  two  feet  below  the  surface,  was  found  by  Prof.  Peckham  to  contain,  when  air- 
dried,  9.85  per  cent,  of  water,  42.63  of  organic  matter,  and  47.52  of  ash  (No.  3);  a  hundred  pounds 
of  it  being  equivalent  to  fifty-six  pounds  of  oak  wood. 

"  In  the  same  prolongation  of  the  Des  Moines  valley,  on  K.  K.  Peck's  land,  two  miles  above 
the  bend  of  the  Des  Moines,  is  a  thickness  of  two  or  three  feet  of  peat.  This  valley  seems  to  hold 
about  two  feet  of  peat  along  a  considerable  area  through  the  middle,  and  would  supply  a  great 
quantity.  It  is  not  of  a  superior  quality,  but  might  be  very  useful  to  the  settlers."  Professor 
Peckham's  analysis  of  peat  taken  here  two  feet  below  the  surface  gave  13.58  per  cent,  of  hygro- 
metric  water,  53.28  of  organic  matter,  and  33.14  of  ash  (No.  4);  a  hundred  pounds  of  this  air-dried 
peat  being  considered  equal  in  value  to  seventy  pounds  of  oak  wood.  Peat  from  this  place  three 
feet  below  the  surface  yielded  11.03  per  cent,  of  water,  41.67  of  organic  matter,  and  47.30  of  ash 
(No.  5);  a  hundred  pounds  of  it  being  about  equivalent  to  fifty-five  pounds  of  oak  wood. 

Springfield.  "  The  land  of  George  C.  Bush,  sec.  6,  holds  a  peaty  turf,  in  a  dry  slough  near 
the  mouth  of  a  ravine,  in  considerable  abundance." 

South  Brook.  "Sec.  2.  Side-hill  peat  occurs  on  a  gentle  slope  over  the  space  of  a  few  rods, 
having  a  thickness  of  a  foot  and  a  half  or  two  feet.  Such  peaty  patches  appear  also  on  the  op- 
posite side  of  the  main  valley,  arising  from  the  issuing  of  springs  that  keep  the  surface  moist, 
while  the  lower  land  in  the  same  slough  is  dry  and  hard.  This  peat  is  not  free  from  sand.  It 
also  smells  strongly  of  sulphuretted  hydrogen." 

"Peat  exists,  according  to  Mr.  John  Crapsey,  three  miles  north  of  Talcott  lake." 

Four  localities  of  peat  are  reported  by  Prof.  Winchell  in  Jackson  coun- 
ty, as  follows: 

Delafield.  "S.  W.  J  of  sec.  4;  land  of  Eev.  Edward  Savage.  A  good  moss  peat  occurs  here 
in  a  slough,  having  an  average  thickness  of  two  feet,  over  an  area  of  ten  acres  or  more.  The 
slough  is  confined  between  bluffs  that  appear  to  be  entirely  composed  of  drift,  and  has  a  feeble 
drainage  into  a  small  lake.  The  surface  is  mostly  covered  with  a  short  grass,  but  also  with  chair- 
bottom  rushes.  Some  patches  also  of  Typha  latifolia  are  seen.  No  horsetail  rush  appears.  In 
passing  over  the  surface  of  this  marsh  it  quakes  five  or  six  feet  around,  and  the  auger  hole  is  im- 
mediately filled  with  water  to  the  top.  Below  eighteen  inches  (even  sparingly  in  ten  or  twelve 
inches)  shells  begin  to  be  rather  common,  and  the  auger  next  brings  up  a  black  mud  with  many 
shells.  The  most  of  this  peat  is  made  up  of  the  peat  moss,  though  at  a  depth  of  a  foot  or  eight- 
een inches  it  contains  grass  roots  and  other  fiber."  This  peat  from  eighteen  inches  below  the 
surface,  by  Prof.  Peckham's  analysis,  contains,  when  air-dried,  10.22  per  cent,  of  hygrometric 
water,  64.48  of  organic  matter,  and  25.30  of  ash  (No.  6);  a  hundred  pounds  of  it  being  worth  as 
much  for  heating  as  eighty-five  pounds  of  oak  wood. 


516  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Peat,    Mounds. 

Weimer.    "Sec.  31.    A  thin  deposit  of  about  six  inches  of  peat  covers  about  half  an  acre. 

mostly  under  water.    This  is  the  only  pea1  that  can  be  found  in  the  vicinity  of  Heron  Lake." 
Wisconsin.    "On  the  S.  E.  J  of  sec.  27,  Mr.  W.  V.  King  correctly  deScribes  a  peat  marsh." 
Round  Lake.    "Sec.  20;  land  of  Everett  \V.  Scovill.     Peat  here  covers  four  or  five  acres. 

and  is  associated  with  a  deposit  of  bog  iron  ore." 

Analyses  of  peat  ashes. 

The  ashes  of  the  specimens  of  peat  mentioned  as  analyzed  by  Prof.  Peckham,  were  also  sub- 
jected to  analysis  by  him,  and  their  composition  was  found  to  be  as  follows: 

1.  3.  3.  4.  5.  «. 

Silica 64.27  88.28  81.99  72.64  64.37  68.06 

Carbon    2.80  1.32  1.14  0.75  0.10  1.34 

Iron  oxide  and  iron  phosphate  ..   9.75  6.34  9.39  15.46  21.41  8.82 

Lime 15.75  0.84  4.84  5.87  6.26  5.03 

Magnesia 1.77  0.51  0.60  trace  1.54  4.81 

Sulphuric  acid 3.69  trace  1.12  5.73  7.58  6.53 

Undetermined...                           .  1.97  2.71  0.92  5.41 


100.00       100.00       100.00       100.45       101.32      100.00 

Traces  of  phosphoric  acid  were  found  in  all;  and  of  alkalies  in  Nos.  2  and  3.  Carbonic  acid 
was  present  in  considerable  amount  in  Nos.  1  and  6,  and  in  very  small  amount  in  No.  2. 

ABORIGINAL  EARTHWORKS. 

Though  artificial  mounds  probably  exist  in  these  counties,  none  were  observed  during  their 
examination. 

In  the  north  part  of  section  17,  Spirit  Lake,  about  a  mile  south  of  the  state  line,  an  inter- 
esting group  of  six  or  eight  mounds,  of  the  usual  round  form  and  two  to  four  feet  high,  was  seen 
beside  the  road,  at  the  northwest  side  of  Spirit  lake  and  a  short  distance  south  of  Little  Spirit 
lake,  on  land  fifteen  to  twenty-five  feet  above  them. 


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CHAPTER  XVII. 


THE  GEOLOGT  OF  MURRAY  AND  NOBLES  COUNTIES. 


BY   WARREN  UPHAM. 

Situation  and  area.  Murray  and  Nobles  counties  (plate-pages  21  and 
22)  lie  in  the  southwest  part  of  Minnesota,  the  former  being  in  the  second 
tier  of  counties  north  of  the  Iowa  line,  from  which  it  is  separated  by  the 
latter.  The  east  boundary  of  these  counties  is  210  miles  west  from  the 
Mississippi  river  at  La  Crosse;  their  extent  from  east  to  west  is  30  miles; 
and  from  their  west  boundary  to  the  line  between  Minnesota  and  Dakota 
is  20  miles,  this  width  being  occupied  by  Pipestone  and  Rock  counties. 
The  distance  from  Minneapolis  and  Saint  Paul  southwest  to  Currie  in  Mur- 
ray county,  measured  in  a  straight  line,  is  about  140  miles;  and  to  Worth  - 
ington  in  Nobles  county,  about  155  miles. 

The  most  important  towns  and  villages  of  Murray  county  are  Currie, 
on  the  Des  Moines  river  near  the  foot  of  Lake  Shetek,  in  Murray* township; 
Avoca  in  Lime  Lake  township,  and  Hadley  in  Leeds  township,  on  the  Black 
Hills  branch  of  the  Chicago,  St.  Paul,  Minneapolis  &  Omaha  railway;  and 
Fulda  in  Bondin  township,  on  the  Southern  Minnesota  division  of  the  Chi- 
cago, Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul  railway.  The  county  seat  and  largest  town 
of  Nobles  county  is  Worthington,  on  the  Saint  Paul  &  Sioux  City  (C.,  St.  P., 
M.  &  0.)  railway.  Hersey  and  Bigelow  are  small  villages  on  this  line  of 
railroad;  and  Rushmore  and  Adrian  are  considerable  towns  on  its  Sioux 
Falls  branch. 

Each  of  these  counties  is  a  rectangle  thirty  miles  long  from  east  to 
west  and  twenty-four  miles  wide;  so  that  together  their  extent  from  north 


518  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Natural  drainage! 

to  south  is  forty-eight  miles.  Murray  county  has  an  area  of  721.56  square 
miles,  or  461,801.20  acres,  of  which  16,909.93  acres  are  covered  by  water. 
The  area  of  Nobles  county  is  727.66  square  miles,  or  465,704.16  acres,  of 
which  10,827.04  acres  are  covered  by  water. 

SURFACE  FEATURES. 

Natural  drainage.  The  Des  Moines  river  rises  at  the  west  side  of  Mur- 
ray county,  and  flows  east  and  southeast  across  this  county.  Springs  and 
two  or  three  lakelets  on  the  east  side  of  the  highest  ridge  of  the  Coteau 
des  Prairies,  partly  lying  beyond  the  west  line  of  Murray  county  in  the  east 
edge  of  Mkna,  and  Rock  townships  in  Pipestone  county,  are  the  heads  of  the 
Des  Moines  river.  The  greater  part  of  Murray  county  is  drained  by  this 
stream.  Its  most  important  tributary  in  this  county  is  the  outlet  of  lake 
Shetek,  which  unites  with  it  about  a  mile  west  of  Currie.  The  Des  Moines 
river  above  this  affluent  is  commonly  known  as  Oksida  or  Beaver  creek. 
About  a  mile  east  of  Currie,  nearly  at  the  center  of  Murray  township,  the 
Des  Moines  turns  southeast,  and  holds  this  course  to  the  east  line  of  the 
county.  Its  length  in  Murray  county,  not  including  small  bends,  is  forty 
miles. 

The  portions  of  Murray  county  which  lie  outside  the  Des  Moines  basin,  are  in  its  northwest, 
northeast  and  southwest  corners.  At  the  northwest,  the  head-stream  of  Redwood  river,  rising  in 
.<33tna,  the  northeast  township  of  Pipestone  county,  flows  to  the  east  and  north  through  Ellsbo- 
rough,  receiving  the  drainage  of  some  thirty  square  miles  in  this  township.  The  northwest  part 
of  Skandia,  the  township  next  to  the  east,  sends  its  waters  into  the  head-stream  of  the  Cotton- 
wood  river. 

Holly,  the  most  northeast  township  of  this  county,  and  the  northeast  half  of  Shetek  town- 
ship on  the  west,  and  of  Dovray  on  the  south,  and  the  northeast  corner  of  Des  Moines  River  town- 
ship, are  tributary  to  the  Cottonwood  river  by  Plum  creek,  and  in  small  part  by  Dutch  Charley's 
and  Highwater  creeks. 

Southwest  of  the  Des  Moines  basin,  Moulton,  nearly  all  of  Chanararr.bie,  and  portions  of  the 
townships  east  of  these,  are  drained  by  the  head-streams  of  Chanarambie  and  Champepadan 
creeks,  sending  their  waters  into  the  Rock  river,  and  by  that  to  the  Big  Sioux  and  Missouri. 

The  areas  of  Murray  county  thus  belonging  to  four  river  basins  are  approximately  as  follows: 
within  the  basin  of  the  Des  Moines  river,  520  square  miles;  of  the  Redwood  river,  30  square  miles; 
of  the  Cottonwood  river,  80  square  miles;  and  of  the  Rock  river,  90  square  miles. 

The  most  noteworthy  lakes  in  Murray  county  are  the  following:  lake  Shetek,  the  largest, 
about  seven  miles  long  from  north  to  south,  and  varying  from  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to  one  and  a 
half  miles  in  width,  quite  irregular  in  outline  with  numerous  bays  and  headlands,  and  containing 
islands  (accidentally  omitted  from  plate  22),  its  northwestern  part  being  an  arm  or  bay  nearly 
three  miles  long  and  an  eighth  to  a  third  of  a  mile  wide,  known  as  the  Inlet;  lake  Sarah,  two 
miles  long  from  northwest  to  southeast  and  about  a  mile  wide,  at  the  center  of  Lake  Sarah  town- 
ship, about  two  miles  west  of  the  Inlet  of  lake  Shetek;  lake  Maria,  extending  northwest  from  lake 
Sarah,  two  miles  long  and  a  half  mile  wide;  the  group  of  the  Bear  lakes,  four  in  number,  from 
one  mile  to  two  and  a  half  miles  in  length,  lying  in  the  north  part  of  Lowvilleand  the  south  edge 


MURRAY  AND  NOBLES  COUNTIES.  519 

Natural  drainage.] 

of  Skandia,  the  most  southern  of  the  group  being  recently  called  Tibbett's  lake;  Lime  lake,  in  the 
township  of  this  name,  extending  two  miles  west  from  Avoca;  and  Buffalo,  Duck  and  Star  lakes 
and  lake  Eliza,  which  with  others  form  a  northwest  to  southeast  series,  three  to  four  miles  north- 
east from  the  Des  Moiues  river  and  approximately  parallel  with  it. 

Nobles  county  is  divided  to  the  basins  of  the  Des  Moines,  Little  Sioux 
and  Rock  rivers.  At  the  northeast  an  area  of  about  240  square  miles  is ' 
drained  eastward  by  Jack  and  Okabena  creeks  into  Heron  lake  and  the  Des 
Moines  river.  Elk  creek,  rising  in  Elk  township,  flows  east  across  the 
south  part  of  Hersey,  and  joins  Okabena  creek  a  short  distance  after  cross- 
ing the  east  line  of  Nobles  county. 

The  portion  tributary  to  the  Little  Sioux  river  and  thus  to  the  Mis- 
souri, is  principally  drained  by  Ocheyedan  or  Ocheeda  creek,  and  embraces 
about  90  square  miles. 

The  remainder  of  this  county,  including  about  390  square  miles  or 
slightly  more  than  half  its  area,  is  tributary  to  the  Rock  river,  by  Cham- 
pepadan,  Elk  and  Kanaranzi  creeks  and  the  Little  Rock  river ;  making, 
with  the  tract  in  the  Little  Sioux  basin,  480  square  miles,  approximately, 
drained  to  the  Missouri  river. 

Lakes  in  Nobles  caunty.  In  the  western  third  of  Nobles  county  and  thence  westward,  there 
are  no  lakes,  or  they  are  very  rare  and  of  small  area.  This  region  lies  on  the  southwest  side  of 
the  outer  moraine  of  the  last  glacial  epoch,  at  which  time  it  lay  beyond  the  boundaries  of  the  ice- 
fields, though  in  an  earlier  cold  epoch  it  was  deeply  covered  by  ice  and  is  overspread  with  its  un- 
modified drift  or  till.  Farther  past,  this  county  has  frequent  lakes.  The  West  and  East  Graham 
lakes,  respectively  two  and  three  miles  long,  both  trendii  g  southwesterly,  give  name  to  Graham 
Lakes  township ;  and  another  township  is  named  from  Indian  lake,  in  its  sections  27  and  34, 
about  a  mile  long  from  north  to  south,  with  a  maximum  depth  of  fifteen  feet.  West  Okabena 
lake,  nearly  two  miles  long  and  about  a  half  mile  wide,  lies  at  the  west  side  of  the  town  of  Worth- 
ington.  Tliis  and  the  next  are  not  tributary  to  Okabena  creek,  from  which,  however,  the  West 
Okabena  lake  is  separated  by  only  a  low,  marshy  tract  of  small  width,  and  an  ice-heaped  ridge  of 
gravel  and  sand  along  which  a  road  is  built;  but  at  its  stage  of  high  water  in  spring  this  lake  has 
its  outlet  into  the  East  Okabena  lake,  of  nearly  as  great  area,  close  east  of  Worthington,  which 
at  such  time  overflows  southward  into  lake  Ocheeda,  and  through  this  into  Ocheyedan  creek. 
Lake  Ocheeda  is  about  six  miles  long,  trending  from  northeast  to  southwest,  reaching  from  sec- 
tion 32,  Lorain,  to  the  center  of  Bigelow,  with  a  width  that  varies  from  an  eighth  of  a  mile  or 
less  to  a  half  or  two-thirds  of  a  mile.  Mr.  A.  Miner,  civil  engineer,  of  Worthington,  reports  the 
maximum  depth  of  West  Okabena  lake  to  be  twenty-five  feet ;  of  the  East  Okabena  lake,  fifteen 
feet;  and  of  Lake  Ocheeda,  in  its  northeast  part,  twenty  feet.  West  Okabena  lake  is  estimated 
to  be  twelve  feet  below  the  railroad  at  Worthington  station,  or  1,570  feet  above  the  sea,  and 
this  is  one  foot  above  East  Okabena  lake.  Lake  Ocheeda  is  estimated  by  Mr.  Miner  to  be  four 
or  five  feet  lower,  being  thus  1,565  feet,  very  nearly,  above  the  sea. 

Topography.  The  Coteau  des  Prairies  in  Murray  and  Nobles  counties 
declines  in  hight  from  northwest  to  southeast.  In  Nobles  county  the  most 
elevated  portion  of  this  highland  reaches  from  the  south  and  southwest 
part  of  Indian  Lake  township  and  the  east  part  of  Bigelow,  north-north- 


520  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Topography 

westerly  through  the  northeast  edge  of  Ransom,  southwestern  Worthing- 
ton,  the  northeast  half  of  Dewald,  the  southwestern  part  of  Summit  Lake, 
the  northeast  part  of  township  IO3,  range  48,  and  through  the  middle  of 
Willmont. 

This  crest  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies  is  a  belt  from  three  to  five  miles  in  width,  composed 
of  massive  swells  and  smoothly  rounded,  moderately  sloping  hills  of  till,  :  0  to  50  and  rarely  75  to 
100  feet  above  the  intervening  hollows.  Their  trends  are  more  frequently  from  north  to  south 
or  southeast  than  in  other  directions;  but  this  approach  to  uniformity  in  trend  is  seldom  very 
noticeable,  and  their  order  of  arrangement  and  the  form  and  connected  outlines  of  this  range  of 
highland  show  much  variety  of  contour.  At  a  distance  of  several  miles  it  generally  presents  the 
usual  aspect  of  any  moderately  rolling  prairie,  appearing  to  be  of  about  uniform  hight;  and  upon 
nearer  approach,  and  in  crossing  this  belt,  it  is  seen  to  consist  only  of  broad  and  smooth  undula- 
tions and  swells,  mire  or  less  sculptured,  especially  on  the  southwest  side,  by  streams.  A 
branch  one  to  two  miles  in  width,  extends  from  this  belt  northward  through  the  east  part  of  Sum- 
mit Lake  township,  including  within  its  area  the  lake  of  this  name.  Here,  and  northerly  into 
Murray  county,  this  most  prominently  rolling  and  highest  part  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies  in  this 
latitude  forms  the  watershed  between  the  basins  of  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  rivers.  Its  con- 
nection with  the  roughly  hilly  and  knolly  outer  terminal  moraine,  traced  from  central  Iowa  north- 
ward to  Spirit  Lake  and  thence  westerly  to  Oclieyedan  mound,  south  of  this  county,  and  still 
more  prominently  exhibited  along  the  crest  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies  in  western  Murray  county 
and  thence  northwesterly  to  the  Head  of  the  Coteau,  shows  that  the  border  of  the  ice  in  the  last 
glacial  epoch  extended  to  this  belt  of  massively  rolling  till ;  but  though  it  thus  represents  the 
outer  moraine  of  that  epoch,  it  nowhere  in  Nobles  county  has  such  roughly  broken  knolls,  and 
small,  short  and  steep  ridges,  as  are  common  along  nearly  all  the  rest  of  this  morainic  line. 

Fartlier  westward,  the  surface  of  Nobles  county  is  in  swells  of  till,  which  trend  mostly  from 
north  to  south,  more  massive  and  smoother  than  those  which  form  the  outer  terminal  moraine, 
and  of  about  the  same  elevation;  or  in  nearly  level,  equally  high  plateaus  of  till,  as  at  Rushmore, 
ten  miles  west  of  Worthington.  and  in  the  southwest  part  of  Little  Hock.  Mortheast  from  the 
morainic  belt,  there  is  a  descent  of  50  to  75  feet  within  one  or  two  miles,  and  thence  a  smooth, 
slightly  undulating  area  of  till  extends  with  an  imperceptibly  descending  slope  northeastward 
twenty  miles  to  the  inner  moraine  beyond  Heron  lake  and  the  upper  part  of  the  Des  Moines  river. 
The  valleys  cut  by  the  creeks  which  cross  this  expanse  are  only  10  to  '20  feet  deep,  and  the  lakes, 
sloughs  and  lowest  depressions  are  about  the  same  amount  below  the  highest  land  of  their  vicinity 
to  which  the  ascent  from  the  lake-shores  is  usually  in  prolonged,  gentle  slopes.  On  the  Saint 
Paul  &  Sioux  City  railroad  the  slope  of  this  broad,  approximately  flat  area  of  eastern  Nobles 
county  is  about  100  feet  in  the  eight  miles  between  Worthington  and  Hersey,  thus  averaging  a 
descent  to  the  northeast  of  twelve  feet  per  mile. 

In  western  Murray  county  the  outer  or  first  terminal  moraine  rises  in 
a  conspicuous  series  of  hills,  knolls  and  ridges  of  till,  roughly  broken  and 
irregularly  grouped,  separately  of  small  size  and  hight,  but  together  form- 
ing an  elevated  belt  from  50  to  100  feet  or  more  above  the  smooth  area  of 
till  on  each  side.  It  includes  the  west  edge  of  township  105.  range  42, 
being  here  only  from  one-fourth  of  a  mile  to  one  mile  wide;  the  south  two- 
thirds  of  Leeds ;  the  northeast  two-thirds  of  Chanarambie,  its  most  con- 
spicuous portion  in  this  county  being  Buffalo  ridge,  100  to  150  feet  high, 
trending  from  southeast  to  northwest,  in  sections  21  and  16  of  this  township; 
the  west  half  of  Cameron;  and  the  southwest  corner  of  Ellsborough.  Its 


MURRAY  AND   NOBLES  COUNTIES.  521 

Topography.] 

area  in  Leeds,  extending  six  miles  east  from  the  main  course  of  the  series, 
and  surrounded  on  the  south,  east  and  north  by  a  lower  expanse  of  smooth, 
slightly  undulating  till,  may  be  a  medial  branch.  The  material  of  this 
roughly  hilly  belt  is  till,  but  it  differs  from  that  of  the  gently  undulating 
region  through  which  it  lies  in  containing,  and  being  overstrown  with, 
abundant  boulders  and  pebbles,  principally  of  granite,  syenite,  gneiss  and 
schists,  but  also  including  many  of  limestone.  Many  of  the  hollows  en- 
closed among  these  knolls  and  ridges  are  bowl-shaped  or  of  irregular  form, 
without  outlet,  and  occasionally  contain  sloughs  and  lakelets. 

Moulton,  the  most  southwest  township  of  Murray  county,  and  the  west  edge  of  Chanaram- 
bie,  lie  on  the  west  side  of  this  moraine,  and  have  the  smooth,  massively  rolling  surface  which 
prevails  in  the  west  part  of  Nobles  county,  the  higher  portions  of  this  tract  being  50  or  75  feet 
above  the  water-courses  and  twice  this  amount  below  Buffalo  ridge. 

Eight  miles  northeast  from  the  outer  morainic  belt,  in  sections  8  and  5,  Mason,  is  a  remarka- 
ble plateau  of  till,  with  its  top  nearly  level  and  covering  one  and  a  half  square  miles,  from  which 
there  is  a  descent  of  about  200  ft-et  in  three  miles  east  to  Lake  Shetek,  and  about  1 00  feet  in  the 
same  distance  west  to  Bear  lakes.  Smooth,  prolonged  slopes  descend  from  this  highland  on  all 
sides;  and,  with  the  exception  of  this  area,  a  gently  undulating  and  often  nearly  flat  belt  of  till, 
increasing  from  ten  to  twenty  miles  in  width,  extends  from  northwest  to  southeast  through  the 
central  part  of  Murray  county.  Beaver  creek  crosses  this  area  in  a  channel  usually  20  to  40  feet 
below  the  general  surface,  and  the  frequent  lakes  and  sloughs  lie  15  to  25  feet  below  the  average 
hight  of  their  vicinity.  Avoca  and  Fulda  are  situated  upon  this  slightly  undulating,  approxi- 
mately flat  expanse,  with  no  hills  nr  notable  elevations  within  view,  excepting  the  morainic  hills 
in  Leeds,  distant  ten  to  fifteen  miles  westward.  Though  this  region  appears  to  be  level,  its  sur- 
face has  a  somewhat  uniformly  descending  slope  of  eight  or  ten  feet  to  the  mile  from  west  to  east, 
as  shown  by  railroad  surveys.  In  the  distance  of  about  twelve  miles  from  Avoca  southeast  to 
Dundee,  the  descent  is  90  feet ;  and  in  nine  and  a  half  miles  easterly  from  lona  to  Fulda  the 
descent  is  100  feet,  the  latter  town  being  62  feet  above  De  Forest,  and  105  feet  above  the  surface 
of  Heron  lake,  situated  respectively  six  and  a  half  and  fifteen  miles  farther  southeast.  The  Des 
Moines  river,  flowing  along  the  east  side  of  this  area,  has  excavated  a  valley  about  75  feet  deep, 
and  from  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to  one  mile  wide,  to  which  the  descent  is  mostly  by  moderate  slopes. 

In  northeastern  Murray  county  the  second  morainic  belt,  two  to  four 
miles  wide,  constituting  the  northeastern  border  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies 
extends  from  lake  Eliza  northwest  by  Star,  Duck  and  Buffalo  lakes  and  the 
northeast  side  of  lake  Shetek,  occupying  the  northeast  part  of  Des  Moines 
River  township,  southwestern  Dovray,  northeastern  Murray,  the  southwest 
half  of  Shetek,  and  the  northeast  part  of  Lake  Sarah.  It  is  distinguished 
from  the  slightly  undulating  areas  of  till  at  each  side  by  its  more  frequent 
boulders  and  its  more  rolling  and  occasionally  hilly  contour;  but  it  scarcely 
anywhere  exhibits  the  rough  surface  which  characterizes  the  greater  part 
of  this  series  of  drift  accumulations.  The  summits  of  its  swells  are  30  to 
40  feet  above  the  intervening  depressions,  sloughs  and  lakes;  nearly  the 


522  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Elevationi. 

same  above  the  general  level  on  each  side;  and  from  75  to  100  feet  above 
the  Des  Moines  river,  and  40  to  50  feet  above  lake  Shetek. 

The  only  part  of  the  second  moraine  in  this  county  which  rises  in  mounds  that  are  conspic- 
uously seen  at  a  distance  of  several  miles,  is  in  the  northeast  corner  of  Murray  township,  upon 
an  area  from  a  half  mile  to  one  mile  wide,  extending  two  miles  northwesterly  from  Buffalo  lake; 
but  its  hills  here  are  only  30  to  50  feet  above  the  average  hight  of  the  range.  Along  the  northeast 
side  of  the  northwest  arm  of  lake  Shetek,  commonly  called  the  Inlet,  are  frequent  small  patches 
where  boulders  nearly  cover  the  ground,  mostly  forming  knolls  from  three  to  five  or  ten  feet 
high,  and  occurring  from  the  lake  shore  to  twenty-five  feet  above  it. 

The  portion  of  Murray  county  northeast  of  this  second  moraine  is  drained  into  the  Cotton- 
wood  river.  It  consists  of  till,  with  a  smoothly  undulating  or  moderately  rolling  surface,  the 
highest  parts  being  generally  10  to  30  feet  above  the  lowest.  The  only  considerable  stream  in 
this  northeast  corner  of  the  county  is  Plum  creek,  which  has  eroded  a  remarkable  valley,  40  to 
50  feet  deep  bordered  by  steep  bluffs,  sloping  from  30°  to  45°,  along  a  distance  of  five  miles,  from 
the  east  side  of  section  18,  Holly,  to  the  black  walnut  grove  which  borders  this  stream  in  the 
south  edge  of  Eedwood  county.  This  valley  receives  numerous  short  tributary  ravines. 

Elevations,  St.  Paul  &  Sioux  City  division,  Chicago,  St.  Paul,  Minneapolis  &  Omaha  railway. 

From  profiles  in  the  office  of  T.  P.  Gere,  superintendent,  St.  Paul. 

o.    Main  line. 

Miles  from    Feet  above 
Si.  Paul.         the  sea. 

Hersey  (Brewster) 170.0  1485 

Elk  creek,  water 171.5  1473 

Summit,  grade 178.2  1588 

Worthington 178.4  1582 

East  Okabena  lake,  water 178.5  1569 

Junction  of  Sioux  Falls  branch 181.8  1633 

Summit,  grade 182.3  1654 

Summit,  grade,  highest  point  on  line  from  St.  Paul  to  Sioux  City. . .  184.6  1656 

Bigelow 187.8  1631 

State  line 188.3  1643 

6.    Black  Hills  division  ( Woodstock  branch). 

Dundee 168.4  1443 

Avoca 180.1  1533 

Summit,  grade 201.1  1850 

Summit,  grade  201.9  1849 

Murray  and  Pipestone  county  line,  grade 202.5  1839 

c.    Sioux  Falls  branch. 

Junction 181 .8  1633 

Summit,  grade 184.5  1691 

Little  Rock  river,  water 187.4  1629 

Little  Rock  river,  bridge 187.4  1649 

Rushmore 190.1  1665 

Adrian 196.9  1538 

Kanaranzi  creek,  water 198.0  1499 

Kanaranzi  creek,  bridge 198.0  1511 

Summit,  grade 199.5  1569 

Elevations,  Southern  Minnesota  division,  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul  railway. 

Miles  from       Feet  above 
La  Crosse.  the  sea. 

De  Forest 239.5  1446 

Fulda 246.1  1508 

lona 255.6  1608 

Summit 259.4  1705 

Entering  Chanarambie  valley 264.0  1634 


MURRAY  AND  NOBLES  COUNTIES.  523 

Elevations.  Soil.) 

The  highest  land  in  Murray  county  is  Buffalo  ridge,  in  Chanarambie  township,  the  top 
of  which  is  about  1950  feet  above  the  sea.  Other  portions  of  the  outer  terminal  moraine,  in 
this  and  Cameron  townships,  are  from  1800  to  1900  feet  in  altitude,  and  it  is  crossed  by  the  rail- 
road to  Woodstock  at  a  hight  of  1850  feet.  At  the  northeast  corner  of  Moulton  this  range  is 
intersected  by  Chanarambie  creek,  which  is  here  more  than  300  feet  below  Buffalo  ridge.  The 
next  six  miles  of  this  moraine  southward  are  a  comparatively  narrow  and  inconspicuous  belt  of 
gravelly  and  rocky  knolls  and  small  ridges  of  drift,  1700  to  1750  feet  above  the  sea,  or  75  to  125 
feet  above  the  Chanarambie  valley. 

Des  Moines  river  has  its  sources  at  an  elevation  of  1800  to  1900  feet  above  the  sea.  Lake 
Shetek,  and  this  river  at  its  outlet,  are  about  1475;  and  its  point  of  exit  from  Murray  county  is 
estimated  to  be  about  1400  feet  above  the  sea. 

The  lowest  land  of  Murray  county  is  the  northeast  part  of  Holly,  1250  to  1300  feet  above  the 
sea,  making  the  extremes  of  hight  in  this  county  differ  by  seven  hundred  feet. 

The  highest  portions  of  Nobles  county,  lying  in  Willmont,  in  township  1O3,  range  43, 
and  in  Summit  Lake  and  the  north  part  of  Dewald,  are  1700  to  1725  feet  above  the  sea.  Cham- 
pepadan  and  Kanaranzi  creeks  cross  the  west  line  of  this  county  at  about  1475  and  1450  feet 
above  the  sea.  Little  Rock  river  has  an  elevation  of  about  1475  feet,  and  Ocheyedan  creek  is 
about  1550  feet  above  the  sea,  at  the  Iowa  line.  The  lowest  land  in  Nobles  county  is  where  Jack 
creek  crosses  its  eastern  boundary,  at  a  hight  of  about  1420  feet  above  the  sea,  some  three  hun- 
dred feet  below  the  crests  of  the  morainic  belt. 

Estimates  of  the  average  bights  of  the  townships  of  Murray  county  are 
as  follows:  Holly,  1400  feet  above  the  sea;  Dovray,  1480;  Des  Moines  River, 
also  1480;  Belfast,  1460;  Shetek,  1490;  Murray,  1525;  Lime,  1525;  Bondin, 
1530;  Lake  Sarah,  1540;  Mason,  1575;  Center,  1590;  lona,  1610;  Skandia, 
1600;  Lowville,  1640;  Leeds,  1700;  T.  105,  E.  4»,1700;  Ellsborough,  1725; 
Cameron,  1775;  Chanarambie,  1800;  and  Moulton,  1660.  From  these  figures 
the  mean  elevation  of  this  county  is  found  to  be  1590  feet,  very  nearly, 
above  the  sea. 

The  townships  of  Nobles  county,  with  estimates  of  their  average  hight, 
are  as  follows:  Graham  Lakes,  1460;  Hersey,  1500;  Lorain,  1560;  Indian  Lake, 
1580;  Seward,  1530;  Elk,  1575;  Worthington,  1625;  Bigelow,  1625;  Bloom, 
1625;  Summit  Lake,  1660;  Dewald,  1660;  Ransom,  1600;  Willmont,  1700; 
T.  103,  R,  42,  1650;  Olney,  1580;  Little  Rock,  1540;  Leota,  1640;  Lismore, 
1600;  West  Side,  1550;  and  Grand  Prairie,  1500.  The  mean  elevation  of 
Nobles  county  above  the  sea,  derived  from  these  estimates,  is  1588  feet, 
being  almost  identical  with  that  similarly  obtained  for  Murray  county. 

Soil.  These  counties  have  nearly  the  same  character  as  to  soil  and 
agricultural  value  with  all  southwestern  Minnesota,  being  very  fertile  and 
well  drained,  yielding  bountiful  harvests  of  wheat,  corn,  oats,  potatoes,  and 
the  small  garden  fruits,  and  capable  of  producing  every  crop  that  belongs 
in  this  latitude.  Stock-raising  and  dairying  are  also  beginning  to  be  an 
important  part  in  the  resources  of  the  farmers  through  all  this  region. 


524  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Soil.    Timber  and  prairie. 

At  the  surface  is  a  black  soil,  from  one  to  three  feet  deep,  being  usually 
about  two  feet,  thus  colored  by  vegetable  decay,  and  consequently  enriched 
for  the  nourishment  of  the  new  vegetation  of  successive  years.  Otherwise 
this  soil  is  like  the  yellow  subsoil,  both  being  glacial  drift.  Everywhere  a 
sufficient  proportion  of  the  carbonates  of  lime  and  magnesia  are  present  to 
supply  the  best  conditions  for  the  cultivation  of  grain,  and  also  to  make 
the  water  of  wells  and  springs  hard;  but  the  sulphate  of  magnesia,  which 
occasionally  appears  as  a  white  efflorescence  where  sloughs  have  dried  up, 
is  yet  only  a  comparatively  small  ingredient  of  the  soil  and  very  rarely 
gives  any  parceptible  taste  to  the  water  of  wells.* 

The  only  areas  unsuitable  for  cultivation  are  frequent  sloughs,  valu- 
able for  their  marsh  hay;  the  steep  banks  and  bluffs  of  creeks  and  rivers; 
and  some  portions  of  the  morainic  belts,  which  are  so  knolly  and  strown 
with  boulders  as  to  forbid  ploughing,  but  are  well  adapted  for  pasturage. 

Timber  and  prairie.  Neither  of  these  counties  has  any  extensive  tracts 
of  timber,  which  occurs  only  on  the  borders  of  lakes  and  along  the  larger 
streams.  In  such  situations  it  is  wholly  or  partly  protected  from  the 
annual  prairie  fires,  and  is  supplied  with  sufficient  moisture  to  enable  it 
to  maintain  an  existence.  With  double  the  rainfall  that  this  region  has, 
it  would  probably  become  covered  with  timber  notwithstanding  the  par- 
tial checks  which  its  spread  must  sustain  from  these  fires;  and  with  the 
climate  continuing  as  now,  if  fires  were  prevented,  a  forest  would  similarly 
extend  itself  outward  from  the  lakes  and  rivers  over  the  whole  of  this  dis- 
trict and  of  this  state. 

In  Murray  county  the  principal  tracts  of  timber,  consisting  of  elm.  bass,  bur  oak,  ash,  poplar, 
cottonwood,  wild  plum,  and  other  species,  are  in  the  space,  nearly  a  mile  square,  enclosed  by 
the  Bear  lakes;  on  the  shores  of  lakes  Sarah  and  Shetek,  especially  on  the  northeast  side  of  the 
latter,  in  the  vicinity  of  Fremont  lake;  and  along  Beaver  creek  and  the  Des  Moines  river.  A 
grove  of  twenty  or  thirty  acres,  now  wholly  cut  for  fuel,  was  found  bv  the  first  immigrants  on 
the  Chanarambie  creek,  in  section  2,  Moulton,  and  was  named  the  "lost  timber,"  because  it  was 
the  only  considerable  patch  of  woodland  in  that  region,  the  nearest  to  it  being  at  Bear  lakes,  ten 
miles  to  the  north. 

Nicollet  says  of  his  trip  through  this  county  :f  "I  pitched  my  tents,  during  three  da\  s,  about 
toe  group  of  Shetek  or  Pelican  lakes,  ihat  occupy  a  portion  of  the  space  forming  the  Coteau  des 
Prairies.  This  name  belongs  to  the  language  of  the  Chippewas,  and  lias  been  given  to  them  by 
the  voyageurs.  The  Sioux  call  this  group  of  lakes  the  Rabcchy,  meaning  the  place  where  the  peli- 
cans nestle.  Their  waters  are,  in  a  great  measure,  supplied  by  a  fork  from  the  sources  of  the  Des 


*An  analysis  by  Prof.  Dodge  (Tenth  annual  report,  p.  202)of  an  "alkali"  efflorescence  from  section  14.  lona,  Murray 
nunty.  showed  it  to  be  a  hydious  sulphate  ot  magnesia,  with  slight  traces  of  soda,  potash  and  lime.     The  proportions 

"     ilphur  trioxide  and  magnesia  were  the  same  as  in  e*""""if~  'U"-.o«»>  "«i»t  K..*  f*  i...*i  i~-o  ii..*~  u«if  »t, * — 

:r  of  cryslallization  required  by  epsomite. 
tEeport  on  the  upiter  Mississippi,  river,  1843  ;  p.  13. 


of  sulphur  trioxide  and  magnesia  were  the  same  as  in  epsomite  (Epsom  salt),  but  it  had  less  than  half  the  percentage  of 
water  of  cryslallization  required  by  epsomite. 


MURRAY  AND  NOBLES  COUNTIES.  525 

Timber  and  prairie.] 

Moines  river.  They  contain  an  abundance  of  fish,  and  their  shores  are  amply  supplied  with  wood 
to  admit  the  location  of  enviable  farms.  Hence  we  proceeded  to  the  spot  which  I  have  desig- 
nated on  my  map  as  the  Great  Oasis,  and  c  tiled  by  ttie  Sioux  Ich^n-ptaye-tanka,  translated  by  the 
voyageurs  la  grande  lisiere  de  hois — the  great  skirt  of  wood"  [at  Hear  lakes].  "This  spot  is  a  forest 
of  limited  extent,  composed  of  lime  trees,  swamp  ash,  prickly  ash,  white  birch,  beaver- wood,  white 
oak,  etc.,  and  surrounded  by  large  lakes  garnished  wiih  aquatic  plants,  swarming  with  muskrats, 
covered  at  certain  ssasons  with  wild  fowl,  ati'l  ofifjrin?  a  safe  protection  against  the  annual  firing  of 
the  prairies.  The  usual  depth  of  these  lakes  is  from  7  to  12  feet;  and  the  soil  of  the  borders  is  found 
well  adapted  to  the  cultivation  of  the  potato,  and  the  growth  of  culinary  vegetables.'' 

Mr.  John  H.  Low  enumerates  the  following  species  of  trees  and  shrubs 
found  in  the  woods  of  Bear  lakes:  bass,  the  most  abundant  tree,  40  to  60 
feet  high,  American  or  white  elm,  also  40  to  60  feet  high,  and  sometimes- 
four  or  five  feet  in  diameter,  slippery  or  red  elm,  bur  oak,  white  ash,  wild 
plum,  willows,  climbing  bitter-sweet,  black  raspberry,  choke-cherry,  prickly 
ash,  black  currant,  and  smooth  gooseberry,  common;  the  American  aspen, 
box-elder,  cottonwood,  hackberry,  frost  grape,  smooth  sumach,  wolf-berry, 
red  raspberry,  thorn,  rose  and  sweet  viburnum  or  sheep-berry,  less  com- 
mon. 

Nobles  county  has  less  timber  than  Murray,  its  principal  localities  being  only  narrow  groves 
on  the  edge  of  the  Graham  lakes,  of  the  Okabena  lakes,  of  lake  Ocheeda,  and  of  Indian  and  State 
Line  lakes. 

Excepting  these  scanty  tracts  of  wood,  both  Murray  and  Nobles  counties  are  altogether 
prairie,  without  tree  or  shrub,  none  sometimes  being  within  view  all  around  for  several  miles, 
but  universally  covered  by  a  beautiful  mat  of  grass.  This  is  ready  for  pasturage  about  the  first 
or  the  middle  of  May,  and  in  summer  would  supply  from  a  half  to  one  ton  of  hay  per  acre.  Most 
of  the  hay  gathered  by  the  farmers,  however,  is  from  sloughs,  which  are  wet  in  spring  but  in 
summer  are  usually  so  hard  that  horses  can  be  driven  over  them.  Their  growth  of  grass  is  more 
than  twice  as  heavy  as  that  of  the  uplands,  but  of  inferior  quality,  yielding  from  two  to  three 
tons  per  acre. 

Owing  to  the  scarcity  of  timber,  and  the  difficulty  in  the  present  sparsely  settled  condition 
of  the  country  to  provide  either  wood  from  the  Big  Woods  of  central  Minnesota  or  coal  from  Iowa, 
a  large  portion  of  the  immigrants  of  these  counties,  probably  half  of  all  in  southern  Murray 
county,  and  three-fourths  of  all  in  Nobles  county,  burn  hay  for  their  only  fuel  throughout  the 
year.  A  few  have  stoves  to  which  the  hay  is  supplied  in  a  compressed  mass,  enclosed  in  a  re- 
movable fire-box;  but  mostly  it  is  burned  in  common  coal  or  wood  stoves.  The  hay  used  is  the 
most  rank  growth  of  the  sloughs,  three  to  six  feet  long,  consisting  almost  wholly  of  the  fresh- 
water cord-grass  ( Spartina  cynosuroides).  Large*  wisps  of  this  are  twisted,  doubled  and  tied  by 
band,  being  thus  brought  into  compact  and  convenient  form  for  putting  into  the  stove.  One  or 
two  of  these  twisted  bunches  are  supplied  every  five  or  ten  minutes,  and  they  maintain  a  hot  fire, 
as  serviceable  as  that  of  wood  or  coal.  The  amount  of  hay  thus  used  in  a  year  for  heating  an 
ordinary  room  is  from  eight  to  twelve  tons.  An  hour's  time  is  sufficient  for  twisting  up  a  winter 
day's  supply  of  this  f^uel.  With  the  more  full  settlement  of  this  region,  some  systematic  plan 
may  be  adopted  for  securing  wood  or  coal  by  freight  in  large  amounts  and  therefore  at  much 
lower  cost  than  now,  so  that  their  expense  will  no  longer  prevent  their  general  use.  It  also 
seems  quite  practicable  for  farmers  to  raise  all  the  fire-wood  they  need  by  setting  out  and  culti- 
vating ten  acres,  more  or  less,  of  timber.  The  white  willow,  cottonwood,  soft  maple  and  box- 
elder  are  rapid-growing  species  which  thrive  well  here  when  protected  from  the  prairie  fires. 
Species  should  be  selected  which  spring  up,  like  the  willows,  by  new  shoots  from  the  stump  and 
roots,  when  once  cut  down,  so  that  the  tract  cut  for  one  year's  fuel  may  grow  again  and  within  a 
few  years  yield  as  much  more.  Allowing  an  acre  of  willows  for  each  year,  apparently  an  ample 


526  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Grasses.    Drift. 

provision,  it  seems  quite  certain  that  ten  acres  will  be  sufficient  for  the  needs  of  an  ordinary 
household,  thus  leaving  each  acre  of  willows  ten  years  to  grow  before  cutting,  in  which  time  they 
attain  a  diameter  of  six  to  eight  inches  and  a  bight  of  twenty  to  thirty  feet. 

The  surface  of  these  counties,  having  for  the  greater  part  a  smooth,  gently  undulating  or 
rolling  contour,  with  few  or  no  boulders,  presents  a  vast,  fertile  expanse,  waiting  only  to  be 
ploughed  and  sown  to  yield  fifteen  to  thirty  bushels  of  wheat  per  acre.  Till  thus  changed  into 
cultivated  farms,  it  annually  produces  its  thin  growth  of  prairie  grasses,  one  to  two  feet  high, 
which  are  excellent  for  pasturage  till  the  first  severe  frosts,  about  the  middle  of  September;  by 
which  they  are  whitened  and  killed  to  the  roots,  not  continuing  green  after  frosts  like  the  culti- 
vated grasses.  Then,  after  a  few  days  of  drying,  it  is  ready  to  be  swept  by  prairie-fires  at  any 
time  when  they  come,  until  it  is  covered  by  the  snow  of  winter;  and,  should  it  escape  through 
the  autumn,  it  is  again  in  danger  of  fires  during  a  month  or  more  in  spring,  from  the  departure 
of  the  snow  until  the  green  grass  shoots  up  anew. 

The  most  abundant  species  of  grass  found  upon  the  prairies  of  this  part 
of  Minnesota  are  as  follows:  beard-grass  (Andropogon  furcatus,  Muhl.),  com- 
monly here  called  "blue-joint,"  Indian  grass  (Cnrysopogon  nutans, Benth.), 
muskit  grass  (Bouteloua  racemosa,  Lagasca),  and  porcupine  grass  (Stipa  spartea, 
Trin.),  common  on  land  neither  very  dry  nor  very  moist ;  another  species 
of  beard-grass  (Andropogon  scoparius,  Michx.),  and  a  second  muskit-grass 
(Bouteloua  hirsuta,  Lagasca),  common  on  dry  swells;  the  fresh-water  cord- 
grass  (Spartina  cynosuroides,  Willd.),  in  sloughs,  making  the  principal  mass 
of  their  hay ;  and  rice  cut-grass  (Leersia  oryzoides,  Swartz),  with  the  last. 
The  prairies  also  bear  a  great  variety  of  flowers,  including  numerous  spe- 
cies of  aster,  golden-rod,  sunflower,  and  blazing-star  or  button  snakeroot, 
and  the  rose,  lily,  harebell,  phlox,  fringed  gentian,  and  many  others. 

GEOLOGICAL   STRUCTURE. 

Glacial  and  modified  drift. 

The  bed-rocks  of  Murray  and  Nobles  county  have  no  outcrops,  nor  are 
they  reached  by  any  wells,  so  far  as  learned  of  in  this  survey.  Drift  forms 
the  surface,  consisting  almost  wholly  of  the  unmodified  deposit  of  the  ice- 
sheet,  which  is  called  till,  boulder-clay,  or  hardpan.  Clay  is  the  principal 
ingredient,  containing  always  more  or  less  of  grit,  gravel,  and  large  stones, 
but  boulders  exceeding  a  foot  in  diameter  are  usually  very  rare,  so  that 
perhaps  in  some  cases  none  would  be  found  in  ploughing  a  quarter-section. 
Though  the  soil  to  the  depth  of  a  foot  or  more  appears  to  contain  less 
gravel  than  the  earth  excavated  in  cellars  and  wells,  some  intermixture 
of  gravel  may  nearly  everywhere  be  noticed  upon  ploughed  land;  and  the 
true  loess,  which  thinly  covers  much  of  Rock  county,  does  not  extend  east 
into  the  counties  here  described.  Under  the  black  soil,  the  till  has  a  yel- 


MUREAY  AND  NOBLES  COUNTIES.  59? 

Drift.] 

lowish  color  to  a  depth  that  varies  from  ten  to  twenty-five  or  thirty  feet, 
below  which  it  is  dark  bluish.  Important  differences  in  its  hardness  are 
also  noted  in  the  sections  of  deep  wells.  How  thick  this  drift-sheet  is  can 
only  be  conjectured,  since  it  has  not  been  passed  through  in  these  counties; 
but  from  what  is  known  of  its  depth  upon  other  parts  of  southern  and 
western  Minnesota,  it  is  believed  to  vary  from  100  to  200  feet  or  more  in 
thickness.  Here  and  there  this  sheet  of  till  encloses  layers  of  sand  and 
gravel,  from  which  comes  the  large  inflow  of  water  often  met  with  in  well- 
digging. 

Creeks  and  rivers  have  excavated  valleys  in  the  drift,  the  deepest  being 
those  of  Chanarambie,  Champepadan  and  Kanaranzi  creeks,  and  of  the  Des 
Moines  river.  These  eroded  valleys  are  50  to  75  feet  deep  and  generally  a 
half  or  three-fourths  of  a  mile  wide,  bordered  by  bluffs  of  moderately  steep 
or  sometimes  quite  abrupt  slope.  Their  bottoms  are  partly  till,  like  the 
enclosing  bluffs ;  but  much  of  the  lowland  adjoining  the  streams  consists 
of  deposits  of  gravel  and  sand  or  fine  silt,  being  part  of  the  alluvium  formed 
during  the  process  of  erosion.  Its  lowest  tracts  still  remain  within  reach 
of  the  high  water  which  is  produced  by  snow-melting  in  spring  or  by  the 
largest  rains,  and  these  areas  of  flood-plain  are  annually  increasing  in 
depth  by  the  deposits  made  during  such  inundations. 

Modified  drift,  or  beds  of  gravel,  sand  and  clay,  whose  formation  must 
be  referred  to  glacial  conditions,  was  not  observed  in  these  valleys.  The 
only  noteworthy  deposit  of  this  kind  is  that  found  in  Grand  Prairie,  the 
most  southwest  township  of  Nobles  county.  Here  a  plain  composed  of 
stratified  gravel  and  sand,  but  covered  by  a  fertile  soil,  reaches  six  miles 
east  from  Kanaranzi  creek,  with  a  width  of  about  four  miles,  including  the 
southern  two-thirds  of  this  township.  This  nearly  level  tract  is  20  to  40 
feet  above  Kanaranzi  creek,  to  which  it  supplies  a  small  tributary  that  has 
cut  a  channel  of  similar  depth.  The  bordering  areas  of  till  rise  in  massive, 
smooth  swells,  40  to  75  feet  above  this  plain. 

Terminal  moraines.  Foregoing  descriptions  of  the  surface  features  of 
these  counties  have  called  attention  to  the  most  important  distinction  in 
their  deposits  of  glacial  drift  or  till,  namely,  the  existence  of  two  specially 
rolling  and  hilly  belts,  in  part  very  rough  and  knolly,  with  an  increased 
proportion,  and  sometimes  an  astonishing  abundance,  of  boulders.  The 


528  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Terminal  moraines.    Wells, 

extreme  limit  reached  by  the  ice  in  the  last  glacial  epoch  is  marked  by  the 
western  of  these  terminal  moraines,  which  forms  the  summit  of  the  Coteau 
des  Prairies.  This  morainic  belt  is  intersected  in  southern  Nobles  county 
by  lake  Ocheeda  and  Ocheyedan  creek,  and  in  southwestern  Murray  county 
by  Chanarambie  creek.  A  smooth  expanse  of  till,  from  ten  to  twenty-five 
miles  wide,  intervenes  between  this  and  the  eastern  moraine,  which  has  a 
course  approximately  parallel  with  the  preceding.  The  second  moraine 
marks  the  limit  of  the  ice  during  a  pause  in  its  recession,  the  genial  climate 
before  which  it  had  retreated  being  changed  to  one  of  severe  cold  again, 
when  the  ice-border,  probably  after  some  re-advance,  was  maintained 
steadily  at  this  line  during  a  long  time. 

In  an  earlier  part  of  the  glacial  period  a  more  extensive  ice-sheet  had 
overspread  all  this  region,  and  reached  far  to  the  south  into  Nebraska, 
Kansas  and  Missouri,  and  its  thick  deposit  of  till  continues  beyond  the 
farthest  boundary  attained  by  the  last  ice-sheet.  The  depth  of  the  drift 
in  the  west  part  of  Nobles  county  and  farther  westward,  outside  of  these 
moraines,  and  certain  features  of  the  region  included  by  them,  as  the 
remarkable  chains  of  lakes  in  Martin  county,  prove  that  the  greater  part 
of  the  drift  in  this  state  was  deposited  by  the  ice  of  this  earlier  epoch. 

Wells  in  Murray  county. 

Sections  of  the  drift  deposits  of  Murray  county  have  been  observed  in  well-digging  as  follows: 

Holly.  Daniel  E.  Way;  S.  W.  J-  of  sec.  10:  well,  20  feet;  soil,  2  feet;  yellow  till,  17  feet, 
spaded,  except  its  last  five  feet  which  were  picked;  much  harder  blue  till,  1  foot,  and  extending 
lower;  water  filled  the  well  six  feet  deep  in  one  day,  from  a  thin  gravelly  vein  at  the  depth  of  14 
feet. 

Des  Moines  River.  A.  H.  Twiss;  N.  E.  J  of  sec.  10:  well,  42  feet,  dug  32  feet  and  then  bored 
10  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  all  of  it  so  hard  that  it  had  to  be  picked,  containing  many  small  pebbles, 
but  none  larger  than  six  inches  in  diameter,  39  feet;  blue  till,  very  tenaceous,  but  not  harder  than 
the  yellow  till,  1  foot  and  more.  Water  rose  to  six  feet  below  the  surface  in  a  half  day,  and  stands 
there  permanently.  No  layer  of  gravel  or  sand  was  found,  and  the  well  continued  dry  about  one 
day  after  the  boring  was  finished;  then  water  broke  into  the  well  and  rose  rapidly  as  stated.  This 
is  the  greatest  thickness  of  yellow  till  learned  of  in  Murray  county. 

Shetek.  D.  C.  Greenman;  sec.  20:  well,  35  feet;  soil,  3  feet;  yellowish  till,  25  feet:  yellowish 
and  darker  gray  till,  interbedded,  moister  and  softer  than  above,  and  including  sandy  streaks, 
7  feet;  from  this  lower  part  of  the  well  water  rose  ten  feet  in  one  day. 

D.  J.  Turner;  sec.  26:  well,  41  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  37;  harder  blue  till,  2  feet  and  reach- 
ing lower;  water  rose  nine  feet  in  two  hours,  and  thirty  feet,  to  its  permanent  level,  in  the  first 
day,  from  sandy  streaks  in  the  last  ten  feet. 

Murray.  F.  H.  Barrows;  sec.  29:  well,  18  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  16  feet;  water  comes 
from  sandy  streaks,  mostly  at  12  feet. 

At  Currie  and  in  its  vicinity  the  wells  are  from  10  to  20  feet  deep,  in  till.  No  wood  nor  shells 
have  been  found  in  well-digging  in  this  region;  but  small  fragments  of  lignite  occur  frequently. 

Lime  Lake.    At  Avoca  the  Lincoln  hotel  has  a  well  96  feet  deep,  which  was  soil,  2  feet; 


MURRAY  AND  NOBLES  COUNTIES.  529 

Wells.  1 

yellow  till,  7  feet;  bine  till,  85  feet:  and  gravel,  2  feet,  from  which  water  rose  to  a  depth  of  fifty 
feet.  Most  of  the  wells  in  this  town  and  its  vicinity  are  only  15  to  20  feet  deep,  in  till  like  the 
foregoing,  and  ha.ve  a  plenty  of  good  water  through  the  whole  year. 

Bondin.  The  Fulda  town-well,  at  the  center  of  the  village,  has  a  depth  of  147  feet.  Its 
section  was  soil,  3  feet;  yellow  till,  spaded.  32;  much  harder  bine  till,  picked,  97  feet,  containing 
more  stones  and  gravel  than  the  upper  till;  then  again  yellow  till  at  132  feet  and  thence  15  feet  to 
the  bottom,  not  apparently  distinguishable  in  composition,  color  and  degree  of  compactness  from 
the  ordinary  yellow  till  of  the  surface,  while  its  proportion  of  gravel  and  pebbles,  the  largest  of 
which  are  three  or  four  inches  in  diameter,  appears  to  be  greater;  it  vas  underlain  by  gravel, 
which  yields  a  very  large  supply  of  water,  as  if  from  a  running  stream,  as  it  rises  only  seven  feet. 
A  small  piece  of  wood,  seven  inches  long,  resembling  red  cedar,  was  found  in  the  blue  till  at  a 
depth  of  67  feet;  and  a  few  pieces  of  lignite,  up  to  two  inches  in  length,  occurred  at  the  top  of  the 
lower  yellow  till;  but  no  other  fossil  remains  were  found. 

The  railroad-well  at  Fulda,  about  thirty  rods  southeast  from  the  foregoing,  is  described  by 
the  station-agent  to  be  115  feet  deep,  in  till,  its  last  3  feet  being  a  very  hard  layer,  below  which 
the  auger  dropped  nearly  a  foot;  and  from  this  vein  water  rose  seventy  feet.  This  well,  however, 
became  so  frequently  filled  with  quicksand  that  it  was  abandoned ;  and  water  is  at  present 
pumped  for  the  railroad  tank  from  the  north  one  of  the  Seven  Mile  lakes. 

Lake  Sarah.  T.  J.  Ward;  S.  E.  }  of  sec.  12:  well,  33  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  about  25;  blue 
till,  moister  and  very  tenacious,  6  feet;  the  well  was  bored,  and  at  this  depth  was  stopped  by  a 
boulder;  but  it  is  supplied  with  water  which  seeps  from  the  yellow  till. 

Mason.  J.  M.  Denison;  N.  W.  }  of  sec.  8:  well,  20  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  18  feet,  enclos- 
ing occasional  layers  of  sand  and  gravel  up  to  six  or  eight  inches  in  thickness;  water  seeps  in 
moderate  amount.  This  is  on  the  south  part  of  a  nearly  level  plateau,  much  higher  than  the 
surrounding  country. 

lona.  T.  Evenson;  sec.  14:  well,  25  feet;  soil,  2;  yellowish  gray  till,  23  feet,  spaded;  water 
seeps,  usually  three  to  five  feet  deep. 

Lowville.  John  H.  Low;  sec.  8 :  well,  16  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  with  occasional 
streaks  of  sand,  14  feet,  to  very  hard  blue  till  below;  water  seeps,  plentiful  and  good. 

Leeds.  L.  Lukkason;  Had  ley:  well,  40  feet;  soil,  and  yellow  till,  15  feet;  blue  till,  25:  both 
were  picked;  the  only  sand  found  was  a  thin  layer,  four  to  six  inches  thick,  at  the  depth  of  28 
feet;  water  seeps  slowly  from  this,  and  fills  the  well  to  that  hight,  twelve  feet. 

T.  105,  B.  42.  Darms  &  Fenton;  N.  W.  J  of  sec.  30:  well,  14  feet;  soil,  2  feet,  containing 
scarcely  any  gravel;  yellow  till,  picked,  quite  pebbly,  8  feet;  stratified  gravel  and  sand,  caving  in, 
4  feet;  the  water,  of  excellent  quality,  is  usually  four  feet  deep,  but  sometimes  fails. 

A  well  dug  for  the  Southern  Minnesota  railroad  on  sec.  4  of  this  township  is  reported  to 
have  gone  through  till  about  220  feet,  finding  no  water ;  but  another  well  dug  near  by  for  this 
railroad  on  sec.  5,  found  at  the  depth  of  15  feet  a  very  large  supply  of  water,  enough  to  fill  the 
railroad  tank  by  rapid  pumping  without  lowering  the  well. 

Cameron.  E.  Conner;  N.  W.  }  of  sec.  22:  well,  24  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  12;  blue 
till,  picked,  10;  water  rose  four  feet  from  sand  at  the  bottom.  This  is  at  the  northeast  border  of 
the  western  moraine. 

MouHon.  N.  M.  AVilliams;  sec.  28:  well,  16;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  8;  blue  till,  6;  water  seeps, 
being  usually  three  to  six  feet  deep,  of  excellent  quality,  as  are  all  the  wells  of  this  region. 
Fragments  of  lignite  are  rarely  found. 

Wells  in  Nobles  county. 

Ornham  Lakes.  Nils  Dahl;  De  Forest,  in  the  west  part  of  sec.  11 :  well,  25  feet;  soil,  2; 
yellow  till,  spaded,  18;  much  harder  blue  till,  picked,  4  feet;  water  seeps. 

J.  H.  Anscomb;  sec.  14:  well,  16  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  14,  spaded  through  its  first  ten  feet, 
but  much  harder  and  picked  below;  water  rose  four  feet  from  a  gravelly  vein  at  the  bottom. 

Indian  Lake.  Charles  L.  Peterson;  8.  E.  }  of  sec.  4 :  well,  22  feet,  all  till,  finding  a  good 
supply  of  water. 

Prank  Peterson;  S.  E.  }  of  sec.  16  :  well,  14  feet;  soil,  2;  a  sandy  layer,  1  foot ;  yellow  till, 
spaded,  11  feet;  water  seeps,  mainly  from  the  sandy  layer  at  the  top. 

Isaac  Horton;  sec.  34:  well,  35  feet  deep;  soil,  4  feet;  yellow  till,  spaded,  8  feet;  darker,  gray 
34 


530  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Wells. 

till,  marly,  very  hard,  •'  two  to  four  times  as  hard  to  dig  as  the  yellow  till,"  all  picked,  23  feet ; 
water  rose  fifteen  feet  in  three  days,  from  springs  in  this  till  at  the  bottom. 

Seward.  Frank  II.  Radant;  sec.  4:  well,  22  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  15  feet;  much  harder 
blue  till,  5  feet,  and  reaching  deeper;  water  seeps,  abundant  and  good. 

Worthington.  Peter  Tompson ;  in  the  town :  well,  52  feet ;  soil,  4 ;  gray  till,  8  feet ;  blue 
till,  40;  water  rose  suddenly  from  sand  at  the  bottom  to  a  permanent  level  twenty  feet  below  the 
surface.  Most  of  the  wells  here  get  an  abundant  supply  of  good  water  at  10  to  20  feet. 

Wilson  Ager;  sec.  30:  well,  24  feet;  soil,  2;  gray  till,  18;  gray  sand,  4  feet;  water  plentiful, 
but  not  rising  above  the  top  of  the  sand. 

Bigelow.  E.  S.  Mills  ;  sec.  31,  near  the  village :  well,  dug  30  feet  and  bored  below  to  72  in 
all;  soil,  2  feet;  yellowish  gray  till,  10;  blue  till  thence  to  the  bottom.  Several  pieces  of  wood, 
from  two  or  three  inches  to  one  foot  long,  apparently  tamarack,  were  found  in  this  well,  at  a 
depth  of  26  feet,  in  the  compact  blue  till;  but  no  shells,  nor  other  fossils,  were  learned  of  in  this 
region. 

The  railroad  well  at  Bigelow  station,  52  feet  deep,  passing  through  blue  till,  is  filled  with 
water  to  twelve  feet  below  the  surface. 

Bloom.  Levi  H.  Baxter;  sec.  24:  well,  15  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  but  very  hard, 
13  feet;  water  seeps,  abundant  and  of  good  quality.  Wells  in  this  township  vary  from  10  to  20 
feet  in  depth.  Fragments  of  lignite  are  rarely  found. 

Summit  Lake.  A.  Hovey ;  sec.  8:  well,  20;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  18;  water  seeps,  usually 
plentiful,  but  none  in  very  dry  seasons. 

On  Samuel  Allen's  farm,  three-fourths  of  a  mile  northwest  from  the  last,  a  well  was  dug 
and  bored  about  100  feet;  finding  plenty  of  water  at  first,  but  becoming  filled  with  quicksand. 

Dewald.  Wells  at  Rushmore,  in  the  south  part  of  sec.  19,  are  12  to  20  feet  deep,  finding 
plenty  of  good  water.  S.  M.  Rushmore  here  has  a  well  20  feet  deep,  which  was  soil,  2  feet,  and 
then  yellowish  gray  till,  18  feet,  with  water  rising  from  gravel  at  the  bottom  and  standing  about 
eight  feet  deep.  A  boring  close  by  this,  at  the  southeast  corner  of  his  store,  60  feet  deep,  went 
into  blue  till  at  the  depth  of  about  20  feet,  and  was  all  blue  till  below. 

A.  Roland;  S.  E.  J  of  sec.  22  :  well,  16  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till  for  all  below ;  water  seeps, 
scanty.  The  well  at  his  barn,  24  feet  deep,  all  in  yellow  till,  finds  a  large  supply  of  water. 

.Ransom.  S.  G.  Ferrin;  S.  E.  J  of  sec.  20:  well,  22  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  picked,  20  feet; 
at  the  depth  of  ten  feet  this  till  contained  a  layer  of  water-deposited  sand,  four  inches  thick  at 
one  side  of  the  well,  but  thinning  out  to  nothing  at  the  other  side ;  water  seeps,  and  is  scanty  in 
a  dry  season. 

Olney.  H.  M.  Ludlow;  sec.  22  :  well,  22  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  20;  water  seeps  from  the 
lower  ten  feet,  and  also  comes  from  a  spring  in  the  till  at  the  bottom,  standing  five  to  ten  feet 
deep. 

In  Adrian,  at  the  west  side  of  this  township,  the  Coleman  hotel  has  a  well  40  feet  deep,  the 
section  of  which  was  soil,  2  feet;  yellow  till,  14  ;  blue  till,  24 ;  water  rose  twenty-seven  feet  in 
twelve  hours  from  gravel  at  the  bottom.  This  is  the  deepest  well  at  Adrian  ;  others  find  plenty 
of  water  at  15  to  25  feet. 

Little  Rock.  William  Wigham ;  sec.  18 :  well,  32  feet ;  soil,  3  feet;  yellow  till,  spaded,  but 
hard,  29;  water  seeps,  mostly  from  the  lower  part  of  the  well,  abundant  and  of  excellent  quality. 

W.  W.  Mallory;  S.  TV.  t  of  sec.  34:  well,  33  feet;  soil,  3;  yellow  till,  spaded,  but  hard,  15; 
much  harder  blue  till,  15  feet  and  extending  lower;  water  seeps,  usually  about  six  feet  deep. 

Leota.  John  Loy:  sec.  28:  well,  26  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  18  feet;  very  much  harder  blue 
till,  4;  sand  and  gravel,  2  feet,  from  which  water  rose  six  feet. 

Lismore.  Michael  Brown;  N.  E.  J  of  sec.  21:  well,  33  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  28  feet;  ex- 
ceedingly hard  blue  till,  3  feet  and  extending  lower;  water  rose  ten  feet  in  four  hours,  from  sandy 
streaks  at  the  base  of  the  yellow  till. 

George  W.  Legros;  N.  W.  }  of  this  sec.  21 :  well,  23  feet;  soil,  2;  sandy  yellow  till,  14  feet; 
quicksand,  3  feet ;  very  hard  blue  till,  4  feet  and  deeper ;  water,  three  feet  deep.  Limy  concre- 
tions were  found  in  the  yellow  till. 

West  Side.  Thomas  Grace;  near  the  center  of  this  township:  well,  62  feet;  soil,  2;  sand,  12; 
till,  mostly  yellow,  48  feet ;  water  seeps,  coming  in  considerable  amount  at  the  depth  of  54  feet. 
This  is  at  the  top  of  the  west  bluff  of  Kanaranzi  creek. 


MURRAY  AND  NOBLES  COUNTIES.  53} 

Material  resources.] 

Grand  Prairie.  Benjamin  Midbos;  sec  14:  well,  18  feet  deep;  soil,  2;  gravel  and  sand,  16; 
water  abundant  and  good.  This  is  on  the  northeast  part  of  a  plain  which  occupies  the  southern 
two-thirds  of  Grand  Prairie,  having  a  subsoil  of  gravel  and  sand,  in  which  wells  go  from  12  to  20 
feet  in  depth . 

MATERIAL  RESOURCES. 

The  agricultural  capabilities  of  Murray  and  Nobles  counties  have  been 
noticed  sufficiently  on  page  523. 

No  water-power  is  used  in  Nobles  county;  and  the  only  one  used  in 
Murray  county  is  on  the  Des  Moines  river  at  Currie,  where  the  Lake  She- 
tek mill,  employed  in  the  manufacture  of  flour,  and  owned  by  Currie  & 
Growl,  has  a  head  of  eight  feet.  The  dam  here  holds  the  stream  above  it 
level  to  lake  Shetek;  and  a  second  dam,  situated  nearly  a  mile  above  this, 
close  below  the  junction  of  Bear  creek  and  the  outlet  of  lake  Shetek,  raises 
the  surface  of  this  lake  and  creek  four  feet  above  the  Currie  dam,  for 
which  it  thus  forms  a  reservoir. 

The  only  stone  for  masonry  obtainable  from  these  counties  is  supplied 
by  the  boulders  of  granite,  gneiss,  limestone,  and  other  kinds,  which  are 
contained  in  the  drift.  In  some  localities,  as  along  the  bluffs  bordering 
the  east  branch  of  Kanaranzi  creek  four  miles  northwesterly  from  Rush- 
more,  in  the  moraine-Jike  hillocks  within  a  mile  west  of  Adrian,  and  among 
the  rough  drift  hills  of  Leeds  and  Chanarambie  townships  in  western  Mur- 
ray county,  these  boulders  are  abundant  up  to  five  feet,  and  less  frequent 
to  ten  feet  in  diameter. 

Lime  has  been  burned  for  the  local  demand,  from  drift  boulders,  in 
Bigelow  and  Dewald,  Nobles  county.  The  largest  limestone  block  found 
in  this  region  was  on  section  25,  Dewald,  measuring  about  20  by  20  by  12 
feet  in  dimensions.  It  was  used  for  underpinning  three  houses,  besides 
walling  two  cellars  and  three  wells.  Most  of  the  boulders,  whether  of 
limestone,  or  of  the  granite  and  schists,  are  less  than  five  feet  in  diameter, 
and  larger  ones  are  rare.  Only  a  twentieth,  or  less,  of  the  large  boulders, 
but  nearly  half  of  the  small  stones  and  gravel  in  the  drift,  are  limestone. 

In  Murray  county,  lime  is  burned  by  John  Swenson,  in  section  34,  Lake 
Sarah,  usually  only  one  kiln  yearly. 

Brick-making  is  not  undertaken  in  these  counties,  because  of  the  high  cost  of  fuel. 

Peat.  Only  scanty  deposits  of  peat  are  found  in  this  part  of  the  state,  and  it  is  very  rarely 
used.  Prof.  Winchell's  report  upon  the  peat  of  southern  Minnesota,  from  explorations  in  1873, 
mentions  four  localities  in  Nobles  county,  as  follows  :* 

*Sccond  annual  report. 


532  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Peat.     Springs.     Mounds. 

DewalA.  "Land  of  B.  S.  Langdon,  sec.  4.  Here  a  turf-peat  occurs,  about  14  inches  in 
thickness,  lying  on  a  side-lull  or  gentle  slope,  having  a  springy  character  when  trod  on.  It  is 
underlain  by  a  black  mud,  which  has  been  mistaken  for  non-fibrous  peat.  Of  the  turf  several 
cords  (perhaps  a  hundred)  have  been  taken  off,  preparatoiy  to  excavating  the  rich(?)  peat  below, 
when  it  was  discovered  that  it  would  not  burn,  but  when  placed  in  the  fire  turned  out  hard  and 
heavy  like  burned  clay.  The  turf  itself  will  make  a  fuel  that  will  compare  well  with  any  turf- 
peat  discovered." 

Bigelow.  "Peat,  eight  or  ten  inches  thick,  exists  on  the  railroad  land,  sec.  27,  of  a  turfy 
character,  but  good  quality.  It  lies  over  an  acre  or  two,  but  may  be  taken  out,  probably  in  other 
places  along  the  different  creeks  that  unite  here." 

•'At  Bigelow,  there  is  a  considerable  thickness,  perhaps  two  feet,  of  half-carbonized,  pulpy, 
vegetable  silt,  lying  entirely  below  the  water  of  a  lake,  made  up  of  decaying  sedges  and  grasses 
and  their  roots.  It  is  torn  in  pieces  by  the  waves  in  the  lake,  and  gathers  about  the  shores  and 
under  the  bog-turf,  driven  most  abundantly  to  the  side  that  faces  the  prevailing  winds.  It  is 
often  intermixed  with  fine  mud  and  shells,  especially  near  the  bottom.  It  will  probably  furnish, 
if  dry,  a  combustible  material  that  would  answer  well  for  fuel,  if  it  should  prove  obtainable  in 
sufficient  quantities,  and  especially  if  it  were  to  be  pressed  and  molded.  It  has  not  the  necessary 
origin  nor  nature  to  be  styled  peat." 

Indian  Lake.  "  John  Haggard  takes  out  turf  in  a  low  patch  on  sec.  4.  It  occurs  partly 
on  state  swamp  land,  partly  on  railroad  land,  and  partly  on  the  claim  of  Charles  Peterson.  It  is 
in  nature  and  position  similar  to  the  turf  on  B.  S.  Langdon's  land,  northwest  of  Worthington. 
Mr.  Haggard  takes  it  out  with  a  spade,  about  a  foot  in  depth,  in  large  blocks.  Then  drawing  it 
to  the  house  he  cuts  it  into  convenient  smaller  blocks,  and  spreads  and  piles  it  for  drying.  After 
drying  about  five  or  six  weeks  it  is  fit  for  burning.  It  burns  quickly  but  leaves  considerable 
ash."  This  peat,  according  to  an  analysis  by  Prof.  S.  F.  Peckham,  contains  when  air-dried  11.93 
per  cent,  of  hygroscopic  water;  33.48  of  organic  matter;  and  54.59  of  ash.  A  hundred  pounds  of 
it  are  estimated  to  be  equal  in  value  to  forty-four  pounds  of  oak  wood. 

Springs  of  excellent,  cool  water  issue  at  many  places  from  the  lower 
part  of  the  bluffs  of  the  Des  Moines  river,  and  of  Chanarambie,  Champep- 
adan  and  Kanaranzi  creeks.  On  the  narrow  bottomland  of  Plum  creek,  in 
the  N.  W.  J  of  section  15,  and  the  N.  E.  |  of  section  16,  Holly,  the  most 
northeast  township  of  Murray  county,  are  several  chalybeate  springs, 
which  have  formed  mounds  of  ochery  mud,  one  or  two  feet  high,  and  ten 
or  twenty  feet  in  diameter.  Other  interesting  mineral  springs,  supposed  to 
be  impregnated  with  both  iron  and  sulphur,  occur  on  the  N.  E.  ^  of  section 
12,  of  this  township,  three  miles  south  of  Walnut  Grove. 

ABORIGINAL  EAETHWOKKS. 

An  artificial  mound,  of  the  usual  rounded  form,  about  fifty  feet  across  and  three  feet  high, 
lies  on  the  farm  of  L.  Aldrich,  close  southwest  of  his  house,  in  the  north  part  of  section  7,  Mur- 
ray, at  a  distance  of  about  forty  rods  from  the  southeast  shore  of  lake  Shetek.  Also,  in  the  south 
part  of  the  S.  W.  }  of  section  8,  several  similar  mounds  occur,  two  to  three  or  four  feet  high;  and 
there  are  two  others  in  the  S.  E.  ^  of  the  X.  E.  J  of  section  18,  all  these  being  in  Murray  town- 
ship, within  two  miles  northwest  from  Currie. 

North  of  lake  Shetek,  two  or  three  of  these  aboriginal  mounds,  two  to  four  feet  high,  were 
seen  upon  the  top  of  swells,  which  rise  30  to  40  feet  in  night,  east  of  lake  Fremont,  and  one  upon 
a  similar  rounded  hill  west  of  this  lake,  these  being  in  the  west  part  of  Shetek  township. 

In  Nobles  county,  such  circular  mounds,  from  one  and  a  half  to  three  feet  high,  are  found 
in  the  N.  W.  J  of  section  18,  Hansom;  and  also  in  the  south  part  of  Little  Hock. 


PLATS:  z3AKi>  2-t. 


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GEOLOGICAL  AND  XATURAL  HISTOKi' 
SURVEY  OF  MINNESOTA . 

PIPES  TONE  ANC 

ROCK 
COUNTIES. 

BY     N.    H.     Wl  NCHELL  . 

PLATE  24 


VICINITY  OF  THE  RED    PIPESTONE    QUARflY 


1  Loess  ;  Modified  Drift 


1 
Quaternary  )?M,  smooth  and  imAtitttmc/  \       ) 

-  - 


—  J       Cam 


brian     (Potsdam  Qnccrt^ 


Conl  our  Lines  are  cfrntm 
approxrmatel)  -fir  each  5O/ect 


cm 

r~ 


rtbove.  the  sea.  . 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  PIPESTONE  AND  ROCK  COUNTIES. 


BY  N.  H.  WINCHELL.* 

Situation  and  area.  These  counties  are  in  the  extreme  southwest  cor- 
ner of  the  state,  Pipestone  county  lying  north  of  Rock.  They  are  named 
from  the  appearance  of  the  Potsdam  quartzyte,  the  former  containing  the 
famed  region  of  the  "red  pipestone  quarry,"  and  the  latter  an  extensive 
area  in  which  the  same  quartzyte  appears  at  the  surface,  and  constitutes 
its  most  marked  topographic  feature,  in  "the  mound"  near  Luverne.  Rock 
county  contains  308,910.15  acres,  of  which  1,174.04  are  covered  by  water  ; 
and  Pipestone  has  296,493.51  acres-,  including  611.76  covered  by  water. 

SURFACE  FEATURES. 

Natural  drainage.  With,  the  exception  of  a  small  area  in  the  north- 
eastern corner  of  Pipestone  county,  on  the  east  slope  of  the  Coteau,  mostly 
drained  by  the  Redwood  river,  in  which  also  is  found  the  ultimate  source 
of  the  Des  Moines  river,  the  whole  of  these  two  counties  and  portions  of 
Nobles  and  Jackson  are  drained  by  streams  that  reach  the  Missouri  river, 
these  being  the  only  waters  in  the  state  that  take  that  course  to  the  sea. 
The  Rock  river  is  the  main  stream,  and  runs  from  north  to  south  through 
both  counties,  receiving  several  tributaries  from  the  east,  but  none  of 
importance  from  the  west.  Several  streams,  rising  not  far  west  of  the 
valley  of  Rock  river,  flow  westward  and  southwestward  and  finally  reach 
the  Missouri  by  way  of  the  Big  Sioux  river,  near  Sioux  City,  in  Iowa.  These 
are  the  Flandreau,  Pipestone,  Split  Rock,  Beaver  and  Mud  creeks.  These 
streams  are  all  small,  and  in  the  summer  some  of  them  are  rather  valleys, 
with  occasional  pools  of  standing  water,  than  living  streams.  They  furnish 

'Including  copious  notes  by  Mr.  Upham.    Compare,  also  the  sixth  annual  report. 


534  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Topography. 

but  few  powers  that  have  been  improved;  though  without  doubt  other  parts 
of  Rock  river  have  sufficient  fall  for  mill  purposes.  The  falls  of  Pipestone 
creek  near  the  Leaping  Rock,  are  represented  by  figure  38. 

Water-power  mills  are  found  at  two  points  in  the  Rock  river  valley,  viz.: 

The  Luverne  mills,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  southeast  of  Luverne,  owned  by  Allen  &  Webber. 

The  fall  here  amounts  to  ten  feet,  and  the  mill  has  two  run  of  stone.     It  is  a  grist  and  merchant 

mill. 

Tlie  Ash  Grove  mills  are  in  the  southeast  part  of  Clinton,  about  a  mile  north  of  the  state 

line,  owned  by  Mrs.  Deborah  Estey  and  son;  fall  seven  feet;  grist  mill. 


PIPES TONE    FALLS 

HO.  38. 


Topography.  The  contour  of  the  immediate  surface  is  caused  by  the 
disposition  of  the  drift,  but  the  average  elevation,  throughout  some  broad 
areas,  is  dependent  on  the  underlying  rock-strata.  Pipestone  county  is 
diversified  in  its  eastern  townships  by  long  and  broad  swells  running  about 
north  and  south,  corresponding  to  the  low  water-sheds.  The  central  part 
of  this  county  is  a  flat  and  monotonous  prairie.  The  broad  valley  of  Flan- 
dreau  creek  with  an  elevation  of  about  sixteen  hundred  feet  crosses  it  diag- 
onally in  the  northwestern  corner,  and  the  elevated  crest  of  the  Coteau  des 
Prairies  cuts  off  diagonally  its  northeastern  corner.  The  greatest  uneven- 
ness  of  surface,  as  well  as  the  greatest  elevation  in  these  counties,  is  found 
on  this  Coteau,  the  latter  being  somewhat  over  nineteen  hundred  feet 


PIPESTONE  AND  ROCK  COUKTIES.  535 

Topography.) 

above  the  ocean.  Where  Rock  river  leaves  Pipestone  county  its  water 
surface  is  fifteen  hundred  feet  above  the  ocean,  and  where  it  leaves  the 
state  it  is  about  1,350  feet.  This  valley  is  about  fifty  feet  below  the  gen- 
eral level  in  Burke  township,  but  its  bluffs  increase  in  hight  toward  the 
south,  reaching  seventy-five  and  eighty  feet  in  Osborne,  the  surrounding 
country  being  about  twenty-five  feet  still  higher.  Chanarambie  creek  is 
likewise  deeply  channeled  in  the  drift.  There  are  here  also  a  great  many 
sharp  ravines,  like  the  ravines  in  the  Bad  Lands  of  Montana,  that  suggest 
the  existence  of  some  of  the  friable  strata  of  the  Cretaceous.  The  Rock  river 
valley,  farther  south,  is  cut  from  seventy-five  to  one  hundred  feet  below 
the  general  level  of  the  country,  and  in  Rock  county  receives  a  number  of 
small  tributaries  from  the  east,  each  of  which  flows  in  a  deeply  cut  valley 
from  fifty  to  a  hundred  feet  below  the  general  level.  This  valley,  which 
is  furnished  with  a  fertile  bottomland  from  a  half  mile  to  one  mile  wide, 
is  enclosed  by  bluifs  in  the  southern  part  of  Rock  county  that  do  not  have 
the  usual  steepness,  as  if  recently  undermined  by  the  current  of  the  river, 
but  which  rise  by  moderate  slopes  to  the  general  level  of  the  undulating 
upland.  The  same  feature  is  observable  in  the  bluffs  of  Beaver  creek, 
which,  like  the  Kanaranzi,  Champepadan,  Elk  and  Split  Rock  creeks,  have 
cut  their  valleys  from  forty  to  sixty  feet  below  the  general  surface.  Rock 
county  in  general  has  a  surface  that  is  broadly  undulating,  the  swells 
sometimes  showing  a  trending  to  a  north-south  direction. 

These  are  emphatically  and  characteristically  prairie  counties,  and 
are  nearly  level  in  some  portions.  They  are  more  undulating  in  their 
eastern  portions.  The  west-facing  bluffs  are  usually  more  precipitous  than 
the  east-facing.  They  are  also  more  stony  with  foreign  boulders,  a  cir- 
cumstance, however,  that  may  be  owing  to  the  action  of  the  prevailing 
western  winds,  combined  with  the  drying  effect  of  the  southwestern  sun  in 
summer,  which  would  uncover  and  keep  bare  the  coarser  materials  of  the 
surface  by  blowing  away  the  sand  and  clay  during  the  dry  windy  months 
of  the  year,  while  the  bluffs  on  the  west  side  would  not  only  not  receive 
such  winds,  but  would  serve  to  collect  all  particles  flying  toward  the  east 
from  the  prairie  above. 

The  range  of  high  land  running  northwestward  from  Mound  in  Rock 
county,  is  a  conspicuous  object  in  the  horizon  from  the  north  and  east. 


536  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

^Elevations. 

Its  highest  point  is  where  it  breaks  off  squarely  to  the  valley  of  Rock  river, 
about  three  miles  north  of  Luverne,  where  it  is  known  distinctively  as  the 
mound,  1650  feet  above  the  ocean.  It  here  has  an  elevation  of  about  175 
feet  above  the  river,  the  uppermost  forty  to  sixty  feet  consisting  of  rock. 
This  range  of  high  land  extends  northward  into  Pipestone  county,  and 
reaches  there  an  elevation  of  over  seventeen  hundred  feet,  the  same  rock 
causing  it  throughout. 

Elevations.  By  means  of  the  railroad  surveys  that  have  crossed  these  counties  there  are 
someMefinite  data  respecting  their  bight  above  the  ocean,  and  from  these  and  estimates  based  upon 
them  the  contour-lines  of  the  accompanying  plate  (No.  23)  have  been  drawn. 

Southern  Minnesota  division  of  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  Saint  Paul  railway. 

Miles  from       Feet  above 
La  Crosse.          the  sea. 

Chanarambie  creek,  water  at  the  last  crossing 274.5  1521 

Edgerton 276.0  1550 

Bock  river 279.0  1552 

Hatfleld 283.0  1662 

Highest  point  on  the  road 285.5  1744 

Pipestone  City '. 289.0  1693 

Pipestone  creek,  water 293.0  1577 

Clausen 295.5  1629 

Flandreau 303.6  1550 

Woodstock  branch  of  the  Chicago,  Saint  Paul,  Minneapolis  &  Omaha  railway. 

Mites  from     Feet  above 
St.  Paul.  the  sea. 

Murray  and  Pipestone  county  line,  grade 202.5 

Woodstock 204.3  1822 

Rock  river,  water 208.3  1645 

Summit 211 .5  1785 

Pipestone  City 215.4  1715 

Big  Sioux  river  at  Flandreau    230.8  1501 

Sioux  Falls  branch  of  the  Chicago,  Saint  Paul,  Minneapolis  &  Omaha  railway . 

Summit,  thre?  miles  east  of  the  county  line 199.5  1569 

Drake 203.7  1516 

Elk  slough,  grade 206.2  1469 

Summit,  grade 207.1  1515 

Rock  river,  water 210.3  1423 

Luverne ...  211.1  1451 

Summit,  grade 216.1  1543 

Beaver  Creek  depot -  219.3  1443 

Beaver  creek,  water 219.8 

State  line 224.4  1383 

Valley  Springs 225.2  1392 

Sioux  Falls 1394 

Big  Sioux  river,  Sioux  Falls,  low  and  high  water. 240.4  1381-1385 

Branch  from  Luverne  to  Doon,  Iowa. 

Luverne 211.1  1451 

Ash  Creek  depot 218.7 

State  line : 221.6  1374 

Doon 238.9  1282 


PIPESTONE  AND  ROCK  COUNTIES.  537 

Elevations,     Quartzyte.J 

Mean  elevation.  The  following  figures  express  the  estimated  mean  elevation  of  the  town- 
ships of  Pipestone  and  Rock  counties: 

Pipestone  county.  ./Etna,  1,825  feet  above  the  sea;  Rock,  1.800;  Burke,  1,700;  Osborne, 
1,625;  Fountain  Prairie,  1,810;  Grange,  1,775;  Gray,  1,740;  Elmer,  1,650;  Altona,  1,700;  Troy, 
1,660;  Sweet,  1,660;  Eden,  1,650.  The  average  of  these  figures  is  1,715  feet. 

Bock  county.  Battle  Plain,  1,550  feet  above  the  sea;  Vienna,  1,520;  Magnolia,  1,490;  Kan- 
aranzi,  1,175;  Denver,  1,620;  Mound,  1,575;  Luverne,  1,480;  Clinton,  1,440;  Rose  Dell,  1,600; 
Spring  Water,  1,525;  Beaver  Creek,  1,450;  and  Martin,  1,440.  The  average  for  Rock  county  is 
1,510  feet  above  the  sea. 

Soil.  But  a  very  small  portion  of  these  counties  is  unsuited  to  farm  tillage.  The  soil  is 
generally  composed  of  the  till,  or  boulder-clay  which  is  so  stony  as  to  interfere  with  plowing 
only  in  the  rolling  tract  of  the  Coteau,  in  small  areas,  in  the  northeastern  corner  of  Pipestone 
county.  And  even  there  the  stony  knolls. are  interspersed  with  fertile  valleys  and  slopes  thi»t  af- 
ford good  pasturage.  In  central  Rock  county,  extending  from  the  mound  north  westward,  and  in 
eluding  some  parts  of  Denver  and  Rose  Dell,  the  surface  is  rocky,  and  the  soil  thin.  With  these 
exceptions,  these  counties  are  among  the  best  in  the  state  for  all  farming.  In  the  most  of  Pipe- 
stone  county,  and  in  the  northern  part  of  Rock  county  occasional  stones  are  found  in  the  soil,  but 
these  become  less  frequent  toward  the  south,  and  in  the  southern  part  of  Rock  county  no  stones 
at  all  appear  on  the  surface,  the  soil  being  the  same  as  the  loam  soils  of  the  southeastern  part  of 
the  state,  consisting  of  a  fine  clay  that  varies  in  thickness,  sometimes  reaching  ten  or  twenty  feet. 

Timber  and  fuel.  From  the  vicinity  of  Luverne  to  the  state  line  and  farther  south,  timber 
is  nearly  continuous  in  a  narrow  belt  along  the  Rock  river.  Its  most  abundant  species  are  cot- 
tonwood,  soft  maple,  white  elm  and  white  ash;  box-elder  and  bur  oak  occur  less  frequently;  and 
bass  is  absent.  Wild  plums,  grapes  and  gooseberries  are  plentiful.  Many  beautifully  spreading 
elms,  fully  60  feet  in  hight,  grow  beside  this  river  near  Luverne.  Farther  to  the  north  timber  is 
found  sparingly  and  in  occasional  groves  along  the  Rock  river.  On  the  tributaries  of  this  stream  • 
in  Rock  county,  and  on  Split  Rock  and  Beaver  creeks,  timber  is  absent  or  very  scanty. 

Mr.  J.  F.  Shoemaker  states  that  the  following  species  of  trees  and  shrubs  have  been  ob- 
served by  him  in  this  county:  White  elm,  white  ash,  cottonwood,  willows,  soft  maple,  box-elder, 
hackberry,  bur  oak,  prickly  ash,  smooth  sumach,  frost  grape,  Virginia  creeper,  climbing  bitter- 
sweet, wild  plum,  choke-cherry,  black  raspberry  (common  on  the  Mound),  wild  rose,  thorn,  June 
berry,  prickly  wild  gooseberry,  black  currant,  wolf-berry  and  elder. 

Owing  to  the  scarcity  of  wood,  nearly  all  the  immigrants,  especially  in  Pipestone  county, 
excepting  in  or  near  the  villages  and  stations  of  the  railroads,  burn  hay  for  their  only  fuel,  which 
is  best  when  cut  before  frost,  or  at  the  same  time  as  for  feeding.  The  cost  of  cutting  and  stack- 
ing this  hay  is  $1  to  $1.50  per  ton. 

THE  GEOLOGICAL  STRUCTURE. 

Bed  quartzyte.  The  only  known  bedded  rock  in  these  counties  is  a  red 
quartzyte,  probably  the  equivalent  of  the  New  York  Potsdam  sandstone,  but 
which  Dr.  C.  A.  White,  of  the  Iowa  survey,  has  designated  the  Sioux  quartz- 
yte, as  it  is  seen  to  outcrop  in  the  extreme  northwestern  corner  of  Iowa. 
Of  this  the  largest  exposures  are  in  Rock  county,  but  the  best  known  is  at 
the  famous  "pipestone  quarry,"  near  the  center  of  Pipestone  county. 

As  this  locality  has  become  somewhat  famous  on  account  of  the  ex- 
tensive use  made  of  the  red  pipestone  by  the  Indians,  and  the  difference  of 
opinion  expressed  by  scientists  as  to  its  origin  and  age,  the  following  re- 
sume will  be  of  interest: 


588  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

^  [Quartzyte.    Historical  resume. 

Historical  resumt. 

The  first  written  account  of  the  quarry  was  by  George  Catlin,  in  1837*,  found  in  the  38th 
volume  of  the  first  series  of  the  American  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts,  p.  138,  in  a  letter  ad- 
dressed to  Dr.  0.  T.  Jackson,  to  whom  he  also  sent  a  sample  of  the  pipestone  for  analysis.  The 
journey  was  made  on  horseback  from  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony,  in  the  summer  of  1836,  in  com- 
pany with  "a  young  gentleman  from  England,  of  fine  taste  and  education,"  and  a  single  Indian 
guide.  Mr.  Catlin  describes  the  quarry  as  -'on  the  very  top"  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies,  which 
rises  above  the  country  about  it  with  graceful  and  almost  imperceptible  swells.  The  quartzyte 
he  regards  "a  secondary  or  sedimentary  deposit,"  but  no  further  defines  its  supposed  age. 

Jean  N.  Nicollet  visited  the  quarry  in  July,  1838,  as  is  plainly  shown  by  his  own  name  and 
date  of  that  year,  together  with  the  initials  of  his  companions,  boldly  and  artistically  cut  on  the 
quartzyte  at  the  top  of  the  ledge,  near  the  "leaping  rock,"  and  a  little  north  of  where  the  creek 
passed  over  the  brow  of  the  escarpment.** 

Prof.  James  Hall,  next  in  chronological  order,  read  a  paper  before  the  American  Philosoph- 
ical Society  in  June,  1866,  in  which,  among  notes  on  the  geology  of  some  of  the  western  portions 
of  Minnesota,  he  classes  the  red  quartzyte  as  Huronian.  He  imagines  the  Coteau  des  Prairies 
caused  by  a  vast  synclinal  in  the  rocks  of  this  age.f  He  did  not  see  the  pipestone  quarry  itself, 
having  gone  only  to  lake  Shetek. 

Dr.  F.  V.  Hayden  visited  and  examined  the  locality  in  October,  1866,  and  his  account  is  in 
the  American  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts  for  January,  1867,  p.  15.  After  examining  rock  of  the 
same  kind  on  the  James  and  Vermilion  rivers  in  Dakota,  and  at  Sioux  Falls  on  the  Big  Sioux 
river,  he  gives  an  interesting  detailed  description  of  the  quarry,  and  inclines  to  the  opinion  that 
the  quartzyte  is  "supra-carboniferous,  Triassic,  perhaps,  or  an  extension  downward  of  Cretaceous 
No.  14 

Dr.  C.  A.  White  has  given  a  description  of  a  "Trip  to  the  great  red  pipestone  quarry"  in 
the  American  Naturalist  for  1868-9,  but  he  does  not  there  state  anything  concerning  the  age  of 
these  rocks,  though  elsewhere  he  has  ranked  them  as  pre-Silurian,  and  named  the  formation  the 
"Sioux  quartzyte."|| 

The  known  area  of  this  rock  in  Pipestone  and  Rock  counties  is  ap- 
proximately marked  out  on  the  accompanying  map,  but  there  is  much 
probability  of  its  being  much  greater  and  perhaps  it  includes  the  greater 
portion  of  both  counties.  The  Cretaceous  formation,  no  doubt,  also  occurs 
in  the  northern  part  of  Pipestone  county,  and  overlies  unconformably  the 
quartzyte  in  other  places,  but  it  has  not  been  seen.  Dr.  Hayden  has  men- 
tioned such  facts  in  his  account  of  the  geology  of  southeastern  Dakota,  oc- 
curring at  or  near  the  mouth  of  Firesteel  creek,  on  the  James  river,  where 
he  has  identified  the  Fort  Benton  and  Niobrara  groups. 

The  pipestone  quarry.  At  the  red  pipestone  quarry  (plate  24)  there  is 
a  ledge  of  rock  which  runs  north  and  south  nearly  three  miles.  This 
ledge  of  rock  consists  of  layers  of  red  quartzyte  that  have  a  low  dip  to- 


•Compare  page  62. 

"See  paare  69.  This  inscription  is  about  nine  rods  northwest  of  the  waterfall 
(fig.  38)  of  Pipestone  creek,  and  only  two  or  three  rods  north  of  Leaping  rock. 
The  pillar  of  quartzyte,  divided  from  the  cliff  by  erosion,  appears  as  in  the  adjoin- 
ing figure.— LPHAM.  KJG.  39.  LEAPING  ROCK. 

tCompare  page  98. 

JDr.  Hayden  misapprehends  Prof.  James  Hall,  in  quoting  his  description.  The  "wall  of  red  quartzyte"  described 
by  Hall  Is  situated  at  Kedstone,  in  Nicollet  county,  and  not  at  take  .Sh.-tek . 

lltieology  of  Iowa.  1870.  The  reader  is  further  referred  to  the  first,  second  and  tenth  annual  reports  for  reasons  for 
believing  these  quartzytes  are  of  the  age  of  the  Potsdam  sandstone  of  New  York.  See  also  the  reports  on  geology  of 
Blue  Earth,  Cottonwood  and  Nicollet  counties. 


PIPESTONE  AND  ROCK  COUNTIES.  539 

Quartzyte.    Pipestone  quarry.] 

ward  the  east  fifteen  degrees  south,  so  that  the  rock  soon  disappears  under 
the  prairie  in  that  direction,  but  presents  a  nearly  perpendicular  escarp- 
ment toward  the  west,  formed  by  the  broken  oft'  heavy  layers  of  the  rock; 
though  its  greatest  hight,  which  is  not  more  than  25  feet,  is  a  little  north 
of  the  present  pipestone  quarry.  It  also  gradually  disappears  under  the 
prairie  both  toward  the  north  and  toward  the  south,  the  lower  ground  on 
the  west  of  the  escarpment  slowly  rising  in  these  directions  like  the  sides 
of  a  basin,  and  coalescing  with  that  on  the  east  of  the  ledge.  A  small 
stream,  dry  some  parts  of  the  year,  known  as  Pipestone  creek,  works  north- 
westwardly and  passes  over  the  ledge  from  the  upper  prairie  to  the  lower 
with  a  perpendicular  fall  of  about  18  feet.  In  the  vicinity  of  this  fall,  and 
also  at  one  or  two  places  farther  south,  are  dwarfed  bur  oaks  and  shrubs, 
but  the  country  in  all  directions  for  many  miles  is  a  prairie,  which  has  a 
great  monotony  of  surface.  It  is  not  on  the  top  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies, 
as  supposed  by  Catlin,  that  range  of  hills  being  10  or  12  miles  farther 
northeast.  Mr.  Catlin  seems  to  have  correctly  described  the  eastern  as- 
cent of  the  Coteau  as  rising  with  almost  imperceptible  swells  above  the 
prairie  farther  east,  but  failed  to  observe  when  he  passed  down  the  west- 
ein  slopes,  that  the  real  Coteau  dies  out  still  more  insensibly  in  the 
prairies  on  the  western  side. 

The  little  stream  which  crosses  the  rock  at  the  pipestone  quarry  (fig- 
ure 33)  widens  out  into  a  lake  just  before  passing  the  ledge,  making  Pipe- 
stone  lake,  and  again,  after  passing  it,  it  forms  Crooked,  Duck  and  White- 
head  lakes  in  the  same  way.  In  these  lakes  water  stands  constantly. 

The  rock  itself  in  general  is  exceedingly  hard,  in  heavy  layei*s  of  one 
foot,  or  of  two  or  three  feet,  and  is  separated  by  jointage  planes  into  huge 
blocks  of  angular  shape  that  lie  often  somewhat  displaced  or  even  thrown 
over  entirely  by  the  action  of  the  frost  through  many  winters.  Thus  there 
is  a  rough  talus  along  the  foot  of  the  escarpment  where  grow  a  few  bushes 
and  small  oaks,  protected  from  the  prairie  fires  by  surrounding  masses  of 
fallen  quartzyte.  The  rock  is  sometimes  pinkish  and  massive;  when  blood- 
red  it  is  more  apt  to  be  thin-bedded. 

The  real  "  pipestone  quarry"  is  situated  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  west 
of  this  ledge  and  in  the  low  land  of  the  lower  prairie.  Earlier  diggings 
seem  to  have  been  opened  in  the  superficial  outcropping  of  the  pipestone 


540  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Pipes tone  quarry.     Quar!zyte. 

layer,  and  to  have  followed  along  its  strike  north  and  south  nearly  a  mile, 
without  penetrating  very  deeply  into  the  rock.  The  layer  which  furnishes 
the  pipestone  is  about  eighteen  inches  thick,  and  is  embi'aced  between 
heavy  layers  of  the  same  rock  as  the  ledge  already  described,  and  they  all 
dip  together  toward  the  east,  and  of  course  run  under  the  main  escarpment. 
The  present  quarrying  is  a  little  east  of  the  line  of  old  diggings,  but  follows 
along  the  strike  of  the  formation  the  same  as  the  other,  the  only  difference 
being  in  having  greater  depth  (the  pipestone  layer  is  about  six  feet  under 
the  ground  here)  arid  in  the  difficulties  encountered  in  removing  about  five 
feet  of  very  firm  pinkish  quartzyte  in  heavy  beds. 

Southward  from  the  region  of  the  pipestone  quarry  the  land  continues  high,  and  in  some 
instances  there  are  ridges,  or  long  knolls,  of  drift,  that  are  broad  and  evenly  rounded  over  by 
a  thin  loam.  The  first  exposure  of  the  rock,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  road  to  Luverne,  is  on 
section  13,  Eden,  along  the  outside  of  the  valley  that  crosses  westwardly  near  the  center  of  the 
section.  It  extends  about  a  mile  east  and  west.  It  here  is  seen  to  form  an  undulating  floor  on 
which  the  loam  is  thinly  spread.  It  is  hard,  massive,  pinkish-colored  and  superficially  vitrified, 
in  some  places  also  showing  two  directions  of  glacial  striae,  one  being  by  the  true  meridian  S.  10°  W., 
and  the  other  8.42°  E. 

The  same  line  of  rocky  outcrop  extends  westwardly  to  the  Split  Rock  creek,  and  along  that 
creek  and  its  eastern  tributaiies  as  far  as  it  continues  in  the  state.  It  seems  to  have  a  changeable 
dip,  but  nowhere  presents  perpendicular  bluffs. 

On  the  N.  E.  }  of  section  36,  Eden,  is  another  exposure  of  this  quartzyte.  It  is  along  a 
shallow  ravine  that  makes  westward.  It  is  seen  again  on  the  high  prairie  about  half  a  mile  farther 
south. 

At  a  point  about  ten  miles  north  of  Luverne  this  rock  becomes  frequently  exposed  both  in 
the  valleys  and  on  the  hills,  and  continues  so  to  the  mound  near  Luverne,  where  it  suddenly 
breaks  off,  along  the  west  side  of  Rock  river,  and  is  not  known  to  the  south  of  that  place. 
Throughout  this  distance  it  forms  a  high  plateau  three  or  four  miles  wide  and  about  a  hundred 
feet  higher  than  the  prairies  east  or  west,  but  the  surface,  though  frequently  rocky,  is  not  rough. 
It  is  undulating;  and  the  plateau  sinks  gradually  down  to  the  level  of  the  rest  of  the  country  on 
either  side.  This  plateau  terminates  abruptly  in  a  rocky  and  precipitous  bluff  facing  southeast- 
ward, three  miles  north  of  Luverne,  in  what  is  known  as  "the  mound."  There  is  a  very  large 
rocky  outcrop  in  sections  4,  5,  6,  7  and  8,  Mound.  There  are  frequent  exposures  in  Mound  and 
Spring  Water  townships.  The  Split  Rock  creek  which  crosses  the  northwest  corner  of  Rock 
county  has  frequent  exposures  both  in  Rock  and  Pipestone;  but  in  Pipestone  the  rock  range  veers 
toward  the  east,  into  the  east  part  of  Eden  township,  and  disappears  till  reaching  the  region  of 
the  pipestone  quarry.  In  the  northwest  part  of  Mound  township  the  rock  dips  northwest  with  a 
throw,  or  twist,  which,  by  slightly  changing  it,  brings  it  soon  below  the  surface.  Indeed  there 
seems  to  be  a  succession  of  ridges,  or  swells,  with  low,  changeable  dip,  though  the  most  observ- 
able is  to  the  northwest.  These  ridges  are  not  covered  with  gravel  or  sand  like  some  ridges 
east  of  the  Coteau,  under  the  operation  of  glacial  forces  (ice  and  water),  but  while  they  occupy 
the  grand  divide  of  the  county,  they  are  nearly  bare  on  their  tops  and  along  their  slopes,  or  are 
thinly  covered  with  a  gravelly  loam,  while  the  drift,  even  the  stony  clay  that  has  been  attributed 
to  ice,  occupies  the  valleys  between  to  the  thickness  of  at  least  30  or  40  feet. 

All  over  these  ridges,  which  vary  from  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to  three  or  four  miles  in  length, 
and  are  for  the  most  part  thinly  covered  with  soil  and  tuif,  there  are  little  nests  of  large  blocks  of 
quartzyte  piled  so  together  that  they  seem  to  have  been  thrust  up  from  below  by  some  force.  The 
edges  of  these  blocks  are  squarely  broken  off,  and  slope  toward  each  other,  i.  e.,  toward  the  center 
of  the  pile,  while  the  blocks  themselves  lie  so  that  their  upper  surfaces  slope  in  all  directions  away 


PIPESTONE  AND  ROCK  COUNTIES.  541 

Quartzytc.     Conglomerate.     Pipestone. ] 

from  the  center.  Similar  upheaved  spots  occur  on  the  red  quartzyte  outcrops  near  New  Ulm.* 
These  upheaved  spots  vary  from  five  to  fifteen  feet  in  diameter,  or  perhaps  more.  They  may  have 
been  caused  by  ice,  i.  e.,  alternate  freezing  and  thawing  with  the  change  of  seasons,  aided  by  the 
force  of  vegetation  and  a  little  soil  gradually  getting  into  the  openings. 


Bottomland    r>"  i  it  .;:c*   rivsr. 

FIG.  40.    SECTION  ACROSS  THE  ROCK  RIVER  VALLEY  AT  THE  MOUSD. 

Figures  designate  feet  above  the  rivi-r. 

At  "the  mound,''  where  this  high  land  terminates  abruptly,  and  faces  the  valley  of  Rock 
river,  the  elevation  is  about  175  feet  above  the  river.  The  perpendicular  bluff  of  rock  is  from 
40  to  GO  feet  in  its  highest  part;  but  owing  to  a  dip  of  about  10°  from  the  horizon,  nearly  west,  or 
partly  northwest,  and  to  the  breaking  off  of  the  upper  layers,  causing  a  gradual  slope  from  the 
brow  of  the  hill  backward  through  several  rods,  the  actual  thickness  of  beds  visible  may  be  150 
feet.  The  rock  here,also  appears  to  be  almost  entirely  a  reddish  or  pink,  heavy-bedded  quartz- 
yte. If  wrought  there  might  be  some  softer  and  thinner  layers  discovered  in  the  angles  of  the 
talus,  but  the  refractory  nature  of  the  great  mass  of  it  will  causj  it  to  be  used  but  sparingly  for 
building.  Tin  nviin  bluff  curves  westwardly  at  both  ends,  and  by  reason  of  the  dip  and  ravines 
that  enter  the  valley  from  the  west,  its  exposed  layers  gradually  disappear 
under  the  soil  in  that  direction,  and  the  rock  is  lost  in  the  prairie.  From  the 
base  of  the  perpendicular  wall  of  rock,  which  is  about  a  hundred  feet  above 
the  Rock  river,  a  talus  of  blocks  and  fragments  of  quartzyte,  mingled  with 
glacial  drift,  curves  gracefully  down  to  the  bottomland.  At  points  in  this 
slope  the  quartzyte  beds  are  seen  in  place,  and  exhibit  the  general  shape  of 
glaciation  but  show  no  striae,  the  surface  indicating  rather  the  action  of  water. t 
FIG.  41.  Conglomerate.  On  the  tops  of  some  of  the  ridges  in  the  northwest  part  of 

Mound  township,  apparently  near  the  top  of  this  formation,  the  rock  is  con- 
glomeritic.  This  occurs  in  large  superficial  areas,  planed  and  smoothed  down  (rarely  glaciated), 
arid  the  colors  of  the  pebbles,  usually  not  larger  than  beans,  give  these  spots  a  blotched  and 
variegated  mottling.  The  pebbles  are  mainly  white,  but  some  are  jasper  red  and  some  purple. 
According  to  Mr.  Upham,  the  quartzyte  becomes  conglomeritic  about  four  miles  southwest 
from  Pipestone  City.  It  may  be  seen  by  the  side  of  the  road  to  Dell  Rapids,  exposed  along  a 
depression  for  about  fifteen  rods,  dipping  at  the  rate  of  one  foot  in  six  or  eight  feet,  or  about  eight 
degrees  south,  thirty  degrees  east.  It  is  in  layers  from  one  to  two  feet  thick  and  contains  a  multitude 
of  pebbles  of  white  quartz  and  red  jasper,  of  sizes  up  to  an  inch  in  diameter.  The  edges  of  the 
layers,  exposed  toward  the  northwest,  are  polished,  doubtless  by  the  dust  particles  swept  by  winds. 
The  surface  in  some  placas  is  as  smoothly  polished  as  can  be  done  artificially  by  the  utmost  skill 
and  patience. 

An  outcrop  of  a  similar  conglomerate,  exposing  about  an  acre  of  smooth  rock,  is  reported  in 
the  west  edge  of  Sweet  township,  on  the  southeast  side  of  Pipestone  ereek,  but  little  east  of  the 
state  line. 

The pipestone,  or  catlinite,  of  the  pipestone  quarry,  is  a  h'ne  clay  varying 
in  color  from  blood-red  to  pale  red  or  pinkish,  or  even  to  a  pale  yellowish 
red.  The  lighter  colors  fade  into  the  darker,  but  sometimes  the  light 
appears  in  the  red  as  round  spots,  on  a  polished  surface,  but  the  red  is  not 
thus  distributed  through  the  lighter  shades.  It  has  of  course  suffered  all 
the  metamorphic  influences  that  the  quartzyte  itself  has.  but  it  has  not  lost 


*Sec  the  first  annual  report,  p.  76. 
tit  appear.-*  that  the  Indians  son 

•by  killing  them      Whim  Mr  Shoe         __,  

found  a  buffalo's  skeleton  wedded  among  the  huge  blocks  of  quartzyte  at  its  base. 


tit  appear.-*  that  the  Indians  sometimes  drove  bnrtaloes    over  the  rockv  precipice  with  which  the  mound  ends, 
thereby  killing  them      When  Mr   Sliojin  ckor,  who  lives  at  the  east  aidi  of  this  lonjf  line  of  cliff,  flrst  explored  it,  he 


542  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Pipestonc. 

its  distinctive  bedded  structure,  which  may  be  seen  when  examined  micro- 
scopically in  polished  thin  sections.  Indeed  it  seems  to  have  a  laminated 
structure;  and  the  different  shades  of  color  appear  sometimes  to  be  due  to 
openings  and  fissures  produced  in  the  red  clay  becoming  filled  with  sedi- 
ment of  a  lighter  color.  The  following  analyses*  have  been  made  of  this 
substance.  It  is  not  truly  a  mineral  but  an  indurated  clay,  and  its  chemi- 
cal composition  varies  in  consequence.  Analysis  No.  1  shows  the  results 
obtained  by  Dr.  C.  T.  Jackson  from  the  sample  procured  by  George  Catlin 
in  1837.  Nos.  2  and  3  were  obtained  by  the  writer  in  1877,  and  were  ana- 
lyzed by  S.  F.  Peckham,  the  former  being  of  a  red  color  and  the  latter  of  a 
pinkish  color.  No.  4  was  obtained  by  Mr.  Upham  from  "the  palisades"  in 
Minnehaha  county,  Dakota.  It  is  of  a  very  light  color,  and  is  known  as 
"chalk  rock."  Its  color  seems  to  have  been  derived  accidentally,  in  situ,  as 
it  is  in  the  line  of  extension  of  a  bed  seven  feet  thick  of  a  mottled  variety 
of  pipestone.  No.  5  was  obtained  by  Prof.  R.  D.  Irving  at  Devil's  lake, 
Wisconsin,  and  is  of  a  lilac-brown  color,  analyzed  by  Prof.  W.  W.  Daniells. 

1.  8.  3.  4.  5. 

Water 8.40  7.44  6.48  9.60  2.50 

Silica 48.20  57.43  58.25  50.40  62.16 

Alumina 28.20  25.94  35.90  33.30  29.67 

Magnesia 6.00                ....  0.17 

Peroxide  of  iron 5.00  8.70  2.80  4.17 

Peroxide  of  manganese. .  0.60  —                 

Lime 2.60                 ....  0.60  0.16 

Alkalies...  4.10 


99.00  99.51  100.63  100.97  99.36 

This  substance  is  found  at  various  places  in  Minnesota  and  Wisconsin. 
Indeed  it  seems  to  graduate  into  red  shale,  and  becomes  in  that  form  an 
important  constituent  of  the  formation  in  which  it  is  found.f  It  seems  to 
be  only  when  this  formation  is  greatly  indurated  that  the  inclosed  shale 
beds  are  hardened  to  the  condition  of  pipestone.  In  cases  of  greater  meta- 
morphism  its  heaviest  deposits  have  been  converted  apparently  into  red 
felsite  or  quartz  porphyries. 

Although  this  substance  has  usually  a  red  color,  like  that  which  pre- 

*See  page  62;  also  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  (1).  xxxv.  318;  Dana's  System  of  Mineralogy,  fifth  edition,  p.  796;  sixth  annual 
report,  p.  101;  tenth  annual  report,  p.  203 ;  Geology  of  Wisconsin,  vol.  II  p.  510 

The  analysis  by  T.  Thomson,  given  on  page  796  of  the  fifth  edition  of  Dana's  System  of  Mineralogy,  is  of  a  pipe- 
stone  obtained  fn>m  the  Indians  on  the  northwest  coast  of  North  America.  It  was  of  a  "lisrht  grayish  blue  color,  not 
much  h  -rder  than  gypsum,  and  did  not  fuse  per  se  before  the  blowpipe.  Excluding  the  iron,  the  composition  approaches 
thnt  of  an  oligoclase.  It  has  no  relation  to  the  catlinite."— [J.  it.  Dunain  a  letter  to  the  writer],  AnnalsN.  Y.  Lyc.HI.,  9, 
1827;  Thomson's  Mineralogy,  I.,  2S7,  1836;  Dana's  Mineralogy,  second  edition,  1844.  p.  591;  Id.,  third  ediiion. 

tSee  the  reports  on  Blue  Earth,  Scott,  and  Hennepin  counties,  records  of  deep  wells;  also  Geology  of  Wisconsin, 
vol.  IV.  p.  578;  also  tenth  annual  report,  pp.  30—34. 


PIPESTONE  AND  ROCK  COUNTIES.  543 

Pipestone.     Drift.] 

vails  in  the  formation  to  which  it  pertains,  it  should  be  added  that  this 
redness  suffers  all  the  variations  that  it  does  in  the  quartzyte.  It  passes 
nearly  to  white,  through  pink;  it  is  intensified  to  a  brown,  and  in  small 
patches  it  is  deepened  to  lilac  or  lavender-brown,  becoming  reddish  purple. 
It  is  only  with  a  loose  application  of  the  term  that  it  can  be  styled  "gray," 
a  color  which  is  derived  from  a  mixture  of  black  and  white,  and  which  is 
applicable  to  the  schists  and  quartzytes  of  the  northern  part  of  the  state 
pertaining  to  a  lower  geological  horizon. 

Mr.  Upham  notes  that  Mr.  McDermott  found  numerous  pieces  of  pipestone  about  seven  feet 
below  the  surface  near  the  base  of  "the  mound"  near  Luverne,  in  excavating  to  improve  a  spring 
near  his  house.  This  was  partly  light-colored,  and  partly  of  a  deep  red  color,  and  was  thought  to 
be  from  a  layer  in  place,  near  the  base  of  "the  mound."  Mr.  Upham  also  reports  pipestone  from 
section  20,  Rose  Dell,  where  it  appears  upon  a  little  ridge  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  long  from 
northwest'to  southeast,  having  the  usual  colors  and  character.  This  is  on  the  authority  of  D.  E. 
Runals,  of  Edgerton.  Further  statements  respecting  the  uses  of  this  pipestone,  will  be  found 
under  archceology,  at  the  close  of  this  chapter. 

The  drift.  Till.  These  counties  lie  mainly  outside  of  the  great  moraine 
that  crosses  the  southwestern  portion  of  the  state,  and  their  drift  features 
present  some  peculiarities.  They  are  still,  in  general,  till-covered,  that  de- 
posit exhibiting  a  thickness,  and  a  general  uniformity  in  its  features  equal 
to,  if  not  greater  than,  many  of  the  counties  that  lie  within  the  morainic 
belt.  That  is  to  say,  its  composition  does  not  change  so  frequently  to 
gravel  and  sand,  and  its  upper  surface  is  not  so  frequently  broken  by  hil- 
locks, or  depressed  by  short  valleys.  Yet  toward  the  south  it  exhibits 
features  that  seem  to  indicate  its  greater  age.  Its  gravel  stones,  particu- 
larly those  of  limestone,  are  rotted.  Its  boulders  become  less  conspicuous 
and  apparently  less  numerous,  at  least  superficially,  and  it  assumes  a  peb- 
bly rather  than  a  stony  composition.  Within  it  appear  those  limy  concre- 
tions that  have  frequently  been  mentioned  in  describing  the  loam  of  the 
Mississippi  and  Missouri  valleys.  These  concretions  accompany  this  peb- 
bly composition,  until  by  the  gradual  withdrawal  of  the  pebbles,  there  is 
found  a  fine,  clayey  loam  which  cannot  be  distinguished  from  the  loess- 
loam  of  the  Missouri  valley.  This  transition  does  not  involve  the  whole 
thickness  of  the  till,  but  pertains  to  its  upper  portions.*  At  a  few  feet 
below  the  surface  the  till,  even  in  the  southern  part  of  Rock  county,  is 
stony. 

•Compare  the  report  ou  Kilhuore  county,  pp.  311-317. 


544  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Terminal  moraine.     Loess 

Terminal  moraine.     The  outer'terminal  moraine,  formed  at  the  border 
of  the  ice-sheet  of  the  last  glacial  epoch,  when  it  reached  its  maximum  ex- 
tent, lies  in  the  northeast  part  of  Pipestone  county,  which  it  enters  from 
the  southeast  in  sections  12  and  13,  Rock,  thence  running  northwest  and 
passing  into  Lincoln  county  at  the  north  side  of  sections  1  and  2,  Fountain 
Prairie.     The  moraine  here  varies  from  one  to  two  miles  in  width,  and 
forms  the  crest  of  the  broad  area  of  highland  called  the  Coteau  des  Prairies. 
In  northeastern  Rock,  and  from  section  35  to  section  28,  JEtna,  it  consists 
of  very  roughly  and  prominently  hilly  till,  diversified  by  many  knolls  and 
short  ridges,  of  no  well-marked  uniformity  in  trend,  much  in  contrast  with 
the  smooth  surface  of  till,  in  long,  gentle  slopes  and  swells,  lying  100  to  150 
feet  below  this  moraine  upon  each  side.     The  till  or  boulder-clay  constitut- 
ing the  moraine  seems  to  differ  from  the  same  deposit  in  the  smooth  tracts 
only  in  containing  a  very  much  larger  proportion  of  boulders  and  pebbles, 
which  on  the  morainic  hills  and  ridges  are  commonly  at  least  twenty  times 
and  often  evidently  more  than  a  hundred  times  as  plentiful  as  they  aver- 
age upon  the  ordinary  moderately  undulating  areas  of  till.     Many  of  the 
knolls  and  hillocks  of  this  moraine  in  ^Etna  are  very  stony  with  rock-frag- 
ments of  all  sizes  up  to  five  or  six  feet  in  diameter,  mostly,  however,  not 
exceeding  half  this  size.     The  water-courses  on  the  flanks  of  this  massive, 
knolly  ridge  are  deep,  steep-sided  ravines;  and  sloughs  and  lakelets  are 
rare.    From  the  south  part  of  section  20,  J^ina,  the  next  three  miles  of 
this  moraine  northwesterly  are  less  knolly  than  usual;  but  farther  to  the 
northwest  it  is  as  irregularly  broken  as  in  southern  ^Etna  and  northeast- 
ern Rock. — UPHAM. 

Loam-clay.  The  plate  (No.  23)  which  represents  these  counties  is  so 
colored  as  to  indicate  an  extension  of  the  loess-loam  of  the  Missouri  valley 
over  a  small  area  in  the  southwestern  part  of  Rock  county;  but  it  should 
also  be  added  that  this  extension  is  limited  rather  by  an  ideal  than  an  act- 
ual boundary,  and  is  designed  to  include  only  that  area  which  shows  an 
unequivocal  aqueous  action  in  the  form  of  more  or  less  stratified  clay.  A 
gravelly  clay,  which,  as  already  stated,  seems  to  graduate  on  the  one  hand 
into  the  loam,  and  on  the  other  into  the  common  till,  is  found  on  the  sur- 
face some  miles  farther  north,  but  it  is  here  colored  as  if  a  part  of  the  till.* 


•The  sixth  annual  report,  p.  1W. 


PIPESTOKE  AND  ROCK  COUNTIES.  545 

Kame-like  deposits.] 

This  finer  till,  or  pebbly  clay,  seems  to  have  the  age  of  the  till  on  which  it 
lies,  rather  than  of  that  accumulated  by  the  last  glacial  epoch,  and  seems 
to  require  the  presence  and  action  of  a  lake  of  standing  water  at  the  mo- 
ment of  deposition.*  The  water  in  such  case  would  not  only  produce  such 
plasticity  in  the  till  as  to  allow  the  heavier  and  coarser  components  to 
seek  the  bottom  of  the  mass,  but  perhaps  to  cause  their  dislodgment  from 
the  ice,  and  their  deposition  somewhat  earlier  than  the  great  mass,  the 
smaller  stones  and  pebbles  being  retained  and  more  thoroughly  mingled 
with  the  clay. 

Kame-like  deposits.  In  the  south  part  of  Spring  Water  the  surface  is 
principally  till,  but  knolls  or  swells  are  found  occasionally  to  consist  of 
gravel  and  sand  ten  to  twenty  feet  deep.  These  deposits  of  modified  drift 
seem  to  be  of  kame-like  origin,  and  to  be  of  the  date  of  the  earlier  glacial 
epoch,  due  to  the  rapid  action  of  rivers  on  the  drift  at  the  time  of  its  dep- 
osition. Such  water  was  probably  confined  within  gorges  in  the  ice,  and 
had  ample  facility  for  washing  the  till  as  fast  as  brought  forward  by  the 
ice,  carrying  away  the  clayey  constituents  and  leaving  only  the  coarser. 

Other  localities  of  similar  deposits,  consisting  partly  of  till  and  partly 
ot  sand,  are  seen  in  the  S.  W.  \  sec.  20,  Denver.  Here  a  few  knolls  and 
short,  rough  ridges,  with  abundant  boulders  up  to  two  feet  in  diameter, 
rise  from  twenty-five  to  forty  feet  above  the  general  level.  Again,  in  the 
west  part  of  section  8,  Eden,  Pipestone  county,  are  other  kame-like  accu- 
mulations, largely  consisting  of  till  with  many  boulders,  sometimes  five 
feet  in  diameter,  but  mostly  smaller.  These  rise  from  twenty  to  thirty 
feet  above  the  surrounding  country.  Similar,  but  perhaps  somewhat 
higher  hills  and  swells  are  seen  in  the  east  edge  of  this  township  (probably 
section  13),  and  the  adjoining  part  of  Elmer. 

The  level  terrace  of  gravel  and  sand,  underlain  by  till,  on  which  Ed- 
gerton  is  built,  is  about  two-thirds  of  a  mile  in  extent  from  west  to  east 
with  a  hight  thirty  to  forty  feet  above  the  Rock  river. 

Boulders.  The  "three  maidens"  and  the  three  others  (smaller)  that 
make  up  the  cluster  of  six  lying  just  outside  the  Indian  reservation  at  the 
pipestone  quarry,  fig.  42,  rest  on  the  surface  of  the  red  quartzyte  about 
sixty  rods  southeast  of  the  quarry  and  at  the  foot  of  the  long  ledge  or  es- 

•Compare  Geology  of  Ohio,  vol.  i,  p.  606:  vol.  ii,  p.  232;  Proo.  Am.  Assoc.  Adv.  Soi.,  1872,  vol.  xxi.,  p.  182. 
35 


546  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Boulders. 

carpment  that  passes  north  and  south.  They  evidently  once  constituted 
one  immense  boulder  and  have  become  six  from  the  falling  apart,  under 
the  influence  of  frost,  of  the  granite  along  its  natural  seams  or  joints. 
Such  a  separation  of  large  boulders  sometimes  is  seen  on  the  prairies  in 
Minnesota  under  circumstances  which  demonstrate  their  former  entirety. 
The  largest  three  pieces,  each  about  twenty  feet  long  and  twelve  feet  high, 
are  the  Three  Maidens,  so  called.  Another  piece  is  about  twenty  feet  long 
and  eight  feet  high.  Two  other  pieces,  nine  and  twelve  feet  long,  are  four 
or  five  feet  high.  There  is  also  a  seventh  fragment  about  five  feet  in 
length.  Together  they  must  have  constituted,  as  remarked  by  Mr.  Up- 
ham,  the  largest  ice-transported  block  known  in  Minnesota,  making  a 
mass  from  fifty  to  sixty  feet  in  diameter.  The  pieces  are  all  alike,  and  no 
other  boulders  of  any  kind  are  seen  in  the  vicinity.  They  consist  of  red, 
coarse-grained  granite,  similar  to  that  seen  in  outcrop  near  New  Ulm,  a 
short  distance  west  of  the  outcrop  of  conglomerate  on  the  north  side  of 
the  river.  Other  large  boulders  of  red  granite  are  found  in  Eock  county, 
and,  taken  in  connection  with  their  size,  they  all  indicate  the  close  prox- 
imity of  their  source.  It  is  probable  that  the  rock  that  underlies  the  Pots- 
dam in  these  counties  consists  of  this  red  granite.* 


'  FIG.  42.    THE  THREE  MAIDENS. 


•See  Catlin's  speculations,  page  64;  also  compare  the  report  on  Nicollet  county.  The  name  three  maidens  is  applied 
to  these  boulders  from  the  tradition  that  after  the  destruction  of  all  the  tribes  in  war,  the  present  Indians  sprang;  from 
three  maidens  who  fled  to  these  rocks  for  refuge. 


PIPESTONE  AND   KOCK  COUNTIES.  547 

Boulders.     Glacier-marks.] 

In  traveling  over  the  plateau  of  quartzyte,  about  on  section  16,  Mound,  a  large,  solitary 
granite  boulder  may  be  seen.  It  lies  directly  on  the  quartzyte.  It  is  rough  and  granulated,  and 
there  is  a  circular  excavation  or  concavity  in  the  soil  in  which  it  lies.  It  is  about  ten  feet  long 
and  five  feet  high,  and  has  a  groove  horizontally  circumscribing  it  about  a  foot  in  width  and  three 
or  four  inches  deep.  Taken  altogether  it  immediately  reminds  the  beholder,  not  less  by  its  gen- 
eral shape  than  by  this  groove,  of  the  artificial  stone  hammers  sometimes  found.  Its  size  precludes 
its  being  one,  but  its  shape  is  very  like  them.  The  groove  may  have  been  formed  by  the  action  of 
ice  and  water  on  its  sides,  as  the  rock  has  the  appearance  of  lying,  in  ordinary  seasons,  in  a  little 
lake  of  water,  which  at  the  time  of  this  examination  was  entirely  dried  up.  This  boulder,  like 
the  "three  maidens,"  at  the  pipestone  quarry,  must  be  referred  to  the  date  of  the  earlier  boulder- 
clay. 

On  the  south  slope  of  one  of  the  drift  hills  mentioned  in  the  vicinity  of  the  line  between 
Eden  and  Elmer,  about  two  rods  east  of  the  road  as  it  is  now  traveled,  is  a  boulder  of  reddish 
granite,  ten  feet  long  and  six  feet  wide.  The  earth  all  around  this  boulder,  to  a  distance  of  ten 
or  twelve  feet,  is  hollowed  out  one  to  one  and  a  half  feet  below  the  general  level.  This  is  an 
unusually  large  block,  its  hight  now  projecting  being  five  feet.  Smaller  boulders,  three  to  six  feet 
in  diameter,  are  seen  quite  frequently  upon  the  vast  prairie  of  southwestern  Minnesota,  similarly 
surrounded  by  a  hollow.  These  depressions  may  have  been  started  by  the  pawing  and  tramping 
of  buffaloes,  the  pulverized  earth  having  been  then  blown  away  by  the  winds.  The  ruts  of  roads 
on  the  prairies  seem  often  to  be  deepened  in  a  similar  way  by  the  winds  blowing  dust  from  them; 
and  in  winter  the  wind  maintains  similar  circular  depressions  about  solitary  trees,  when  the  sur- 
rounding country  may  be  covered  with  two  or  three  feet  of  snow. 

It  has  already  been  mentioned  that  there  are  but  few  boulders  in  Eock  county.  They 
are  generally  confined  to  the  creek  bluffs  and  valleys.  Even  on  the  plateau  caused  by  the  red 
quartzyte  running  from  near  Luverne  northwestward  they  are  not  seen,  or  are  so  rare  as  to  be 
noteworthy  for  their  absence.  This  is  an  anomaly,  and  can  be  accounted  for  by  the  great  lateral 
extent  of  the  quartzyte  plateau,  so  that  not  many  fissures  were  produced  by  it  in  the  ice-sheet, 
where  running  water  could  find  passage.  There  would  be  no  place,  ordinarily,  where  foreign 
boulders  would  be  found,  in  a  drift-covered  country,  more  thickly  than  on  such  rocky  elevations. 

Glacier-marks.  There  is  evidence  of  glacier-action,  or  what  has  been 
recognized  as  evidence  of  glacier-action,  in  Kock  county  south  of  the  Coteau. 
The  quartzyte  is  polished,  striated  and  sculptured  superficially  on  the  tops 
of  the  ridges  in  the  central  part  of  the  county  as  only  glacier-ice  is  known 
to  do.  At  the  pipestone  quarry  (near  "the  three  maidens"),  such  marks 
ran  32°  W.  of  S.  (true  meridian).  On  the  strike  of  the  ledge  at  the  same 
place  they  run  N.  and  S.,  varying  to  30°  W.  of  S.*  On  section  13,  Eden, 
they  run  in  two  directions,  one  direction  being  about  S.  10°  W.,  and  the 
other  S.  42°  E.,  within  the  valley  of  a  little  stream.  On  the  rock  near 
the  top  of  the  southern  side  of  this  valley,  which  is  a  shallow  depression, 
glacial  marks  run  S.  32°  W.  This  is  but  a  few  rods  from  the  last  observa- 
tion above.  At  another  point,  about  ten  miles  north  of  Luverne,  glacial 
marks  were  observed  running  S.  10°  W.  On  the  rock  at  "the  mound"  they 
run  25°  to  30°  and  35°  W.  In  many  places  they  are  conspicuous  and 
abundant,  and  perfectly  preserved,  covering  considerable  areas. 


*Allowing  ten  degrees  for  the  variation  of  the  needle  to  (he  east  of  the  true  north.    Mr.  Upham  records  glacial 
marks  at  the  three  maidens,  and  on  the  N.  and  S.  ledge,  both  25°  W.  of  S. 


548  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Glacier-marks. 

It  seems  almost  impossible  that  in  so  level  and  open  a  country,  and 
on  the  same  rocks,  without  apparent  cause,  the  glacier  which  must  have 
been  hundreds  of  miles  wide,lf  it  existed  here  at  all,  could  have  taken  such 
diverse  directions  in  so  short  distances.  It  cannot  be  doubted,  however, 
that  this  marking  was  done  by  a  force  that  exerted  a  great  pressure  at  the 
same  time  that  the  marks  were  made.  This  pressure  is  evinced  not  only 
in  the  marking  itself,  which  is  on  the  hardest  formation  found  in  the  state, 
but  in  the  minute  cross-fractures  that  cover  the  surface  where  this  rasping 
has  taken  place,  and  yet  leave  it  in  the  main  a  smoothed  and  moutonned 
surface.  These  cross-fractures  run  curvingly  downward  at  varying  angles 
with  the  surface,  and  to  all  depths  less  than  an  inch,  but  usually  less 
than  one-sixteenth  of  an  inch,  and  indicate  perhaps  an  incipient  crushing 
to  the  depth  of  at  least  an  inch.  They  show  in  what  manner  the  rasp- 
ing reduced  the  original  projecting  knobs.  Where  the  natural  seams  or 
planes  of  jointage  cross  the  rock,  causing  the  quartzyte  to  chip  off  sooner 
and  deeper  with  a  curving  and  conchoidal  fracture,  these  little  checks  are 
larger.  Their  prevailing  direction  is  transverse  to  the  rasping  force,  so 
that  the  rock,  along  some  grooves,  has  a  short  conchoidally  fractured 
structure  transverse  to  the  grooves,  penetrating  it  to  the  depth  of  a  quarter 
to  half  an  inch,  exhibited  now  in  a  series  of  little  curving  furrows  where 
the  laminae  broke  off  successively,  the  convexities  of  the  laminae  being  to- 
ward the  north.* 

NORTH. 


SOUTH 
FIG.  43.      GLACIAL  MARKINGS  ON  THE  BED  QUARTZYTE. 

This  marking  is  represented  in  fig.  43,  but  the  figure  does  not  show  a 
great  many  fine  checks  with  which  the  surface  of  the  rock  is  nearly  cov- 
ered. It  shows  correctly  the  prevailing  direction  of  the  curvature,  and  its 
relation  to  the  moving  force.  This  manner  of  glaciated  marking  is  visible 

"Compare  the  sixth  annual  report,  p  107.  Dr.  E.  Andrews  has  recently  described  a  similar  cross- fracture  strintion 
seen  on  the  northeast  shore  of  lake  Huron  on  a  aimi'ar  rock;  his  observation  makes  the  convexities  of  the  lamina- 
turned  toward  the  moving  force.  Bulletin  of  the  Chicayo  Acad.  of  Set.,  vol.  i,  No.  1.  Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  (3),  xxvi,  101. 


PIPESTONE  AND  ROCK  COUNTIES.  549 

Glacier-marks. J 

on  section  18,  Eden,  and  also  on  "the  mound,"  near  Luverne;  also  at  Sioux 
Falls  in  Dakota.  It  can  be  compared  to  a  cross-drained  planed  board,  where 
the  plane  has  been  drawn  against  the  grain,  except  that  the  cut  edges  are 
curved  so  as  to  present  their  convexity  toward  the  cutting  or  planing  force. 
Thickness  of  the  i/lacier  in  Rock  county.  This  incipient  crushing  of  the 
red  quartzyte  under  the  ice  may  be  taken  as  a  datum  on  which  to  com- 
pute the  thickness  of  the  ice  at  the  time  of  its  production.  According  to 
the  table  of  the  qualities  of  the  building  stones  of  Minnesota,  already  given 
(page  195),  the  red  quartzyte  from  Pipestone  City  has  a  crushing  resistance 
equal  to  27,000  pounds  per  square  inch.  The  specific  gravity  of  ice  is  0.92. 
Hence  a  column  of  ice  nearly  eleven  miles  in  hight  would  be  required  to 
produce  the  pressure  of  27.000  pounds.  This  calculation  is  subject  to  cor- 
rection for  the  following  sources  of  error:  1st.  The  ice  may  have  carried 
a  large  amount  of  drift,  rendering  the  comparative  weight  much  greater, 
and  requiring  less  perpendicular  hight.  2d.  The  crushing  produced  is  su- 
perficial, and  is  not  the  same  as  the  breaking  down  of  a  cube  of  stone 
placed  between  steel  plates.  3d.  The  fractures  were  formed  by  a  rasping 
or  scratching  force  and  would  be  more  easily  produced  than  a  total  crush- 
ing down  of  the  strata.  4th.  The  stones  which  were  agents  in  the  grasp  of 
the  ice  in  thus  marking  the  quartzyte,  presented  only  their  tangential 
points,  but  must  have  supported  a  column  of  ice  equal  to  the  area  of  their 
horizontal  periphery.  5th.  The  strength  of  the  quartzyte  may  be  over- 
stated.* The  import  of  this  calculation  therefore  cannot  be  much  more 
than  to  warrant  the  statement  that  the  ice  was  very  thick,  perhaps  several 

miles. 

Mr.  Upliam  gives  the  following  further  observations  on  glacial  striae  in  Rock 
county:  "Very  interesting  glacial  striae  were  seen  on  the  quartzyte,  one  rod  east 
of  the  road  about  a  mile  north  of  where  the  east  road  from  Luverne  to  Pipestone 
City  rises  upon  the  quartzyte  of  the  Mound,  probably  in  the  southwest  quarter 
of  section  23,  Mound.  At  its  west  edge  a  width  of  two  feet,  as  shown  in  the 
FIG  44  annexed  sketch  (fig.  44  >,  is  striated  from  north  to  south,  while  the  rest  is  striated 

striated  surface  in  S.  35°  W.  The  line  dividing  these  areas,  marks  a  definite  change  of  plane  in 
the  rock  surface,  which  is  inclined  downward  at  the  west  four  or  five  degrees, 
and  at  the  east  about  half  as  much;  making  a  beveled  angle  of  5°  or  perhaps  T .  It  seems  to  me 
that  these  striae  were  probably  engraved  at  different  dates  by  one  ice-sheet  which  had  con- 
stantly covered  this  district.  When  the  ice  attained  its  maximum  area,  the  current  of  this  por- 
tion would  be  nearly  from  north  to  south;  but  during  the  final  melting,  as  its  retreating  western 
border  came  nearer  and  nearer  to  this  place,  the  current  must  have  been  deflected  south  west  ward, 

*Compjirative  strength  of  Minnesota  and  New  England  granites,  Proceedings  of  the  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  ol1  Science,  Minneapolis  meeting,  1RH1  Jiiincs  I'roll  has  estimated  the  presei  t  thickness  ol  the  ice  on  ihe 
anlarclic  continent  ut  twelve  miles,  with  :i  tu|  ei  final  slope  <if  one  half  a  degree.- -I'limaie  and  lime,  p.  375.  Prof.  J.  D. 
Dunn  has  estimated  il  at  5000  feet  in  New  England  during  Ihe  glacial  epoch.— Am.  Jour.  Hci. 


550  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINKESOTA. 

[Water  analysis. 

approximating  to  a  direction  perpendicular  to  the  ice-border.  That  the  strife  bearing  S.  35P  "\V. 
belong  to  a  later  date  than  those  from  north  to  south,  is  made  quite  certain  by  the  fact  that  the 
former  is  approximately  the  prevailing  course  of  striation  in  this  region;  for  the  last  glacial  erosion 
upon  any  area  must  obviously  efface  the  greater  part  of  the  earlier  striae. 

"About  a  mile  farther  north,  perhaps  in  the  southeast  quarter  of  section  15,  Mound,  on  a  sim- 
ilar small,  low  exposure  of  quartzyte,  also  only  one  rod  east  of  the  same  road,  similar  striation  was 
observed,  the  larger  (west)  part  of  this  exposed  rock-surface  being  striated  from  north  to  south; 
and  the  smaller  (east)  portion,  S.35°  W.  A  slight  difference  in  slope  of  these  _  «,.  M.t.$, 


£ 

differently  striated  portions  of  the  rock  surface  is  also  seen  here,  forming  a  bev- 
eled angle  (fig  45).  These  observations  agree  in  all  respects  with  the  preceding."* 

Natural  waters.    The  water  of  the  Rock  river  at  Luverne  was  examined  chemically  for 
the  survey  by  Dr.  W.  A.  Noyes  in  November,  1882,  with  the  following  resultsif 

Analysis  of  the  water  of  Bock  river.    Chem.  Series  No.  133,  showing  the  composition  of  the 

residue  from  evaporation. 

Parts  per  1.000,000.  Percentage.  Grains  per  gallon. 

Silica,  SiO2  ..............................  21.0  7.6  1.22493 

Alumina,  A1,O3  ..........................     1.0  .4  0.05833 

Iron  oxide,  Fe2O3  (?)  .....................     8.8  3.2  0.51330 

Calcium  carbonate,  CaCO3  ................  136.0  49.6  7.93288 

Calcium  sulphate,   CaSO4  .................     6.4  2.3  0.37332 

Calcium  nitrate,  Ca(NO3)2  ...............  traces 

Magnesium   carbonate,  MgCO3  ...........  70.4  25.7  4.10643 

Lithium  phosphate,  Li3PO4  ........  minute  trace 

Potassium  sulphate,  K2SO4  ...............     3.3  1.2  0.19249 

Sodium  sulphate,  Na2SO4  .................  25.6  9.3  1.49325 

Sodium  chloride,  NaCl  ...................    2.0  .7  0.11666 


204.5  100.0  16.01159 

Iodine  and  bromine  were  absent,  as  well  as  borates;  the  test  by  permanganate  showed  1.1 
parts  of  oxygen  consumed  by  organic  matter  for  each  million  parts  of  water;  hardness,  17  degrees. 
This  water  is  notable  for  the  large  amount  of  iron. 

Springs.  A  spring  that  issues  from  the  base  of  "the  mound"  on  Mr.  Lary  McDermott's 
farm,  is  said  to  supply  soft  water.  This  can  only  be  accounted  for  by  supposing  the  water  to 
pass  only  through  the  strata  of  the  Potsdam  formation,  which  in  some  places  is  quite  open  and 
pervious;  since  the  drift  deposits  of  the  county,  as  well  as  the  strata  of  the  Cretaceous  (if  such 
exist  in  these  counties),  will  only  supply  a  hard  water,  and  also  very  often  one  somewhat  alkaline. 
Springs,  from  whose  calcareous  matter  the  peculiar  deposit  of  travertine  called  "petrified  moss" 
is  being  formed,  occur  on  the  northwest  side  of  Chanarambie  creek,  in  section  22,  Osborne.  Other 
springs,  notably  ferruginous,  occur  near  by,  and  similar  springs  are  found  occasionally  along 
Chanarambie  creek  for  several  miles  above  this  point. 

Two  remarkable  mineral  springs,  supposed  to  contain  sulphur,  occur  about  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  northwest  of  the  east  branch  of  Split  Rock  creek,  on  the  S.  E.  \  of  section  20,  Eden. 

Wells  in  Pipestone  county. % 

Bock.    John  Hipes;  S.  E.  }  sec.  4:  well  20  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till.,  picked,  18;  water  seeps. 

Burke.  The  railroad  well  at  Woodstock  station,  in  the  S.  VV.  J  of  section  2,  was  dug  S4  feet, 
and  bored  18,  to  a  total  depth  of  72  feet;  it  was  yellowish  till  for  the  first  40  feet,  below  which  it 
was  all  darker,  bluish  till.  The  only  water  obtained  seeps  within  the  first  sixteen  feet  from  the 
surface,  and  fills  the  well  to  within  ten  feet,  and  sometimes  within  six  feet  below  its  top,  but  does 
not  yield  a  large  supply. 

Osborne.  3.  B.  Barlow,  Jr.;  Edgerton,  in  the  N.  E.  J  of  sec.  28:  well  dug  to  40  feet,  and 
bored  25  feet,  to  65  in  total;  soil,  2  feet;  sand  and  gravel  (modified  drift  in  the  valley  of  Rock 
river  and  Chanarambie  creek,  on  a  terrace  of  which  Edgerton  is  built),  16  feet;  blue  till,  spaded 


*See  also  page  504. 

tEleventh  annual  report. 

;Mo:-t  of  the  notes  on  wells  are  by  Mr.  Upham;  and  many  iu  Hock  county  are  from  Mr.  Aaron  Baer,  of  Luverne. 


PIPESTONE  AND  BOCK  COUNTIES.  551 

Wclls.j 

and  bored,  47  feet,  and  extending  lower;  the  only  water  found  was  in  the  lower  part  of  the  grave 
and  sand. 

Fountain  Prairie.  T.  P.  Woodle;  S.  W.  J  of  sec.  12  :  well,  18  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  14; 
harder  blue  till,  2;  water  seeps.  Another  well,  on  the  same  quarter-section  and  same  farm,  after 
going  only  7  feet,  which  was  yellow  till,  found  a  spring  (with  no  sand)  from  which  water  rose 
four  feet  in  three  hours. 

Grange.  Alfred  Johnson;  sec.  33:  well,  22  feet  deep;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  18;  con- 
taining at  14  feet  below  the  top  of  the  well  a  layer  of  dry  sand  and  gravel,  three  inches  thick; 
harder  blue  till,  2  feet  and  extending  lower;  water  comes  in  large  amount  between  the  yellow  and 
blue  till,  rising  six  to  eight  feet. 

Gray.  Dr.  William  Taylor;  N.  W.  J  sec.  18  (one  mile  S.  E.  from  Pipestone  City) :  well,  55 
feet;  till,  mostly  yellowish,  with  some  darker  layers,  52  feet,  containing  pebbles  sparingly  in  its 
upper  part,  mostly  limestone  and  small,  ateo  a  white,  soft,  chalk-like  powder,  sometimes  in  part, 
or  wholly,  a  hard  and  compact  stone,  in  lumps  up  to  three  inches  long,  evidently  of  similar  origin 
as  the  drift-pebbles,  and  below  containing  many  pebbles  and  boulders  of  granite,  syenite,  and 
crystalline  schists,  up  to  six  or  eight  inches  in  diameter;  under  this  till  is  sand  and  gravel,  3  feet; 
water,  only  becoming  three  feet  deep,  is  found  in  this  stratified  drift  at  the  bottom. 

Elmer.  F.  A.  Bishop;  sec.  30:  well,  24  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  22;  water  seeps,  standing 
ten  feet  deep. 

Sweet.  Wells  at  Pipestone  City  are  20  to  45  feet  deep,  all  till,  yellowish  above  and  dark 
bluish  below;  in  the  east  part  of  Pipestone  City,  they  strike  quartzyte. 

Eden.  William  F.  Lange;  sec.  6:  well,  16  feet;  soil,  3;  yellow  till,  spaded,  13;  water  seeps, 
plentiful  and  of  excellent  quality. 

Wells  in  Bock  county. 

Battle  Plain.  F.  M.  Snow;  sec.  2:  well,  34  feet  deep;  soil,  2  feet;  yellow  till,  picked,  32 
feet;  water  seeps,  coming  mostly  at  20  feet  and  below.  Frequent  chalk-like  concretions  (or,  more 
probably,  pebbles  of  rotted  limestone,  as  in  Dr.  Taylor's  well)  were  found  from  two  to  ten  feet 
below  the  surface,  in  till  as  gravelly  and  stony  as  any  below. 

John  Boyes;  sec.  12:  well,  25  feet;  soil,  2  feet;  yellow  till,  all  picked,  23;  water  seeps,  of 
excellent  quality,  coming  mostly  about  13  feet  below  the  surface,  filling  the  well  nine  feet  deep. 

Vienna.  William  Maynes;  sec.  26:  well,  30  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  28  feet;  water 
seeps,  excellent  in  quality,  filling  the  well  ten  feet  deep. 

John  P.  Landin ;  sec.  28 :  well,  30  feet ;  soil  2  ;  clayey  sand,  not  caving  in,  containing  no 
pebbles,  8  feet;  yellow  till,  20;  water  five  feet  deep. 

Magnolia.  A  well  on  sec.  16,  24  feet  deep,  was,  for  all  below  the  black  soil,  common  yel- 
lowish joint-clay  with  gravel  mixed  (till);  this  well  stopped  at  the  top  of  the  blue  till,  which  was 
very  hard  and  dry.  "There  was  one  well  drilled  here  [sec.  16],  410  feet  deep;  soil,  3  feet;  yellow- 
ish joint-clay  [till],  about  15  feet;  then  a  grayish  clay,  about  10  feet;  then  it  runs  off  into  a  mixed 
yellowish  and  bluish  clay,  the  lower  part  being  the  bluer,  3  or  4  feet;  then  comes  the  regular 
blue  or  black  clay,  as  it  is  commonly  called;  at  165  feet  they  struck  quicksand  of  a  light  color,  4  or 
5  feet  thick;  then  it  went  off  into  the  old  black  clay  again.  They  struck  some  rock;  I  cannot  tell 
whether  bed-rock  or  boulders;  as  near  as  I  can  learn,  they  were  of  a  darkish  color  and  of  a  sandy 
nature,  not  so  hard  as  our  red  Mound  stone.  I  did  not  dig  or  drill  this  well;  it  was  only  a  six- 
inch  hole Bight  by  the  side  of  this  deep  boring,  I  sunk  a  well  four  feet  in 

diameter,  30  feet  deep,  and  prospected  down  100  feet  from  the  bottom  of  the  four  foot  hole 
(size  of  prospect  hole  three  inches),  finding  nothing  but  blue  clay  [till]." 

On  section  19  a  well  18  feet  deep  was  soil,  4  feet;  sand  and  gravel,  4  feet;  the  yellowish 
"joint-clay"  (till),  10  feet;  then  black  clay  (dark  bluish  till).  The  foregoing  wells  in  Magnolia, 
reported  by  Mr.  Baer,  appear  to  be  all  on  the  lands  of  the  Bock  County  Farming  Company. 

The  well  at  the  western  and  larger  farm-house  of  this  company,  in  sec.  7,  is  47J  feet  deep; 
soil,  4  feet;  yellowish  or  reddish  till  ("clay  with  a  little  sand  and  gravel  mixed"),  3  or  4  feet;  then 
gray  or  ash-colored  clay  (probably  till),  hard  and  dry,  full  of  seams  or  joints,  about  18  feet;  yel- 
lowish or  reddish  clay  and  sand  and  gravel  mixed  (the  sand  and  gravel  in  the  clay  being  in  pock- 
ets or  irregular  layers,  and  of  a  very  red  or  rusty  appearance  and  cemented  together),  6  feet; 
then  the  same  gray  or  ash-colored  clay  (doubtless  till)  as  above,  except  that  it  contains  a  little 


552  THE  GEOLOGY  OF^MIKNESOTA. 

[Wells. 

more  gravel  mixed  in,  and  also  small  deposits  of  silver-white  sand  in  pockets  varying  from  one  to 
three  inches  in  thickness,  about  15  feet;  at  47  feet  was  a  layer  of  dark  bluish  clay,  very  soft,  six 
inches  thick,  underlain  by  quicksand,  from  which  water  of  excellent  quality  rose  twenty-one  feet 
in  five  minutes,  the  well  being  three  feet  in  diameter. 

Another  well,  32  feet  deep,  situated  twenty-five  rods  north  of  the  foregoing,  was  the  same 
as  that  for  the  first  18  feet;  then  a  bed  of  water-bearing  gravel  was  found,  1J  feet  thick;  beneath 
which  the  well  went  12J  feet  in  soft  grayish  clay,  probably  till,  full  of  seeping  water. 

In  sec.  5  a  well  10  feet  deep,  near  the  head  of  a  slough,  found  soil  5  feet:  soft,  grayish  clay 
with  seep-water,  3  feet,  and  gravel  with  abundance  of  water,  2  feet.  Jn  this  well,  between  the 
soil  and  the  clay,  was  found  ''a  lower  jaw-bone  of  some  graminivorous  animal ;  one  side  was 
badly  decayed,  the  other  was  sound;  four  of  the  big  molars  were  in  a  perfect  state  of  preserva- 
tion." In  the  gravel  were  noticed  ''some  small  pieces  of  shells  such  as  clams  and  snails." 

Henry  Halbert;  S.  W.  }  of  sec.  12;  well  30  feet;  "joint-clay"  all  the  way;  water  good,  seeps. 
Frank  P.  Kennedy;  sec.  32:  well  100  feet  deep,  mostly  the  ordinary  dark  bluish  till,  not 
striking  rock;  water  rose  rapidly,  filling  the  well  half  full. 

Martin.  G.  L.  Thaden;  sec.  2:  well,  24  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  15  feet;  compact 
gravel  and  sand,  with  boulders,  rounded  stones,  up  to  one  foot  in  diameter,  making  a  "hardpan," 
yellowish,  iron-rusted,  2  feet;  blue  till  about  the  same  in  hardness  as  the  yellow  till,  5  feet,  and 
extending  lower;  water  comes  at  the  top  of  the  blue  till,  usually  standing  about  rive  feet  deep. 

John  B.  Martin;  S.  E.  J  of  sec.  12:  well,  22  feet;  soil,  3  feet,  containing  no  gravel,  and  very 
rarely  any  pieces  of  rock;  yellow  till,  10  feet;  harder  blue  till,  9  feet,  and  extending  lower;  water 
seeps  at  the  bottom  of  the  yellow  till,  usually  affording  an  ample  supply.  Mr.  Martin  states  that 
chalk-like;  limy  concretions,  one  to  three  inches  long,  flattisn  or  shaped  like  potatoes,  were  found 
quite  numerously  in  the  blue  till  of  his  well,  which,  as  also  the  yellow  till,  has  many  pebbles  and 
fragments  of  granite,  hornblende  schist,  limestone,  quartzyte,  etc.  These  limy  concretions  were 
infrequent  or  wanting  at  this  place  in  the  yellowish  upper  portion  of  the  till. 

Kanaranzi.  Jacob  Rush;  S.  E.  \  of  sec.  6:  well,  32  feet;  soil,  2:  yellowish  till,  30  feet, 
slightly  gravelly  in  its  upper  portion,  all  yellowish  gray,  excepting  one  foot,  which  was  darker 
and  harder  than  the  rest,  covering  a  part  of  the  well  at  the  depth  of  28  feet,  becoming  more  grav- 
elly below,  with  the  last  foot  holding  frequent  stones  up  to  six  inches  in  diameter;  water  rose  six 
feet  from  the  bottom,  which  seemed  to  be  only  a  gravelly  softer  portion  of  the  till.  Soft  chalk- 
like  lumps,  up  to  two  inches  in  diameter,  were  found  in  Mr.  Rush's  well,  mostly  at  5  to  8  feet, 
but  also  to  some  extent  all  the  way  down  to  the  bottom.  This  was  in  true  till.  Such  chalk-like 
lumps  (sometimes  drift-pebbles  from  Cretaceous  beds,  but  often  evidently  concretions  of  segre- 
gated calcareous  matter,  analogous  with  the  concretions  of  the  loess)  are  found  quite  commonly 
in  wells  of  this  region,  both  in  the  blue  and  the  yellow  till. 

Mr.  Shively;  well,  22  feet;  good  water  from  sand  at  18  feet,  under  "joint-clay". 
William  Macnab;  N.  VV.  J,  sec.  18:  on  the  upland  east  of  Rock  river:  well,  62  feet;  soil,  5  feet; 
reddish  sand,  1  foot;  yellow  till,  spaded,  5  feet;  much  harder  bluish  till,  more  gravelly,  dark  at 
first,  bluish  gray  in  the  lower  portion,  51  feet;  this  blue  till  was  all  the  way  moist,  but  had  no 
springs,  and  no  supply  of  water  was  found. 

Mound.  Lary  McDermott;  S.  W.  J,  sec.  25:  well,  28  feet;  black  soil,  6  feet,  alluvial  and 
partly  wind-blown  from  the  top  of  the  mound,  in  whose  lee  this  well  is  situated;  yellow  till,  spaded, 
19  feet;  gravel  and  sand,  3  feet,  enclosing  occasional  flat  pieces  of  quartzyte,  and  yielding  plenty 
of  good  water,  which  becomes  one  and  a  half  feet  deep. 

Thomas  Kennedy;  N.  W.  J  of  sec.  35;  well,  42  feet;  "a  dangerous  gas  gathers  in  this  well; 
struck  black  clay  at  the  depth  of  15  or  20  feet;  and  at  the  depth  of  40  feet  we  struck  a  log,  which 
the  auger  bored  in  two;  it  seemed  to  be  petrified,  and  it  looked  like  cedar,  judging  by  the  grain; 
at  the  bottom  of  this  log,  there  seemed  to  be  a  black  lot  of  rubbish,  such  as  bark  and  leaves, 
appearing  flaky,  as  leaves  would  be  under  such  circumstances;  the  sand  beneath  was  dark  and  the 
water  poor,  so  that  it  could  not  be  used." 

Clinton.  E.  A.  Brown;  sec.  14:  well,  30  feet;  soil,  3;  yellow  clay,  becoming  dark  below, 
thought  to  have  no  grit  or  gravel  in  it,  but  containing  occasional  small  pieces  of  stone,  probably 
twenty-five  and  perhaps  fifty  found  in  this  well,  which  was  bored  about  two  feet  in  diameter,  27 
feet;  water  seeps,  becoming  three  feet  deep.  This  well  is  situated  close  west  of  the  bottomland 
of  the  Rock  river,  and  about  ten  feet  above  it. 


PIPESTONE  AND  ROCK  COUNTIES.  553 

Wells.] 

Spring  Water.  Edwin  Chesley;  sec.  30:  well,  28  i'eet;  soil,  2;  yellow  gravel  and  clay,  2  feet; 
then  a  gray  layer,  slanting  a  little  to  the  south,  very  hard,  3  inches;  typical  yellow  till,  8  feet; 
changing  below  to  blue  till,  harder  than  the  yellow,  most  gravelly  below,  and  softer  in  its  last  four 
feet,  16  feet;  water  seeps  at  the  bottom,  in  the  last  two  feet. 

Beaver  Creek.  Jacob  Merkel;  sec.  21  :  well,  28  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  25  feet; 
gravel  and  sand,  1  foot,  with  yellow  till  below;  water  rose  nine  feet  from  the  bottom  in  one  day. 

E.  T.  Sheldon's  well,  18  feet  deep;  situated  in  the  valley  of  Beaver  creek,  but  on  an 
island  in  time  of  high  water:  soil,  3  feet;  sandy  loam,  somewhat  gravelly,  3  feet;  gravel,  stones 
and  shells,  the  lower  two  feet  being  sandy,  8  feet;  gravel,  2  feet,  with  water;  blue  clay,  con- 
taining wood,  2  feet.  These  shells,  which  seem  to  have  been  fresh-water  univalves  and  clams 
were  so  soft  that  they  could  be  reduced  to  powder  between  the  thumb  and  fingers,  though  some 
were  perfectly  hard.  Water  good. 

Beaver  Creek  station,  town  well;  N.  W.  }  of  sec.  28 :  well,  62  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  18; 
harder  blue  till,  42,  its  last  foot  being  specially  hard;  water  rose  rapidly  to  be  thirty  feet  deep, 
probably  springing  from  a  bed  of  gravel  and  sand  at  the  bottom.  A  piece  of  wood  two  feet  long 
and  four  inches  through  was  found  in  the  lowest  very  hard  foot  of  the  blue  till.  No  other  occur- 
rence of  wood  in  till  could  be  learned  of  in  this  region;  fragments  of  lignite,  too,  seem  to  be  very 
rare,  or  altogether  absent. 

C.  R.  Henton;  sec.  22:  well,  48  feet;  loam;  blue  clay;  good  water  from  a  sandy  layer  in  the 
blue  clay;  stone  curbing. 

W.  T.  Heuton;  sec.  30:  loam;  blue  clay;  stopped  in  blue  clay;  water  foul  from  the  wood 
curbing. 

C.  Williams;  sec.  28:  loam;  blue  clay;  water  seeps. 

Wm.  Grout;  sec.  24;  loam  and  clay;  good  water;  the  clay  was  all  gravelly,  except  the  very 
surface  soil,  with  little  bunches  of  sand;  water  seeps. 

W.  O.  Crawford;  S.  E.  i  of  sec.  20:  well  28J  feet;  abundant  good  water  in  quicksand;  in  the 
stony  blue  clay,  twenty  feet  from  the  surface,  a  stick  with  a  grain  like  elm  was  taken  out. 

Luverne.  A.  L.  Marsh;  S.  W.  J  of  sec.  4:  well,  33  feet;  "joint-clay''  all  the  way,  more  com- 
pact at  the  bottom;  water  seeps. 

Mr.  Stone,  Luverne:  well,  13  feet;  sandy  loam,  then  loose  stones,  6  feet;  gravel,  8  inches; 
pebbly  clay,  7  feet;  then  blue  clay. 

Allen  Taylor;  N.  E.  J  of  sec.  10:  well,  84  feet;  soil,  4;  sand,  gravel  and  clay,  mixed,  3 ; 
gravel,  10;  yellowish  clay,  2;  blue  clay,  with  two  gravel  pockets  three  to  five  feet  through,  with 
water  in  them,  which  having  been  pumped  out  the  well  remained  dry,  30;  the  rest  of  the  well 
was  somewhat  sandy,  with  lumps  of  clay  in  it,  the  whole  being  of  a  rather  dark  color,  soft  and 
moist,  but  yielding  no  supply  of  water;  at  81  feet  was  found  a  piece  of  a  shell,  as  if  of  a  common 
clam,  which  was  made  into  an  ornamental  pin.  It  had  a  beautiful  color.  Here  were  found  also 
some  fragments  of  wood.  This  sand  was  very  plastic  and  clayey  when  wet,  but  like  flour  when 
dry. 

Allen  Taylor;  N.  E.  \  of  sec.  10:  well,  12  feet;  loam,  gravel,  and  fine  dry  sand  which  spaik- 
les  in  the  sun;  this  sand  is  so  fine  as  to  be  water-tight,  and  makes  a  reservoir  for  water. 

Peter  Webber;  S.  W.  J  of  sec.  8:  well  42  feet;  "joint-clay"  all  the  way,  with  crystals  of  gyp- 
sum; at  first  no  water,  but  afterward  filled  to  within  ten  feet  of  the  top  with  a  poor  (alkaline) 
water. 

Sioux  Falls  railroad,  sec.  17:  well,  15  feet;  'joint-clay",  water  in  loose  stones  and  gravel;  red 
clay  below  the  gravel. 

Samuel  Spalding;  sec.  20:  well,  28£  feet;  "joint  clay  or  red  clay",  then  blue  clay;  water  from 
a  sand  vein  in  "joint  clay". 

Samuel  Sp  tiding;  sec.  20:  well,  10  feet;  good  water  in  gravel. 

Luverne  House.  Luverne:  veil,  16  feet;  good  water  in  gravel. 

The  water  of  wells  in  the  loam,  or  in  the  drift  clay,  is  very  hard.  This 
is  caused  by  a  large  amount  of  limestone  gravel  disseminated  through  all 
the  materials  of  the  drift,  derived  from  the  limestones  of  Winnipeg.  There 


554  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Building  stone 

is  occasionally  a  water  which  has  a  distinctly  alkaline  character,  but  this 
is  not  common.  Many  of  the  wells  of  the  county  are  curbed  with  pine 
boards,  and  from  that  fact  they  supply  a  water  that  is  now  contaminated 
with  the  organic  decay  known  to  result  from  that  practice,  and  a  number 
were  examined  that  were  very  foul  from  that  cause. 

The  curbing  of  wells  in  the  prairie  regions  with  pine  boards  or  planks  is  very  common,  ow- 
ing to  the  lack  of  convenient  stone,  and  the  ease  of  constructing  such  curbs  of  wood;  but  it  is  a 
practice  which  all  well-diggers  should  loudly  and  persistently  protest  against,  and  which  all  the 
owners  of  wells  should  discontinue,  as  it  is  a  fruitful  source  of  foul  water,  causing  intestinal  dis- 
eases and  typhoid  fevers. 

MATERIAL   RESOURCES. 

These  counties  contain  some  of  the  best  farming  lands  in  the  state. 
They  are  not  broken  by  rock  exposure  (except  through  the  central  part  of 
Rock  county),  so  that  nearly  all  their  area  is  tillable.  The  rocks  that  under- 
lie them  are  not  known  to  hold  anything  of  great  economic  value.  They 
will  serve  as  a  building  material,  but  are  rather  hard  even  for  that,  and  it 
may  be  found  more  economical  to  bring  in  by  railroad  the  building  stones 
of  the  eastern  counties.  The  main  material  product  of  these  counties  is 
now,  and  will  always  remain,  wheat,  of  which  they  will  produce  as  much  to 
the  acre  as  any  county  in  the  state. 

Building  stone.  Near  Pipestone  City  the  red  quartzyte  is  quarried  on 
land  of  Mr.  C.  H.  Bennett.  Stone  suitable  for  cellar  walls  and  ordinary 
rough  masonry  is  sold  at  three  to  four  dollars  per  cord.  Slabs  about  six 
inches  thick  and  six  or  eight  feet  square  can  be  obtained.  Quarrying  has 
also  been  done  here  by  Mr.  J.  A.  Phelps,  leasing  from  Mr.  Bennett.  He  sold 
about  two  hundred  cords  of  stone  in  1879,  about  one-third  of  it  being  used 
in  Pipestone  City,  and  nearly  the  same  amount  in  Flandreau.  His  quarry- 
ing has  been  at  two  points;  one  at  the  base  of  the  "three  maidens,"  supply- 
ing a  dark  red  stone  similar  in  color  to  the  red  pipestone,  the  other  a  quar- 
ter of  a  mile  southeast  from  that  point  where  the  stone  is  reddish-gray, 
being  at  each  place  very  hard,  strong  and  durable  quartzyte.* 

In  the  N.  W.  J  of  section  25,  Mound,  some  thirty  rods  east  of  the  highest 
part  of  the  mound,  Messrs.  Shoemaker  and  Kelly  quarry  the  red  quartzyte. 
They  loosen  and  throw  down  the  rock  from  the  upper  part  of  the  vertical 
cliff,  which  is  here  about  forty  feet  high.  This  work  has  been  carried  on 

*Comparc  the  chapter  on  building  stones,  p.  149. 


PIPESTONE  AND  ROCK  COUNTIES.  555 

Indian  inscriptions.]  » 

since  1875,  the  annual  sale  being  from  fifty  to  a  hundred  cords,  at  three 
dollars  per  cord,  with  an  increasing  demand.  The  rock  here  lies  in  layers 
from  six  inches  to  two  feet  thick.  The  outside  is  usually  the  hardest. 
Samples  from  Mr.  Shoemaker's  quarry  have  been  taken  to  Minneapolis  for 
trial  as  millstones,  of  the  kind  called  "enders."  One  piece  sent  for  this 
purpose  weighed  five  thousand  pounds.  Deeper  within,  the  stone  is  most 
apt  to  be  red;  near  the  surface  it  is  faded  to  a  reddish  gray. 

In  the  S.  W.  £  of  section  25,  Mr.  Lary  McDermott  has  similarly  quarried 
more  or  less  during  the  past  ten  years,  averaging  about  fifty  cords  per  year, 
at  three  dollars  per  cord. 

In  these  excavations  upon  the  face  of  the  cliff  the  rock  often  shows 
ripple-marked  surfaces,  and  an  oblique  lamination  of  the  sand  grains. 

ARCHAEOLOGY. 

On  the  glaciated  surface  of  the  quartzyte  about  the  "three  maidens", 
which  is  kept  clean  by  the  rebound  of  the  winds,  are  a  great  many  rude 
inscriptions  which  were  made  by  pecking  out  the  rock  with  some  sharp- 
pointed  instrument,  or  by  the  use  of  other  pieces  of  quartzyte.  They  are 
of  different  sizes  and  dates,  the  latter  being  evinced  by  their  manner  of 
crossing  and  interfering,  and  by  the  evident  difference  in  the  weight  of  the 
instruments  used.  They  generally  represent  some  animal  such  as  the  turtle, 
bear,  wolf,  buffalo,  elk,  and  the  human  form.  The  "crane's  foot"  is  the  most 
common;  next  is  the  image  of  men  like  No.  18,  on  plate  J;  next  the  turtle, 
like  No.  12,  or  No.  5.  It  would  seem  as  if  any  warrior  or  hunter  who  had 
been  successful,  and  happened  to  pass  here,  left  his  tribute  of  thanks  to  the 
great  spirit  in  a  rude  representation  of  his  game,  and  perhaps  a  figure  of 
himself,  on  the  rocks  about  these  boulders;  or,  perhaps,  had  in  a  similar 
way,  invoked  the  good  offices  of  the  spirits  of  his  clan  when  about  to 
enter  on  some  expedition.  In  some  cases  there  is  a  connection  of  several 
figures  by  a  continuous  line,  chipped  in  the  surface  of  the  rock,  in  such  a 
manner  as  if  some  legend  or  adventure  were  narrated,  but  for  the  most 
part  the  figures  are  isolated.*  This  is  the  "sacred  ground"  of  the  locality. 
Such  markings  can  be  seen  at  no  other  place,  though  there'is  abundance  of 
bare,  smooth  rock.f  The  excavation  of  the  surface  of  the  rock  is  very 

w  TT*S"?pare  Vo1:  n  •  Bulletins  of  the  U.  S.  geological  and  geographical  survey  of  the  territories.  1876.  p.  3-Article  of 
in  Ohio          ef>>  °n         anclent  rulns  of  southwestern  Colorado.    Col.  Charles  Whittlesey  has  described  rock  inscriptions 
^Similar  inscriptions  are  found  on  the  red  qnartzyte  in  Cottonwood  county.    See  p.  501. 


556 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINXESOTA. 


PLATE  I. 


"NT   IN 


nr^\ 


»         I  # 


if    J   ?   -j    | 
I    !  I   I  I 


EOCK  INSCRIPTIONS  AT  THE  PJPEfeTONE  QUARRY. 


PIPESTONE  AND  ROCK  COUNTIES. 


557 

PLATE  J. 


**« 


14 


if 


17 


18 


20 


22 


23 


ROCK  INSCRIPTIONS  AT  THE  P1PESTONE  QUARRY 


558 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


P1TATE  K. 


ROCK  INSCRIPTIONS  AT  THE  PIPESTONE  QUARRY. 


PIPESTONE  AND  ROCK  COUNTIES. 


559 

iPLATE  i. 


ROCK  INSCRIPTIONS  AT  THE  PIPESTONEIQUARRY. 


560  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Inscriptions.     Pipes. 

slight,  generally  not  exceeding  a  sixteenth  of  an  inch,  and  sometimes  only 
enough  to  leave  a  tracing  of  the  designed  form.  The  hardness  of  the  rock 
was  a  barrier  to  deep  sculpturing  with  the  imperfect  instruments  of  the 
aborigines;  but  it  has  effectually  preserved  the  rude  forms  that  were  made. 
The  fine  glacial  scratches  that  are  abundantly  scattered  over  this  quartzyte, 
indicate  the  tenacity  with  which  it  retains  all  such  impressions,  and  will 
warrant  the  assignment  of  any  date  to  these  inscriptions  that  may  be  called 
for  within  the  human  period.  Yet  it  is  probable  that  they  date  back  to  no 
very  great  antiquity.  They  pertain  at  least  to  the  dynasty  of  the  present 
Indian  tribes.  The  totems  of  the  turtle  and  the  bear,  which  are  known  to 
have  been  powerful  among  the  clans  of  the  native  races  in  America  at  the 
time  of  the  earliest  European  knowledge  of  them,  and  which  exist  to  this 
day,  are  the  most  frequent  objects  represented.  The  "crane's  foot,"  or 
"turkey-foot,"  or  "bird-track,"  terms  which  refer  perhaps  to  the  same  totem- 
sign,  the  snipe,  is  not  only  common  on  these  rocks  but  is  seen  among  the 
rock  inscriptions  of  Ohio,*  and  was  one  of  the  totems  of  the  Iroquois  of 
New  York.** 

The  illustrations  seen  on  plates  I,  J,  K,  L,  are  approximately  one-fourth  the  size  of  the 
inscriptions.  They  show  the  most  conspicuous  and  important  of  the  inscriptions.  There  are 
others  that  are  very  indistinct,  and  some  that  are  unintelligible  from  imperfect  or  designless  cat- 
ting. Figure  17  is  deeply  cut,  and  was  partly  hid  by  overgrowing  turf.  Figure  24,  having  its 
diametral  lines  agreeing  with  the  cardinal  points  of  the  compass,  may  be  intended  to  express  the 
line  of  the  horizon,  and  the  points  north,  south,  east  and  west:  and  it  may  be  so  recent  as  to  have 
been  suggested  by  the  modern  compass.  Figure  31  was  interpreted,  according  to  Mr.  Sweet,  by 
a  Sioux  Indian  from  Flandrean,  with  these  words,  "  Indian  kill  elk,  three  miles, "pointing  toward 
the  south.  Figure  36,  which  interferes  with  figure  37,  is  the  earlier  of  the  two,  as  indicated  by 
the  difference  in  cutting. 

The  pipestone,  which  has  long  been  used  by  the  Indians  for  their  cal- 
umets, or  peace  pipes,!  has  been  described  in  its  physical  and  chemical 
characters,  under  the  head  of  geological  structure. 

It  seems  that  many  pipes  were  made  by  the  mound-builders,  of  a  "red 
porphyritic  stone."f  f  These  were  exhumed  in  Ohio  by  Messrs.  Squier  and 
Davis;  and  others  of  red  catlinite  have  been  found  in  Iowa,:}:  in  each  case 
associated  with  implements  of, copper  and  other  objects  characteristic  of 
the  mound-builders.  Pipes  of  this  material  are  comparatively  rare  in  the 
mounds,  even  in  the  vicinity  of  the  pipestone  quarry.  One  found  in  Martin 


*Proceedings  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science.     1871.  p.  405. 

**Morgan;  Contributions  to  North  American  Ethnology.     Vol.  iv,  p.  7. 

f'arver;  page  24. 

ttAmient  monuments  of  the  Mississippi  valley. 

^Proceedings  of  the  Uavenport  Academy  of  Natural  Science,  vol.  i,  p.  108  and  p.  135. 


PIPESTONE  AND  ROCK  COUNTIES.  561 

Pipes.  ] 


county,  taken  from  a  mound,  has  been  described  on  page  490,  composed  of 
a  dark  gray  stone  not  at  all  resembling  catlinite.  A  great  majority  of  the 
stone  pipes  found  in  America  are  made  of  other  varieties  of  stone,  some- 
times of  steatite,  or  of  serpentine,  or  "slate,"  or  some  very  much  harder 
material,  even  of  granite.*  A  pipestone  found  on  the  international  boun- 

• 

dary,  in  Minnesota,  is  of  greenish,  chloritic  rock,  which  becomes  darker  and 
harder  in  some  places,  and  is  properly  described  as  gray. 

The  Indians  of  the  Northwest  have  resorted  to  this  place  ever  since 
their  acquaintance  with  Europeans,  for  the  purpose  of  getting  this  material 
for  their  pipes.  If  there  be"  not  a  direct  connection,  genealogically,  be- 
tween the  mound-builders  and  the  Indians,  there  is  at  least  an  identity  of 
practice  in  the  quarrying  and  manufacture  of  pipes  from  this  material,  no 
less  than  in  the  mining  and  use  of  copper.f 

At  the  present  time  the  remnant  of  the  Sioux  Indians  living  at  Flan- 
dreau,  Dak.,  extract  the  catlinite  from  the  same  locality,  in  the  rudest 
methods,  and  derive  a  substantial  revenue  from  the  sale  of  pipes,  hatchets 
and  various  other  articles  made  from  it.  In  this  manufacture  the  whites 
have  begun  to  compete  successfully  with  the  Indians,  and  many  orna- 
mental as  well  as  useful  objects  made  of  catlinite  can  be  purchased  in  the 
open  markets  of  Flandreau  and  Pipestone  City. 


•Squier  and  Davis,  Ancient  monuments  of  the  Mississippi  valley,  p.  228. 

tPop.  Serf.  Month.,  vol.  xix,  p.  601;  Lewis  H.  Morgan,  Contribution*  to  North  American  Ethnology  vol.  iv,  p   199 
36 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  BROWN  AND  REDWOOD  COUNTIES. 


BY   WARREN  UPHAM. 

Situation  and  area.  Brown  and  Redwood  counties  (plate-pages  25  and 
26)  are  situated  in  the  central  part  of  southern  Minnesota,  within  the  basin 
of  the  Minnesota  river,  which  is  their  boundary  on  the  north.  New  Ulm, 
the  largest  town  and  county  seat  of  Brown  county,  is  36  miles  east-south- 
east from  Redwood  Falls,  which  is  the  largest  town  and  county  seat  of 
Redwood  county.  From  New  Ulm  northeast  to  Minneapolis  and  Saint  Paul 
is  a  distance,  in  straight  course,  of  about  75  miles.  Two  tiers  of  counties 
intervene  between  these  and  the  south  line  of  the  state;  and  two  counties 
on  the  west  divide  Redwood  county  from  Dakota. 

The  area  of  Brown  county  is  616.75  square  miles,  or  394,720.82  acres, 
of  which  6,937.52  acres  are  covered  by  water;  and  the  area  of  Redwood 
county  is  893.83  square  miles,  or  572.052.87  acres,  of  which  14,930.13  acres 
are  covered  by  water. 

SURFACE  FEATURES. 

Natural  drainage.  The  Minnesota  river,  at  the  north  side  of  these  coun- 
ties, receives  from  them  two  large  tributaries:  the  Redwood  river,  which 
flows  east  across  the  north  part  of  Redwood  county  and  enters  the  Minne- 
sota about  two  miles  northeast  of  Redwood  Falls;  and  the  Cottonwood 
(called  by  the  Sioux  the  Waraju)  river,  which  also  runs  easterly,  crossing 
southern  Redwood  county,  and  dividing  Brown  county  into  nearly  equal 
parts  on  its  north  and  south  sides,  uniting  with  the  Minnesota  about  one 
and  a  half  miles  southeast  of  New  Ulm. 


Kl  KJ 

I  IN 


YELLOW     MEDICINE:       c  o. 


S     H    E    R   I  D  A  N 


D  W  0   0    D 


P   ANX    T    0     N 


-  *** 

•  G          IS  14  liB 


REE        L  A  K 


E  S   U    N    D  O 


: * 


NORTH      HER 


o   !      LAM  B 


T<    xxxvTTT 
COTTON     WOOD 


C  O    U    N     T     Y 


MURRAY          CO 


->     STATE 


I-:.  \.\XV  \f. 
C    0    T    T   O  N 


1'I.ATI-:  i't 


GEOLOGICAL  AND  XATrRAI,  HISTORY 
SI'KYKY  01'  MINNESOTA 

BROWN  AND  REDWOOD 
COUNTIES 

BY    WARREN     UPHAM 


WAT      ON      WAN 


/,  LuitaisBK.-aWo.Iilh 


BROWN  AND  REDWOOD  COUNTIES.  563 

Natural  drainage.] 

Besides  these,  the  Minnesota  river  receives  from  these  counties  several  small  creeks,  from 
one  to  five  miles  in  length,  the  longest  being  Crow  creek,  five  miles  east  of  Redwood  Falls,  and 
Wabashaw  creek,  in  Sherman,  the  most  northeast  township  of  Redwood  county. 

The  most  important  of  the  small  creeks  that  empty  into  the  Redwood  river  in  the  county  of 
this  name  is  Ramsey  creek,  five  miles  long,  in  the  south  part  of  Delhi,  the  outlet  of  Ramsey  lake. 
Its  junction  with  the  Redwood  is  about  a  half  mile  north  of  Redwood  Falls. 

Numerous  creeks  of  considerable  size  join  the  Cottonwood  river  from  the  south  in  southern 
Redwood  county,  including  Plum  creek,  which  flows  by  Walnut  Grove;  Pell  creek,  in  the  west 
part  of  Lamberton;  Dutch  Charley's  creek,  which  flows  within  a  mile  south  of  Lamberton,  and 
after  receiving  Highwater  creek,  a  large  tributary,  unites  with  the  Cottonwood  about  two  miles 
east  of  this  station;  and  Dry  creek,  which  joins  this  river  in  the  southeast  corner  of  Charlestown. 
Through  this  distance  of  twenty-five  miles,  the  Cottonwood  river  has  no  affluent  from  the  north. 

In  Brown  county  the  Cottonwood  receives  only  one  noteworthy  tributary  from  the  south, 
namely,  Mound  creek,  which  has  first  a  northeast  and  then  a  northwest  course,  the  latter  extend- 
ing about  four  miles  among  inorainic  hills  to  its  mouth,  two  miles  east  of  the  west  line  of  this 
county.  Sleepy  Eye  creek,  the  largest  branch  of  this  river,  comes  into  it  from  its  north  side,  in 
the  east  part  of  Leavenworth.  This  flows  easterly,  approximately  paral'el  with  the  Cottonwood 
river,  and  three  to  ten  miles  from  it,  through  a  total  length  of  about  thirty  miles,  the  first  twenty- 
five  of  which  are  in  Redwood  county. 

On  the  south  side  of  the  Big  Cottonwood  river,  another  companion  stream,  the  Little  Cotton- 
wood  river,  also  flows  in  a  nearly  parallel  course  easterly  through  the  south  part  of  Brown  county, 
being  from  two  to  seven  miles  distant  from  the  Big  Cottonwood  along  its  extent  of  more  than 
thirty  miles.  It  joins  the  Minnesota  river  two  miles  beyond  the  east  line  of  this  county.  It 
receives  no  tributary  of  considerable  size  in  its  whole  course. 

Lakes.  Both  these  counties  have  frequent  lakes,  and  also  sloughs,  or  marshy  tracts,  many 
of  which  are  covered  by  water  during  the  wet  portions  of  the  year.  In  Redwood  county  the  most 
notable  lakes  are  Ramsey  lake,  one  mile  long  from  west  to  east,  in  Delhi;  Goose  and  Swan  lakes, 
at  the  northwest  side  of  Underwood  township,  each  about  a  mile  long;  two  lakes,  three-quarters 
and  half  a  mile  in  length,  in  Kintire;  Horseshoe  lake,  curved,  more  than  a  mile  long,  in  West- 
line;  Hall  lake,  a  mile  in  length  from  northwest  to  southeast,  in  Gales;  Willow  and  Rush  lakes, 
each  a  half  mile  or  more  in  length,  in  Willow  Lake  township;  the  Three  lakes,  which  give  this 
name  to  the  township  in  which  they  are  situated;  and  Hackberry  lake,  three-fourths  of  a  mile 
long,  in  the  north  part  of  Brookville. 

Among  the  lakes  of  Brown  county  are  Lone  Tree  lake,  a  half  mile  long,  in  section  9,  Eden; 
Sleepy  Eye,  Cross  and  Mud  lakes,  respectively  one  and  a  half  miles,  one  mile  and  a  half  mile  in 
extent,  in  Home  township;  Boy's  lake,  a  mile  long  from  northwest  to  southeast,  in  the  northeast 
part  of  Burnstown;  a  lake  of  similar  size  and  trend  in  section  6,  Bashaw;  Rice  lake,  a  mile  long 
from  north  to  south,  in  the  southwest  part  of  Stark;  Bachelor  lake,  of  smaller  size  in  the  same 
township  three  miles  farther  northeast;  lake  Hummel  or  Clear  lake,  a  mile  long  from  north  to 
south,  in  the  northeast  part  of  Sigel;  lake  Hanska,  seven  miles  long  from  northwest  to  southeast, 
and  from  an  eighth  to  two-thirds  of  a  mile  wide,  in  Albin  and  Lake  Hanska  townships;  lake 
Armstrong  and  Broom  lake,  farther  northeast  in  Lake  Hanska  township,  each  about  a  mile  long 
and  trending  southwesterly;  lake  Linden  and  another  lake  situated  in  sections  11  and  14,  Lin- 
den, each  exceeding  a  mile  in  length,  with  north  to  south  trend,  and  lake  Emerson,  two  miles 
long  from  west  to  east,  crossed  by  the  south  line  of  this  township.  These  lakes  occupy  hollows 
in  the  drift-sheet  and  many  of  them  have  neither  outlet  nor  inlet. 

Topography.  These  counties  have  almost  universally  a  smooth,  gently 
or  moderately  undulating  surface  of  unmodified  glacial  drift  or  till.  Some 
portions  are  nearly  flat,  and  the  whole  country  has  this  appearance  when 
overlooked  in  any  broad,  far-reaching  view;  but  mostly  the  contour  is  in 
broad  swells  of  various  extent,  hight  and  direction,  generally  without  any 
uniformity  in  trend,  and  sometimes  oval  or  nearly  round. 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Topography. 

The  highest  portions  of  adjoining  undulations  vary  from  a  few  rods  to  a  half  mile  or 
more  apart ;  and  their  elevation  is  sometimes  -5  to  15  feet,  and  again  20  to  30  feet,  or  rarely 
more,  above  the  depressions,  to  which  the  descent  is  usually  by  very  gentle  slopes.  These 
hollows  have  a  form  that  is  like  that  of  the  swells  inverted,  being  mostly  wide,  and  either  in  long 
and  often  crooked  courses  of  unequal  length,  variously  branched  and  connected  one  with  another, 
or  in  basins  from  one  to  one  hundred  acres  or  more  in  extent,  which  have  no  outlet  but  are  sur- 
rounded by  land  5  feet  or  perhaps  10,  20  or  30  feet  higher  upon  all  sides.  The  small  swamps 
which  often  fill  the  depressions  are  called  sloughs  or  marshes,  the  former  name  being  the  most 
common  in  this  prairie  region,  while  the  latter  is  applied  to  them  in  wooded  parts  of  the  state. 

Many  others  of  these  depressions  contain  bodies  of  water,  which  vary  from  a  few  rods  or  a 
hundred  feet  to  five  or  ten  miles  in  length.  All  these  are  called  lakes,  and  the  term  pond,  which 
would  be  applied  to  them  in  the  northeastern  United  States,  is  here  restricted  to  reservoirs  made 
by  dams.  The  lakes  of  these  counties  usually  lie  in  shallow  basins,  bounded  by  gently  ascending 
shores,  which,  however,  are  here  and  there  steep  to  the  hight  of  10  or  15,  and  rarely  20  to  25  feet. 
These  higher  banks  are  mostly  at  projecting  points  of  the  shore,  and  they  have  been  formed  by 
the  undermining  action  of  the  waves.  The  foot  of  such  banks  is  plentifully  strown  with  boulders 
that  had  been  contained  in  the  till,  all  the  fine  parts  of  which  have  been  thus  washed  away.  Other 
parts  of  the  lake  shore,  adjoining  tracts  of  lowland  or  marsh,  are  frequently  bordered  by  a  flat- 
tened ridge  of  gravel  and  sand,  often  with  intermixed  boulders,  heaped  up  by  the  action  of  ice  in 
winters,  in  its  ordinary  freezing,  thawing,  and  drifting,  when  broken  up,  before  the  wind. 
These  ice-formed  lake-ridges  rise  only  from  three  to  six  feet  above  the  line  of  high  water  of  the 
lake,  and  are  from  two  or  three  to  five  or  six  rods  wide.  They  occur  most  frequently  in  situations 
where  they  separate  the  lake  from  a  bordering  marsh,  whose  area  evidently  was  at  first  a  part  of 
the  lake. 

The  most  notable  features  of  the  topography  of  this  region  are  the  valleys  or  channels  that 
have  been  eroded  in  its  broadly  smoothed  and  approximately  flat  expanse  by  creeks  and  rivers. 
The  smaller  streams  generally  flow  15  to  30  feet  below  the  general  level,  with  valleys  from  a  few 
rods  to  a  quarter  of  a  mile  wide.  The  valley  of  the  Redwood  river  is  of  small  depth,  25  to  50 
feet,  along  all  its  course  above  Redwood  Falls.  At  and  below  this  town,  within  a  distance  of  one 
mile  this  river  descends  a  hundred  feet  in  a  succession  of  picturesque  cascades  and  rapids,  over 
granite  and  gneiss,  decomposing  portions  of  which  form  towering  cliffs,  100  to  150  feet  high,  on 
each  side,  from  an  eighth  to  a  quarter  of  a  mile  apart.  This  gorge,  extending  one  and  a  half  miles 
before  it  opens  into  the  broader  bottomland  of  the  Minnesota  river,  is  quite  unique  in  its  grand 
and  beautiful  scenery,  with  dense  woods  along  its  bottom  through  which  the  river  flows,  but 
crowned  above  by  the  verge  of  prairies  whose  vast  expanse,  slightly  undulating  but  almost  level 
in  this  extensive  view,  stretches  away  farther  than  the  eye  can  reach. 

In  Redwood  county  the  Cottonwood  river  lies  in  a  depression  from  a  third  to  a  half  of  a  mile 
wide,  composed  of  level  alluvial  bottomland.  40  feet  below  the  average  surface.  Through  North 
Star  and  Burnstown,  in  western  Brown  county,  this  river  flows  about  50  feet  below  the  average 
hight  of  the  region,  with  a  bottomland  usually  from  a  fourth  to  a  third  of  a  mile  wide,  of  sand  or 
gravel,  or  in  part  of  fine  silt,  elevated  10  to  15  feet  above  the  river  at  low  water  but  overflowed  by 
its  highest  floods.  At  Iberia,  near  the  center  of  Brown  county,  four  miles  south  of  Sleepy  Eye, 
the  Cottonwood  valley  is  75  to  100  feet  deep,  and  from  a  half  to  two-thirds  of  a  mile  wide,  con- 
taining, on  the  northwest  side  of  the  river,  terraces  of  gravel  and  sand,  covered  by  a  fertile  soil, 
similar  to  that  of  the  upland  prairies.  These  terraces  occupy  a  width  of  two-thirds  of  a  mile,  and 
form  three  or  four  successive  levels  or  steps,  15  to  50  feet  above  the  river.  The  bluffs  that  enclose 
this  valley  here  and  below  are  usually  very  steep,  varying  in  slope  from  30°  to  45°.  They  have 
been  formed,  like  the  higher  bluffs  of  the  Minnesota  valley,  by  the  undermining  action  of  the  river, 
flowing  along  their  base  and  wearing  them  away  in  its  process  of  excavation.  Mostly  these  slopes 
are  wooded  and  lie  at  considerable  distance  from  the  river;  but  the  stream  may,  in  its  gradual 
change  of  channel  again  impinge  upon  them,  as  it  is  now  doing  on  its  southeast  side  one  and  a  half 
miles  northeast  from  Iberia,  exposing  there  a  freshly  undermined  section  of  drift,  75  to  100  feet 
in  hight,  composed  of  yellow  till  for  its  upper  20  or  25  feet,  and  of  dark  bluish  till  below.  East- 
ward the  valley  of  the  Cottonwood  river,  before  uniting  with  that  of  the  Minnesota,  gradually 
increases  in  depth  to  175  feet,  with  a  width  varying  from  a  third  of  a  mile  to  one  mile. 


BROWN  AND  REDWOOD  COUNTIES.  565 

Topography.] 

The  Little  Cottonwood  river  through  Bashaw,  in  southwestern  Brown  county,  flows  in  a 
valley  25  feet  below  the  general  level,  with  an  alluvial  bottom  an  eighth  to  a  fourth  of  a  mile  wide, 
not  bordered  by  steep  bluffs  but  by  gentle  slopes.  Thence  through  the  central  part  of  the  county 
this  valley  retains  nearly  the  same  features,  and  it  is  only  in  Cottonwood  township,  within  a  half 
dozen  miles  above  its  mouth,  that  its  depth  increases  to  coincide  with  that  of  the  Minnesota  river, 
to  which  it  is  tributary. 

Lake  Hanska,  seven  miles  long  but  somewhat  river-like  in  its  narrowness  and  its  rather 
crooked  east-southeast  course,  bordered  by  moderately  or  gently  sloping  shores  of  till  that  rise 
10  to  20  feet  above  it,  may  indicate  an  avenue  of  interglacial  drainage,  now  in  large  degree  filled 
and  obscured  by  the  till  of  the  last  glacial  epoch. 

The  valley  of  the  Minnesota  river  on  the  north  side  of  these  counties  is  from  165  to  180  and 
in  some  portions  200  feet  deep,  having  a  bottomland  of  alluvium  5  to  20  feet  above  low  water  and 
from  three-fourths  of  a  mile  to  one  and  a  half  miles  wide,  bordered  by  steep  bluffs  which  rise  to 
the  general  level  of  the  country.  Within  this  valley  at  numerous  places  are  jutting  knobs  and 
small  ridges  of  gneiss  and  granite,  exposures  of  Cretaceous  strata,  and  terraces  of  modified  drift, 
which  are  described  farther  on  in  treating  of  geological  structure.  From  the  top  of  the  bluffs  the 
vast  prairie  stretches  away  beyond  the  horizon,  having  a  smoothly  undulating  surface  of  till,  which 
appears  to  be  in  general  approximately  level,  though  a  considerable  ascent,  varying  in  amount  from 
75  to  150  feet,  is  made  imperceptibly  in  a  distance  of  twenty  to  twenty-five  miles  southwestward 
across  these  counties. 

Here  and  there  this  sheet  of  unmodified  glacial  drift  or  boulder-clay,  the  direct  deposit  of 
the  ice-sheet,  is  sprinkled  with  knolls,  small  and  short  ridges,  or  mounds,  of  gravel  and  sand,  which 
rise  sometimes  by  steep,  but  again  by  moderate  or  gentle  slopes,  10  to  15  or  20  feet  above  the  gen- 
eral level.  The  distribution  and  origin  of  these  kame-lik'e  deposits  of  modified  drift  are  more  fully 
noticed  on  a  following  page. 

In  the  southwest  corner  of  each  of  these  counties,  their  even  contour,  which  to  this  distance 
from  IJie  Minnesota  river  may  be  called  in  general  a  vast  plain,  is  changed;  and  a  gradual  rise  of 
200  or  300  feet  takes  place  within  a  distance  of  a  few  miles,  along  a  massive  terrace  which  extends 
from  northwest  to  southeast  and  east-southeast.  This  line  of  highland  forms  the  northeastern 
border  and  first  prominent  ascent  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies,  which  farther  west  rises  gradually 
and  at  length  steeply  again,  to  the  much  higher  watershed  between  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri 
rivers.  The  south  part  of  Stately,  the  most  southwest  township  of  Brown  county,  lies  upon  the 
foot  of  the  sloping  border  of  the  Coteau,  which  here  is  formed  by  the  massive,  mostly  drift- 
covered  ridge  of  red  quartzyte  that  extends  in  a  nearly  east  to  west  direction  in  northern  Cotton- 
wood  couiity,  its  crest  being  one  to  two  miles  south  of  the  south  line  of  Stately.  In  northwestern 
Redwood  county  a  gradual  rise  begins  a  few  miles  south  from  the  Cottonwood  river,  and  in  six  or 
eight  miles  southwestward  to  the  corner  of  this  county  amounts  to  about  250  feet,  beyond  which  a 
slower  rate  of  ascent  continues  in  the  same  direction  to  the  belt  of  swelling  and  somewhat  hilly 
till  at  the  northeast  side  of  lakes  Shetek  and  Sarah,  in  Murray  county.  On  the  Winona  &  Saint 
Peter  railroad,  which  makes  this  rise  obliquely,  running  from  east  to  west,  the  ascent  from  Lam- 
bertou  to  Walnut  Grove,  in  ten  miles,  is  79  feet;  and  in  its  next  eight  miles,  to  Tracy,  is  180  feet. 

The  only  tract  in  these  counties  that  exhibits  a  conspicuously  morainic  contour  is  in  Stately, 
and  reaches  from  the  elbow  of  Mound  creek  six  miles  west  into  the  edge  of  Germantown  in  Cot- 
tonwood county,  with  a  width  of  three  or  four  miles,  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  Cottonwood 
river.    It  is  crossed  by  the  lower  part  of  Mound  creek,  so  named  because  of  its  mounds,  ridges 
and  hills,  which  are  25  to  75  or  100  feet  high,  abrupt  and  strown  with  boulders  and  pebbles, 
Elevations,  Winona  &  St.  Peter  division,  Chicago  &  Northwestern  railway. 
From  John  E.  Blunt,  engineer,  Winona. 

Miles  from    Feet  above 
Winona.         the  sea. 

Minnesota  river,  bridge 162.50  821 

Minnesota  river,  high  water 162.50  807 

New  Ulm 165.31  837 

Siding 169.00  994 

Sleepy  Eye 179.72  1034 

Redwood  Falls .  205.00  1028 


566  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Elevation*. 

Miles  from    Feet  above 
\\  inona.         the  .•*  'ti. 

Springfield 193.18  1025 

Sanborn 201.56  1089 

Lamberton 208.77  1144 

Walnut  Grove 218.98  1223 

The  elevation  of  the  Minnesota  river  along  the  north  side  of  these  counties,  at  its  ordinary 
stage  of  water,  20  to  25  feet  below  its  high  floods,  is  approximately  as  follows: 

Minnesota  river,  low  water. 

Feet  above 
the  sea. 

At  the  northwest  corner  of  lied  wood  county 845 

Below  Patterson's  rapids,  at  the  east  side  of  Swede's  Forest 820 

At  the  mouth  of  the  Redwood  river 810 

At  the  Hue  between  Redwood  and  Brown  counties 798 

At  Fort  Ridgely 793 

At  New  Ulm 784 

At  the  mouth  of  the  Big  Cottonwood  river  782 

At  the  east  line  of  Brown  county 778 

The  Redwood  river  enters  Redwood  county  at  a  hight  of  nearly  1,100  feet  above  the  sea, 
and  its  descent  in  twenty-four  miles  to  Redwood  Falls  is  some  150  feet.  Thence  to  its  mouth, 
in  three  miles,  it  falls  about  140  feet,  the  greater  part  of  this  descent  being  in  less  than  a  half 
mile  at  Redwood  Falls. 

At  the  west  line  of  Redwood  county  the  Cottonwood  river  is  about  1,120  feet  above  the  sea, 
and  it  leaves  this  county  and  enters  Brown  county  at  an  elevation  of  about  1,030  feet.  Its  hight 
at  Iberia  is  estimated  to  be  900  feet,  and  at  its  mouth,  as  already  stated,  approximately  782  feet. 
The  Little  Cottonwood  crosses  the  south  line  of  Stately,  entering  Brown  county,  at  a  hight 
of  about  1,150  feet  above  the  sea.  In  the  central  part  of  this  county,  two  miles  south  of  Jberia, 
its  hight  is  estimated  to  be  960  feet;  at  the  east  line  of  Sigel,  900  feet;  and  at  the  east  line  of  the 
county,  825  feet. 

Brown  county  has  its  highest  land  upon  the  northern  slope  of  the  ridge 
of  red  quartzyte  at  the  south  side  of  sections  31,  32  and  33,  of  Stately,  its 
most  southwestern  township,  which  reach  to  1,200  or  1,250  feet  above  the 
sea,  200  feet  higher  than  the  Cottonwood  river  at  the  north  side  of  this 
township,  but  100  feet  or  more  below  the  top  of  this  ridge,  a  mile  farther 
south.  The  lowest  land  of  this  county  is  where  the  Minnesota  river  leaves 
it,  about  778  feet  above  the  sea.  The  average  hight  above  the  sea-level  of 
the  townships  of  Brown  county  is  estimated  as  follows:  New  Ulm  city, 
875  feet;  Cottonwood,  950 ;  Linden,  1,020;  Milford,  950;  Sigel,  990;  Lake 
Hanska,  1,030;  Home,  1,000;  Stark,  1,000;  Albin,  1,040;  Eden,  990;  Prairie- 
ville,  1,040;  Leavenworth,  1,020;  Mulligan,  1,060;  Burnstown,  1,040;  Bashaw, 
1,090;  North  Star,  1,060;  Stately,  1,150.  From  these  estimates  the  mean 
elevation  of  this  county  is  found  to  be  approximately  1,025  feet. 

The  highest  land  of  Redwood  county  is  the  southwest  part  of  Spring- 
dale,  its  most  southwestern  township,  about  1,400  feet  above  the  sea,  being 
some  300  feet  above  the  Cottonwood  river  ten  miles  distant  to  the  north, 
and  about  600  feet  above  the  lowest  land  of  this  county,  the  shore  of  the 


BROWN  AND  REDWOOD  COUNTIES.  567 

Soil  and  timber. 

Minnesota  river  at  its  northeast  corner.  Estimates  of  the  mean  elevation 
of  its  townships  are  as  follows:  Sherman,  990  feet;  Morgan,  1,030;  Brook- 
ville,  1,040 ;  Honner,  900 ;  Paxton,  1,025 ;  Three  Lakes,  1,060 ;  Sundown, 
1,070;  Delhi,  1,000;  Redwood  Falls,  1,050;  New  Avon,  1,080;  Willow  Lake, 
1,100;  Charlestown,  1,120;  Swede's  Forest,  940 ;  Kintire,  1,050;  Sheridan, 
1,070;  Vail,  1,100;  Waterbury,  1,125;  Lamberton,  1,140;  Vesta,  1,080;  T.  Ill, 
R.  38,  1,120  ;  Johnsonville,  1,125  ;  North  Hero,  1,175  ;  Underwood,  1,120  ; 
Westline,  1,150;  Gales,  1,175;  Springdale,  1,275.  The  mean  elevation  of 
Redwood  county,  derived  from  these  figures,  is  1,090  feet  above  the  sea. 

Soil  and  timber.  These  counties  have  throughout  their  whole  extent  an  excellent  soil,  well 
suited  for  the  production  of  all  the  common  cereals,  garden  vegetables  and  small  fruits  of  this 
latitude.  The  principal  crops  cultivated  are  wheat  and  oats,  corn  and  potatoes,  sorghum  for  the 
manufacture  of  syrup,  and  flax  for  linseed  oil.  Stock-raising  and  dairying  also  receive  consider- 
able attention.  A  black  soil,  everywhere  from  one  to  two  feet  thick,  and  often  reaching  to  a 
depth  of  three  or  four  feet  in  the  depressions,  forms  the  surf  ace,  being  glacial  drift  or  till,  colored 
by  a  small  proportion  of  humic  acid  derived  from  decaying  vegetation.  This  drift  is  principally 
clay,  with  which  is  an  intermixture  of  sand  and  gravel,  with  occasional  but  not  frequent  boul- 
ders. Its  composition  makes  it  quite  unfit  for  brick-making,  but  gives  it  a  porous  character,  so 
that  rains  and  the  waters  of  snow-melting  are  soon  absorbed  by  it,  excepting  the  large  part  which 
is  drained  away  by  the  gentle  slopes  and  the  numerous  water-courses.  Below  the  soil  cellars 
and  wells  find  a  continuation  of  this  till,  yellow  in  color  and  commonly  soft  enough  to  be  dug 
with  a  spade,  to  a  depth  of  10  to  20  feet  or  sometimes  more,  and  then  dark  bluish  and  usually 
harder  to  a  great  depth  beyond,  which  is  seldom  passed  through. 

The  valley  of  the  Minnesota  river,  160  to  200  feet  deep,  has  cut  through  this  mantle  of  till. 
Along  this  valley,  and  in  the  last  two  miles  of  the  Redwood  valley  before  it  joins  the  Minnesota, 
irregular  knobs  and  ridges  of  gneiss  and  granite  are  exposed  to  view;  and  in  some  places  these 
occupy  nearly  the  whole  width  between  the  bluffs  of  the  Minnesota  river.  Generally,  however, 
the  bottomland  of  the  Minnesota  river,  as  also  of  its  large  tributaries,  are  flat  tracts  of  very  fer- 
tile fine  alluvium,  or  interbedded  sand  and  gravel  covered  by  a  rich  soil  of  fine  silt.  These  bot- 
toms, which  would  be  called  intervals  in  New  England,  are  elevated  5  to  15  feet  above  the 
streams,  being  thus  mostly  within  the  reach  of  their  highest  floods  in  spring,  but  they  are  very 
rarely  overflowed  during  the  season  of  growing  crops. 

Both  Brown  and  Redwood  counties  are  mainly  prairie,  or  natural  grass-land,  without  tree  or 
shrub,  but  one  continuous  green  sward,  often  reaching  in  gentle  undulations  and  swells,  5  to  20 
feet  high,  as  far  as  the  view  extends.  Yet  these  counties  have  considerable  timber  skirting  all 
their  larger  streams  and  lakes.  A  nearly  continuous,  though  often  very  narrow  strip  of  timber 
is  found  immediately  bordering  the  Minnesota  river  through  almost  its  entire  course;  but  gener- 
ally much  of  the  bottomland  is  treeless.  The  bluffs  on  the  northeast  side  of  this  river  have  for 
the  most  part  only  thin  and  scanty  groves.  The  southwestern  bluffs,  on  the  contrary,  are  gen- 
erally heavily  wooded,  excepting  two  miles  next  northwest  from  New  Ulm.  Next  above  this  for 
about  fifteen  miles,  through  Milford,  Home  and  part  of  Eden  townships,  both  the  bottomland 
and  the  southwestern  bluff  are  densely  timbered  to  a  distance  from  the  river  varying  from  a  quar- 
ter of  a  mile  to  one  mile.  The  greater  abundance  of  timber  on  the  southern  bluffs  of  this  and 
other  rivers  in  these  regions  of  prairie  appears  to  be  due  to  their  being  less  exposed  to  the  sun, 
and  therefore  more  moist,  than  the  bluffs  on  the  opposite  side. 

Along  the  Redwood  river,  and  the  Cottonwood  river  through  Redwood  county  and  in  west- 
ern Brown  county,  and  along  the  upper  part  of  the  Little  Cottonwood  river,  the  width  of  wood- 
land, excepting  occasional  interruptions,  usually  varies  from  a  few  rods  to  an  eighth  of  a  mile; 
but  along  the  last  twenty  miles  of  the  Cottonwood  river,  and  the  last  eight  miles  of  the  Little 
Cottonwood,  the  timber  generally  fills  their  valleys,  from  a  fourth  of  a  mile  to  one  mile  wide. 


568  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Trees  and  shrubs.     Geological  structure. 

The  lakes  of  Redwood  county  and  of  western  Brown  county  have  only  narrow  margins  of 
timber;  but  in  central  and  eastern  Brown  county  groves  of  considerable  extent  border  Sleepy 
Eye  lake,  the  southeast  part  of  lake  Ilanska,  and  lakes  Armstrong  and  Linden,  and  reach  a  mile 
southeast  from  the  last,  to  Emerson  lake. 

At  Sleepy  Eye  lake  the  principal  species  of  trees  are  bur  oak,  bass,  white  and  red  or  slippery 
elm,  white  ash,  box-elder,  cottonwood,  poplar,  hackberry,  the  Kentucky  coffee-tree  and  the  wild 
plum.  Wood  here  is  worth  from  $2.50  to  $5  per  cord,  according  to  quality. 

in  northwestern  Redwood  county,  Mr.  Malcolm  McNiven  enumerates  the  following  species 
of  trees  and  shrubs  occurring  at  Swan  lake,  on  the  west  line  of  Underwood:  white  elm,  white 
ash,  box- elder,  cottonwood,  wild  plum,  willows,  Virginia  creeper,  climbing -bitter-sweet,  frost 
grape,  prickly  ash,  choke-cherry,  black  currant,  and  prickly  and  smooth  wild  gooseberries, 
common;  and  bur  oak,  hackberry,  poplar  or  aspen,  wolf  berry,  black  and  red  raspberries,  thorn, 
and  wild  rose,  less  frequent.  Species  not  found  at  Swan  lake,  but  common  or  frequent  on  the 
Redwood  river,  are  bass,  red  or  slippery  elm,  iron- wood  and  sugar  maple.  Red  cedars  grow  on  the 
cliffs  of  this  river  at  Redwood  Falls,  and  from  them  appears  to  have  come  the  name  of  this  river 
and  thence  of  the  county. 

The  Cottonwood  river  is  said  to  have  its  name,  which  also  has  been  given  to  a  county,  from 
a  very  large,  lone  cottonwood  beside  this  stream  in  the  south  part  of  Redwood  county,  about 
seven  miles  northwest  of  Lamberton;  but  this  tree  has  also  a  luxuriant  growth  throughout  the 
timbered  bottomlands  of  this  river. 

The  northern  limit  of  the  black  walnut  appears  to  be  at  the  walnut  grove,  of  about  a  hun- 
dred acres,  from  which  comes  the  name  of  the  neighboring  station  and  village  on  the  railroad,  the 
grove  itself  being  on  Plum  creek  in  sections  25  and  36,  Springdale,  close  to  the  south  line  of 
Redwood  county,  and  one  to  two  miles  southwest  from  Walnut  Grove  village. 

GEOLOGICAL   STRUCTURE. 

The  foundation  of  Brown  and  Redwood  counties,  northwest  from  New 
Ulm,  consists  of  metamorphic  gneiss  and  granite,  belonging  to  the  great 
series  denominated  Eozoic  or  Archaean,  which  embraces  the  most  ancient 
rocks  known  to  geology.  This  is  overlain  by  various  shales,  sandstones, 
limestones  and  clays,  the  latter  sometimes  holding  beds  of  lignite,  which 
are  regarded  together  as  of  Cretaceous  age.  Exposures  of  these  Creta- 
ceous rocks  continue  in  the  Minnesota  valley  southeast  from  New  Ulm, 
but  there  and  through  southern  Brown  county  they  probably  lie  upon  red 
Potsdam  quartzyte,  which  outcrops  on  each  side.  Upon  the  east  this 
quartzyte  is  seen  in  Courtland,  N  icollet  county,  two  miles  southeast  from 
New  Ulm.  It  is  not  exposed  in  this  part  of  Brown  county.  Upon  the 
west  it  makes  a  massive  ridge,  as  described  in  the  report  of  Cottonwood 
county.  The  north  base  of  this  ridge  reaches  into  Stately,  making  falls 
in  section  31  on  one  of  the  head-streams  of  Mound  creek.  Cretaceous 
strata,  including  lignite,  outcrop  in  the  bluffs  of  the  Redwood  river  close 
north  of  Redwood  Falls;  in  the  southwest  bluff  of  the  Minnesota  river  a 
few  miles  farther  east,  near  Crow  creek;  in  the  bluffs  of  Fort  creek  near 
Fort  Ridgely,  in  the  west  extremity  of  Nicollet  county  and  close  to  the 


BROWN  AND  REDWOOD  COUNTIES.  569 

Gneiss  and  granite.] 

Minnesota  valley,  about  sixteen  miles  below  the  last;  and  on  the  Cotton- 
wood  river  in  western  Brown  county.  Fossiliferous  and  sometimes  lignitic 
clays  of  Cretaceous  age  are  occasionally  encountered  in  the  wells  through- 
out this  region,  especially  at  Walnut  Grove  and  northward  in  western  Red- 
wood county,  and  in  Lyon  county,  adjoining  this  on  the  west.  The  sheet 
of  drift  which  forms  the  surface  is  thus  often  separated  by  unconsolidated 
Cretaceous  beds  from  the  underlying  floor  of  crystalline  rocks.  Within  the 
area  here  reported  this  gneissic  and  granitic  floor  outcrops,  away  from  the 
valley  of  the  Minnesota  river,  at  only  one  or  two  points,  which  are  in  T. 
ill,  R.  38,  Redwood  county.  These  formations  will  be  described  in  the 
order  of  their  age,  beginning  with  the  oldest. 

Gneiss  and  granite.  These  rocks  have  the  same  composition,  being 
made  up  of  quartz,  feldspar  and  mica.  Gneiss  differs  from  granite  in  hav- 
ing these  minerals  laminated,  or  arranged  more  or  "less  distinctly  in  layers. 
Nearly  all  the  metamorphic  rocks  to  be  described  here  are  varieties  of 
gneiss,  with  which  masses  of  granite,  syenite  and  mica  and  hornblende 
schists  occur  rarely. 

In  the  N.  E.  J  of  section  12,  T.  Ill,  R  38,  an  exposure  of  rock  extends  ten  rods  in  length 
from  northwest  to  southeast,  with  half  as  great  a  width,  rising  5  to  10  feet  above  the  surface  of 
the  undulating  prairie.  It  is  light  gray  gneiss,  much  contorted,  with  its  strike  and  dip  obscure; 
intersected  by  few  joints,  which  in  some  portions  are  absent  across  an  extent  of  three  or  four 
rods;  enclosing  at  the  southeast  two  or  three  masses  of  nearly  black  mica  schist,  each  two  or 
three  feet  long. 

About  five  miles  farther  west,  the  N.  E.  \  of  the  S.  E.  \  of  section  6,  in  the  same  township, 
is  said  to  have  an  exposure  of  similar  rock,  about  three  rods  in  extent,  with  a  larger  space  around 
it  where  the  rock  lies  only  a  few  feet  beneath  the  surface. 

The  depth  of  .these  rocks  in  this  region  is  generally  from  100  to  200  feet  or  more,  so  that 
they  are  not  reached  by  wells  nor  by  the  channels  of  most  of  the  rivers.  Their  only  other  out- 
crops in  Redwood  and  Brown  counties  are  within  the  Minnesota  valley,  and  in  the  gorge  of  the 
Redwood  river  at  and  below  Redwood  Falls. 

The  Minnesota  valley  in  the  northwest  corner  of  Swede's  Forest,  and  in  the  edge  of  Tel- 
low  Medicine  county,  contains  abundant  ledges  for  two  miles,  reaching  40  to  75  feet  above  the 
river.  A  lone  school  house  is  situated  among  them,  about  a  mile  east  of  the  county  line.  Half  a 
mile  west  from  this  school  house,  the  rock  is  reddish  gray  gneiss,  dipping  15°  N.  K.  W.  A  third 
of  a  mile  west  from  the  school  house  are  massive  granite  cliffs,  probably  rising  75  feet  above  the 
river,  divided  by  joints  into  nearly  square  blocks  ten  to  fifteen  feet  in  dimension.  This  rock  may 
be  found  valuable  for  quarrying.  An  eighth  of  a  mile  east  from  the  last,  it  is  obscurely  laminated 
gneiss,  much  intersected  by  joints,  the  principal  system  of  which  dips  15°  S.  At  the  east  side  of 
the  school  house,  it  is  also  gneiss,  somewhat  water-worn,  dipping  about  5°  S. 

Within  the  next  few  miles  in  following  down  the  river,  similar  ledges  are  seen  on  its  north- 
east side,  in  the  N.  E.  }  of  section  16,  in  Sacred  Heart,  Renville  county,  rising  about  50  feet  above 
the  river;  in  the  southeast  part  of  section  17,  Swede's  Forest,  rising  at  several  points  25  to  40  feet;  at 
south  side  of  Big  Spring  creek,  in  section  20  and  the  west  edge  of  section21,  Swede's  Forest,  about 
50  feet  above  the  river;  and  near  the  north  line  of  section  27,  small  in  area,  and  only  about  20 
feet  high. 


570  THE  GEOLOGY  OP  MINNESOTA. 

[Gneiss  and  granite.     Kaolin 

From  the  small  creek  a  mile  farther  east  in  section  26,  Swede's  Forest,  ledges  of  gneiss  and 
granite  abound  in  this  valley  through  a  distance  of  twelve  miles,  to  the  mouths  of  Redwood  river 
and  Beaver  creek.  They  often  quite  fill  the  bottomland,  occuring  on  each  side  of  the  river,  and 
rising  50  to  125  feet  above  it.  Between  lledwood  river  and  Beaver  creek,  frequent  small  ledges 
rise  along  the  bottom  of  the  Minnesota  valley,  in  knobs  40  to  60  feet  above  the  river,  but  yet 
leave  much  open,  tillable  land.  Between  Beaver  and  Birch  Cooley  creeks  the  outcrops  are  main- 
ly on  the  north  side  of  the  river,  rising  100  feet  in  their  highest  portions.  Below  the  mouth  of 
Birch  Cooley  they  are  mostly  on  the  south  side,  occurring  in  great  abundance  for  two  miles  above 
and  three  miles  below  the  mouth  of  Wabashaw  creek.  The  highest  of  these  are  a  mile  above  this 
creek,  rising  75  to  125  or  perhaps  140  feet  above  the  river.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  bluffs 
along  all  this  part  of  the  valley  are  about  175  feet  high,  so  that  none  of  these  ledges  were  visible 
until  the  surface  of  the  drift-sheet  had  been  considerably  channeled. 

On  the  Redwood  river  where  it  enters  the  Minnesota  valley,  at  Birum's  mill,  one  and  a  half 
miles  northeast  from  Eedwood  Falls,  the  rock  is  greenish,  being  apparently  a  "talcose  quartz- 
yte,"  or  protogine  gneiss,  dipping  25°  S.  E.  It  forms  cliffs  50  to  75  feet  high,  which  are  continu- 
ous on  the  west  side  of  the  river  a  quarter  of  a  mile  or  more.  The  picturesque  gorge  of  the  Red- 
wood river,  at  and  below  Redwood  Falls,  is  principally  cut  through  a  similar  gneiss,  partly  de- 
composed, and  sometimes  almost  completely  kaolinized,  overlain  by  Cretaceous  strata,  which  in 
turn  are  capped  with  glacial  drift.  The  largest  cascade,  having  a  fall  of  about  25  feet,  is  over  a 
ledge  of  this  protogine  gneiss,  much  contorted  and  jointed,  often  obscure  in  its  lamination.  The 
dip  of  the  principal  system  of  joints,  which  appears  to  coincide  nearly  with  the  lamination,  is  20° 
to  30°  N.  At  a  cut  which  has-been  made  through  the  rock  two  rods  east  of  this  cascade,  it  con- 
tains a  nearly  vertical  trap  dike,  seen  along  an  extent  of  some  thirty  or  forty  feet,  bearing  N.  40° 
E.,  about  two  feet  wide,  composed  of  dark  and  greenish,  compact  rock,  which  weathers  to  a  red- 
dish color,  much  jointed  in  planes  parallel  with  its  walls.  Ten  feet  above  the  bottom  of  this  cut, 
and  higher,  the  cliff  of  gneiss  is  much  decayed  and  changed  to  impure  kaolin. 

In  Brown  county  no  exposures  of  the  Eozoic  rocks  have  been  examined,  but  their  character 
has  been  learned  from  their  outcrops  along  the  northeast  side  of  the  Minnesota  river,  in  Ren- 
ville  and  Nicollet  counties,  under  which  they  are  fully  described.  Their  outcrops  in  Brown 
county  are  of  small  extent,  including  only  a  few  localities  on  the  bottomland  of  the  Minnesota 
valley  along  the  northern  boundary  of  Eden  and  Home  townships.  Their  extent  southeastward 
is  to  "Little  rock,"  about  five  miles  below  Fort  Ridgely,  beyond  which  the  only  outcrop  of  these 
rocks  in  the  Minnesota  valley  is  a  small  area  of  granite  opposite  the  southeast  part  of  New  Ulm. 

Decomposed  gneiss  and  granite.  Very  remarkable  chemical  changes  have 
taken  place  in  the  upper  portions  of  many  of  the  exposures  of  gneiss  and 
granite  near  Redwood  Falls.  The  rock  is  transformed  to  a  soft,  earthy  or 
clayey  mass,  resembling  kaolin.  It  has  a  blue  or  greenish  color,  when 
freshly  exposed;  but  when  weathered,  assumes  a  yellowish  ash  color,  and 
finally  becomes  white  and  glistening.  Laminae  of  quartz  are  generally  con- 
tained in  this  material,  and  have  the  same  arrangement  as  in  gneiss,  so  that 
the  dip  can  be  distinctly  seen.  Veins  of  quartz  or  feldspar,  the  latter  com- 
pletely decomposed,  and  the  lines  of  joints,  are  also  noticeable,  just  as  in 
granite  or  gneiss;  making  it  evident  that  this  substance  is  the  result  of  a 
decay  of  the  rocks  in  their  original  place.  Because  of  the  enclosed  quartz- 
ose  laminas,  grains,  and  particles,  of  more  or  less  gritty  character,  through- 
out these  kaolin-like  rocks,  they  appear  to  be  unsuited  for  the  manufacture 
of  porcelain  or  any  kind  of  ware.  So  far  as  can  be  judged  from  stream 


BROWN  AND  REDWOOD  COUNTIES.  571 

Kaolin.} 

• 

channels  and  other  exposures,  this  decomposition  reaches  in  some  places  to 
a  depth  of  20  or  30  feet,  perhaps  more.  All  grades  of  change  may  be  found, 
from  ledges  where  only  here  and  there  a  few  spots  have  been  attacked  and 
slightly  decomposed,  to  portions  where  nearly  every  indication  of  the  origi- 
nal structure  has  been  obliterated. 

Of  these  decomposed  rocks  on  the  Redwood  river,  Prof.  Winchell  wrote  in  the  second 
annual  report  of  this  survey:  "At  Redwood  Falls  the  granite  is  overlain  by  the  kaolin,  which  has 
been  mentioned,  presenting,  in  connection  with  this  substance,  a  very  interesting  series  of  ex- 
posures, and  suggesting  very  interesting  questions  both  economical  and  scientific.  About  a  mile 
below  the  village,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river,  is  a  conspicuous  white  bluff  (probably  that  seen  by 
Keating,  and  pronounced  white  sandstone),  composed  of  white  kaolin  clay.  Near  the  top  of  this 
bluff,  where  the  rains  wash  it,  it  is  silvery  white,  and  that  color  is  spread  over  much  of  the  lower 
portions,  though  the  mass  of  the  lower  part  is  more  stained  with  iron,  having  also  a  dull  greenish 
tinge.  The  white  glossy  coating  which  appears  like  the  result  of  washings  by  rains,  is  spread  over 
the  perpendicular  sides.  On  breaking  off  this  glossy  coating,  which  is  sometimes  half  an  inch 
thick,  the  mass  appears  indistinctly  bedded  horizontally,  but  contains  hard  lumps  and  irony 
deposits.  Further  down,  the  iron  becomes  more  frequent,  and  gritty  particles  like  quartz  impede 
the  edge  of  a  knife.  The  bedding  is  also  lost,  and  the  closest  inspection  reveals  no  bedding.  Yet 
there  is,  even  then,  a  sloping  striation  or  arrangement  of  lines  visible  in  some  places  on  the  fresh 
surface,  that  corresponds  in  direction  with  the  direction  of  the  principal  cleavage  plane  of  the 
talcose  and  quartzitic  slate  already  described.  In  other  places  this  arrangement  is  not  seen,  but 
the  mass  crumbles  out  in  angular  pieces  which  are  superficially  stained  with  iron.  The  profile  of 
the  bluff  here  presents  a  singular  isolated  knob  or  buttress  that  rises  boldly  from  the  very  river, 
connected  with  the  main  bank  by  a  narrow  edge  along  which  a  man  cannot  walk  with  safety. 
On  either  side  of  this  bold  promontory  are  retreating  angles  in  the  bluff  along  which  a  descent 
can  be  made.  A  careful  inspection  of  these  ravines  and  of  the  adjoining  bluffs  affords  indubitable 
proof  that  this  material,  white  and  impalpable  as  it  is,  results  from  a  change  in  the  underlying 
granitic  rocks. 

"Just  above  this  point  is  another  exposure.  It  here  supplies  what  is  locally  known  as  the 
'paint  rock',  from  an  enterprise  started  several  years  ago  in  the  manufacture  of  mineral  paint  from 
this  material.  The  decomposed  granite  here  has  very  much  the  same  appearance  as  the  kaolin 
at  Birch  Cooley,  but  contains  more  quartz,  and  is  more  stained  with  iron.  It  has  a  greenish  color 
but  within  might  be  blue.  It  passes  upward  into  the  greenish,  and  then  white,  kaolin  clay  already 
described,  but  it  stands  out  in  a  crumbling,  rusty  buttress,  exposed  to  the  weather,  and  has 
quartzitic  grains  and  concretions,  iron-coated,  and  often  an  impure  iron  ore  in  considerable  quan- 
tities. It  shows  silvery  or  shining  talcose  flakes,  the  same  as  seen  in  the  so-called  building  rock, 
a  short  distance  below  the  mill  of  Birum  brothers. 

"A  short  distance  above  this,  nearly  opposite  Redwood  Falls,  is  situated  the  rock  which  was 
quarried  for  the  manufacture  of  paint.  This  has  in  every  respect  the  same  character  and  compo- 
sition as  that  last  described.  It  consists  of  a  perpendicular  bluff  or  point,  standing  out  from 
a  lower  fcilus  that  rises  about  75  feet  above  the  river,  to  the  hight  of  75  feet  more.  On  the  top  of 
this  is  the  drift-clay  hardpan,  covered  by  four  or  five  feet  of  sand  and  gravel,  the  whole  bluff  being 
about  150  feet  above  the  river.  This  bold  bluff,  or  promontory,  stands  between  re-entrant  angles 
its  face  falling  down  sheer  thirty  or  forty  feet.  There  is  here  visible  an  irregular  slaty  or  cleav- 
age structure  in  the  rock,  that  at  a  distance  has  the  appearance  of  dip  toward  the  S.  E.  30°.  This 
also  contains  quartz  veins  and  deposits,  accompanied  by  iron,  in  some  places  too  abundantly  to 
allow  of  being  cut  with  a  knife,  though  very  much  of  it  can  be  easily  shaped  with  a  knife.  It 
shows  'slickensides,'  or  surfaces  that  seem  to  have  been  rubbed  violently  against  each  other,  caus- 
ing a  scratched  and  smoothed  appearance,  even  within  the  body  of  the  bluff.  These  surfaces  are 
concave  or  curving,  like  putty  hardened  after  being  pressed  through  a  crevice." 

Before  the  extensive  denudation  of  the  glacial  period,  it  is  probable  that  all  the  granite  and 
gneiss  of  this  region  were  covered  by  a  similarly  decayed  surface.  Upon  the  areas  where  de- 
composed rocks  still  exist,  the  glacial  plowing  was  shallower  than  elsewhere.  These  kaolinized 


572  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Potsdam  quartzyte. 

« 

strata  are  exposed  in  a  ravine  north  of  the  Minnesota  river,  opposite  to  Minnesota  Falls;  in  the 
gorge  of  the  Kedwood  river,  below  Redwood  Falls;  in  many  of  the  ledges  of  the  Minnesota  valley 
for  several  miles  next  below,  especially  in  excavations  made  by  roads  at  the  foot  of  the  bluffs;  in 
the  valley  of  Birch  Cooley  near  its  mouth;  and  occasionally  for  eight  or  ten  miles  farther  south- 
east. They  have  been  found  also  in  well-digging  at  considerable  distance  from  the  Minnesota 
valley. 

Potsdam  quartzyte.  The  red  quartzyte  of  southwestern  Minnesota  is 
destitute  of  fossils,  but  from  its  stratigraphic  relations  it  appears  to  belong 
to  the  Potsdam  age.  Its  outcrop  two  to  three  miles  southeast  from  New 
Ulm  lies  in  Nicollet  county,  to  the  report  of  which  the  reader  is  referred 
for  its  particular  description.  The  only  outcrop  of  this  formation  within 
the  district  here  reported  is  in  Brown  county,  less  than  a  mile  from  its 
southwest  corner,  being  in  section  31,  Stately. 

This  is  the  north  edge  of  a  large  area  upon  which  this  rock  forms  a  massive  ridge,  in  north- 
ern Cotton  wood  county,  200  to  300  feet  high,  and  reaching  about  twenty-five  miles  from  east  to 
west,  mostly  overspread  by  smooth  glacial  drift.  In  the  north  part  of  section  31,  Stately,  this 
red  quartzyte,  or  metamorphic  sandstone,  occurs  in  its  typical  character,  being  very  hard,  vary- 
ing in  color  from  reddish  gray  to  dark  dull  red,  and  much  divided  by  joints  into  rhomboidal 
masses,  mostly  only  one  to  two  or  three  feet  long.  It  is  exposed  upon  a  tract  of  four  or  five 
acres,  forming  a  picturesque  little  water-fall  on  a  southern  branch  of  Mound  creek,  and  reaching 
thence  thirty  rods  or  more  to  the  east  and  south.  The  dip  is  about  5°  S.  In  some  places  the 
layers  are  obliquely  laminated,  this  false  bedding  being  partly  steeper  to  the  south,  and  partly,  in 
other  places,  level  or  slightly  inclined  northward. 

Over  this  rock  the  streamlet  falls  about  thirty  feet,  its  descent  for  the  last  twenty  feet  being 
vertical,  into  a  pool  some  four  rods  in  diameter.  Two  rods  east  of  this  water-fall  is  a  little  gorge 
or  canyon,  cut  in  the  quartzyte  6  to  10  feet  wide  and  20  feet  deep,  with  vertical  walls,  extend- 
ing about  forty  rods  southeasterly  in  the  solid  rock,  marking  the  place  of  an  older  water-fall, 
now  diverted.  About  ten  rods  west  of  the  principal  fall  is  another  interesting  gorge  perhaps 
twenty  rods  long,  reaching  from  north  to  south.  This  rock  also  forms  conspicuous  ledges  be- 
side Mound  creek  an  eighth  and  a  fourth  of  a  mile  north  of  this  water-fall;  and  less  than  a  mile 
to  the  west,  in  the  N.  E.  J  of  section  36,  Germantown,  in  Cottonwood  county,  it  makes  a  still  more 
interesting  cascade  and  canyon  on  another  of  the  head-streams  of  this  creek. 

Cretaceous  beds.  In  western  Redwood  county  wells  occasionally  have 
gone  through  the  drift  and  passed  into  clay  or  shale  below,  apparently  of 
Cretaceous  age,  and  sometimes  proved  so  by  the  enclosed  fossils.  Such 
sections  are  reported  at  Walnut  Grove  in  North  Hero  township,  and  in 
T.  111,  R.  38,  as  described  on  a  following  page,  in  the  list  of  wells  illus- 
trating the  glacial  drift. 

Cretaceous  strata  doubtless  lie  next  below  the  drift  upon  the  greater 
part  of  this  district;  but  their  only  outcrops,  excepting  within  the  Minne- 
sota valley  and  the  gorge  of  the  Redwood  river,  occur  on  the  Cottonwood 

river  in  Brown  county. 

The  first  discovery  of  lignite,  or  brown  coal,  on  the  Cottonwood  river  was  made  in  1861  by 
John  F.  and  Daniel  Burns,  of  Burnstown,  in  its  north  bank,  near  the  northeast  corner  of  section 


BROWN  AND  REDWOOD  COUNTIES.  573 

Cretaceous  beds.  ] 

34  North  Star.  The  upper  part  of  this  bank,  which  is  about  20  feet  high,  consists  of  alluvial 
sand  and  gravel,  a  few  feet  thick.  The  section  of  the  Cretaceous  beds  below,  as  recorded  by 
Eames,  in  the  report  of  his  survey  as  state  geologist  in  1866,  is,  first,  iron  ore,  much  broken;  then, 
marly  shale,  3  feet;  impure  lignite,  2J  feet;  and  dark  shale  to  the  bed  of  the  river,  10  feet.  The 
third  of  these  beds  is  a  black,  lignitic  shale,  enclosing  a  thickness  of  about  four  inches  of  quite 

clear  lignite. 

A  quarter  of  a  mile  south  from  this  outcrop,  a  shaft  was  sunk  to  explore  for  coal,  a  year  or 
two  before  the  date  of  Mr.  Eames'  report.  lie  described  the  section  below  the  drift  as  follows: 

"1.    Bands  of  ironstone,  and  crystals  of  selenite  enclosed  in  shale,  with  a  seam 

of  imperfect  coal 13  feet. 

2.  Yellow  sandstone 3  feet. 

3.  Dark  colored  clay  (siliceous),  containing  iron  pyrites,  argillaceous  iron 

and  sandstone  alternating 64  feet.'' 

"The  clay  in  this  formation  is  well  adapted  for  refractory  brick  and  the  manufacture  of 

pottery  ware." 

Later  exploration  for  coal  was  made  in  1875  and  again  in  1878,  by  shafts  40  or  50  feet  deep, 
on  the  north  side  of  the  river  near  the  point  where  the  lignite  is  found  in  the  river-bank,  as  before 
described.  These  encountered  a  layer  of  lignite,  a  few  inches  thick,  at  about  the  same  level  with 
its  outcrop  beside  the  river. 

About  two  miles  below  this  locality,  and  nearly  a  mile  southwest  from  Springfield  station, 
the  north  bank  of  the  Cottonwood  river  in  the  N.  E.  }  of  section  25,  North  Star,  contains  the  fol- 
lowing beds,  according  to  Eames: 

"  1.  Shaly  marl 3  feet. 

2.  Impure  coal 2  feet. 

3.  Sandstone,  to  bed  of  river,  partially  covered  by  talus 5  feet." 

This  sandstone,  some  portions  of  which  are  richly  fossiliferous,  is  exposed  along  a  distance 

of  four  or  five  rods,  and  has  been  somewhat  quarried.  A  specimen  of  it,  showing  very  distinct 
impressions  of  leaves,  and  another  containing  numerous  easts  of  shells,  have  been  presented  to  the 
survey  by  Mr.  John  F.  Burns.  A  complete  leaf  is  shown,  5  inches  long  and  |  inch  wide,  lanceo- 
late, entire,  tapering  into  a  short  petiole.  This  has  been  identifk  d  by  Dr.  Leo  Lesquereux  as 
Lauras  Nebrascensis,  Lesq.  He  also  reports  with  this  Salix proteaifolia,  Lesq.,  and  a  new  species 
of  Ficus. 

Three  miles  farther  down  the  stream,  its  north  bank  in  section  16,  Burnstown,  has  a  similar 
exposure  of  rock,  described  by  Eames  as  "buff  and  gray  sandstone,  thinly  laminated,  ten  feet  in 
thickness,  descending  to  the  bed  of  the  river;  it  contains  stems  and  leaves  of  plants,  but  t  o  much 
broken  to  decide  either  character  or  class." 

The  next  localities  where  outcrops  of  Cretaceous  beds  are  known  to  occur  on  the  Cott6n- 
wood  river,  are  in  Sigel  and  Milford,  about  eight  miles,  and  again  about  five  miles,  west  from 
New  Ulm.  Sandstone  of  yellowish,  iron-rusty  color,  nearly  level  in  stratification,  partly  friable, 
but  containing  hard  layers  up  to  one  foot  in  thickness,  exposed  along  a  distance  of  several  rods  and 
rising  5  to  10  feet  above  the  river,  is  reported  at  two  points  in  the  south  bank,  about  sixty  rods 
apart,  in  the  N.  E.  J  of  section  6,  Sigel.  Above  the  rock-outcrops  the  wooded  bluffs,  probably 
consisting  of  till,  rise  about  100  feet. 

In  the  N.  W.  \  of  section  3,  at  the  south  side  of  Milford,  the  north  bank  of  the  Cottonwood 
river  has  a  bight  of  60  or  70  feet,  and  exhibits  the  following  section:  yellow  till,  about  15  feet; 
gray  sandstone,  containing  lignitic  particles,  only  one  foot  in  thickness  exposed;  and  dark,  bluish 
clay,  free  from  gravel  or  grit,  but  in  some  parts  enclosing  specks  and  small  lumps  of  iron  p}rrites, 
which  render  it  unfit  for  the  manufacture  of  pottery,  having  a  thickness  of  25  feet  clearly 
exposed;  below  which  the  remaining  25  feet  of  the  bluff  is  concealed  by  the  talus.  Prom  the 
wooded  south  bluff,  in  Sigel,  a  sixth  of  a  mile  farther  southeast,  but  probably  within  the  same 
quarter-section,  clay  nearly  like  the  foregoing  has  been  much  excavated  for  use  by  the  potters  at 
New  Ulm  and  formerly  at  Mankato.  This  clay  is  very  fine  and  uniform  in  character,  containing 
neither  grit  nor  pyrites.  It  is  dug  between  40  and  60  feet  above  the  river.  These  beds  seem  to 
have  no  fossils. 

About  a  mile  farther  east,  near  the  middle  of  section  35,  Milford,  the  northern  bank  of  the 
Cottonwood  river  shows  very  fine,  nearly  white,  crumbling  sandstone,  alternating  with  shale, 


574  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Cretaceous  beds. 

reaching  in  some  places  30  to  40  feet  above  the  river.  The  bedding  is  lenticular  and  inconstant. 
A  layer  of  yellowish  brown,  ferruginous  and  more  firm  sandstone,  with  a  dip  of  3°  or  4°  toward 
the  west,  exposed  here  about  ten  feet  above  the  river,  contains  plentiful  impressions  of  dicoty- 
ledonous leaves  of  numerous  species.  A  considerable  collection  of  these  has  recently  been  made 
by  Prof.  Winchell,  and  determined  by  Dr.  Leo  Lesquereux,  who  states  in  correspondence  that  his 
observations  of  fossil  leaves  in  1856*  were  at  this  locality  or  in  its  immediate  vicinity.  The  list  is 
as  follows:  Magnolia  altemans,  Heer,  Andromeda  Parlalorii,  Heer,  Cinnamomum  Scheuchzeri, 
Heer,  Platanus  prim&va,  Lesq.,  Salix  protecefolia,  Lesq.,  Populus  cydophylla,  Lesq.,  P.  elegans, 
Lesq.,  P.  Lancasti-iensis,  Lesq.  (probably  the  same  with  P.  cordifolia,  Newberry),  P.  litigiosa, 
Heer,  Populites  cyclophyllns,  Lesq.,  Protophyllum  crednerioides,  Lesq.,  Cissus  sp.  nov.,  Laurus 
sp.  nov.,  Pinus  sp.  nov.,  and  fragments  referred  doubtfully  to  Persea  and  Ficus.  Nine  of  these 
species,  according  to  Dr.  Lesquereux,  have  been  recognized  in  the  Dakota  group,  the  lowest  of  the 
Cretaceous  series,  in  Nebraska  and  Kansas,  and  two  in  the  same  group  in  Colorado. 

Clay  and  an  underlying  more  sandy  deposit,  which  have  been  used  together  for  the  manufac- 
ture of  fire-bricks,  occur  in  the  base  of  the  north  bluff  of  the  Cottonwood  river  south  of  New  Ulm. 
The  entire  section  of  this  bluff  is  given  by  Prof.  Winchell  in  the  second  annual  report. 

Section  on  the  Cottonwood  river  south  of  New  Ulm. 

"1.    Hardpan  drift,  made  up  of  clay  and  stones,  seen  about 30  feet. 

2.  White  sand,  the  age  of  which  is  uncertain,  containing  irony  concretions  and 

deposits.  It  is  somswhat  indistinctly  stratified  obliquely,  like  drift  sand, 
and  has  some  coarse  grains.  Its  position  in  reference  to  the  overlying  hard- 
pan  drift,  together  with  its  thickness  and  purely  white  color,  indicates  its 
age  to  be  Cretaceous 100  feet. 

3.  Blue  clay,  containing  some  siliceo-calcareous,  irony  lumps;  said  by  Mr.  Dauf- 

fenbach  to  hold  some  coal;  mixed  with  No.  4  for  making  fire-brick 4  feet. 

4.  Fine,  somewhat  gritty  clay,  largely  aluminous.    This  is  white,  and  when 

long  submerged,  soft  and  fluid-like,  but  when  dry  has  to  be  quarried  by 
blasting.  This  mixed  at  the  rate  of  two-thirds  with  one-third  of  No.  3 
makes  a  fine,  white  fire-brick—seen 12  feet. 


Total  hight  of  bluffs '146  feet." 

"The  above  section  varies  in  short  intervals.  .  .  .  About  half  a  mile  further  up  the  river 
a  sandstone  outcrop  was  encountered.  It  rises  in  a  bluff  immediately  from  the  water,  on  the  op- 
posite side  of  the  river.  In  this  sandstone,  which  here  appears  firm  and  massive,  and  which  is 
probably  the  equivalent  of  No.  2,  of  the  foregoing  section,  are  many  irony  mud  balls,  or  concre- 
tions, having  a  fancied  resemblance  to  plums  or  bananas.  They  vary  in  shape  and  size.  They 
have  been  gathered  as  fossil  'fruits,'  and  sent  east  as  rare  curiosities." 

The  valley  of  the  Minnesota  river  was  explored  by  Prof.  Winchell  in 
1873,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  descriptions  of  the  Cretaceous  strata,  as 
here  presented,  are  from  his  report  for  that  year.  Some  additional  obser- 
vations and  information  were  gathered  by  the  writer  in  1879  and  1880. 

In  Cottonwood  township,  Brown  county,  near  its  east  line,  a  bluff  on  the  south  side  of  the 
Minnesota  river,  situated  on  the  land  of  John  Gruebel,  four  miles  below  New  Ulm,  is  described 
by  Prof.  Winchell,  as  follows: 

Section  in  sec.  2,  Cottonwood. 

"  1.    Black  alluvium 2   ft. 

Passing  below  into — 

2.  Clayey  alluvium,  of  a  light-brown  color 4J  ft. 

3.  Bed  clay,  containing  some  sandstone  in  masses;  stratified 2}  ft. 

4.  Belt  of  greenish  sandy  clay 1    ft 

•U.  S.  geol.  survey  of  the  territories:  vol.  vi,  The  Cretaceous  Flora,  p.  6. 


BROWN  AND  REDWOOD  COUNTIES.  575 

Cretaceous  beds.] 

Passing  into — 
o.    Sandy  clay,  of  a  light  umber  color 1 J  ft. 

6.  Bedded  sandy  clay,  of  an  earth  color,  (same  as  No.  2) 2    ft. 

7.  Greenish  sand,  the  color  coming  from  the  mixture  of  green  shale  with  the 

sand,  the  grains  of  sand  being  white  quartz 2  inches. 

8.  White  sandstone  in  one  bed,  or  weathering  into  beds  of  two  inches 1    ft. 

9.  Green  bedded  shale,  or  clay,  with  some  fine  sand  grains,  and  some  lamina- 

tions or  thick  beds  that  are  all  white  sand,  but  generally  maintaining  a  green 

color,  seen 18    ft. 

10.    Slope  and  talus 10    ft. 

"  The  bedding  seen  in  the  foregoing  section  is  horizontal,  and  shows  no  fossils.  Although 
there  is  no  opportunity  at  this  place  to  determine  whether  this  series  of  shales  lies  above  or  below 
the  sandstone  at  Fritz's  [four  miles  southeast,  on  the  north  side  of  the  Minnesota  river],  by  an 
observation  made  in  the  bank  of  the  road.at  the  crossing  of  the  Waraju  [Cottonwood  river],  it  is 
believed  to  overlie  that  sandstone,  but  to  underlie  a  series  of  calcareous  beds  that  appear  in  the 
right  bank  of  the  river,  about  a  mile  below  the  mouth  of  the  Waraju.  The  colors  near  the  top  of 
the  foregoing  section  exchange  places  a  little,  in  following  the  bluff  along,  drift  boulders  and 
gravel  occupying  the  place  of  clay  in  No.  3.  In  some  places  the  red  irony  stain  passes  down  lower. 
It  is  likely  that  the  red,  brown  and  ochery  colors  are  due  to  ferriferous  waters,  since  the  deposit  of 
the  Cretaceous,  and  to  oxygen  in  the  air.  Hence  it  is  not  certain  that  the  drift  extends  through 
the  whole  of  No.  3,  although  drift  boulders  are  mixed  with  it,  or  replace  it,  in  some  places.  When 
evenly  bedded  and  free  from  boulders,  it  undoubtedly  belongs  to  the  Cretaceous,  the  drift  stopping 
with  No.  2.  When  it  is  replaced  by  boulders,  the  Cretaceous  is  only  so  much  the  more  worn  away, 
the  color  pervading  them,  or  passing  down  to  lower  beds." 

Professor  Winchell  continues:  "  From  the  mouth  of  the  Waraju  [Cottonwood  river]  going 
down  the  right  bank  of  the  Minnesota,  a  regular  terrace  [35  to  50  feet  above  the  river]  is  seen  to 
rise  several  feet  above  the  flood-plain.  About  a  mile  down,  this  terrace  shows  its  origin  and 
composition,  in  the  banks  of  a  ravine  which  cuts  it.  Before  reaching  that  point,  however,  an 
outcrop  of  "gray  concretionary  limestone'  is  seen  on  the  top  of  the  terrace  plateau.  This  limestone 
here  is  overlain  by  a  couple  of  feet  of  water-washed  limestone,  gravel  and  cobble-stones,  mixed 
toward  the  top  with  the  usual  black  alluvium.  The  appearance  of  the  quarried  stone  is  like  drift 
pieces,  and  the  bed  from  which  it  is  taken  is  intersected  variously  with  divisional  planes,  cutting 
the  mass  into  irregular  fragments,  which,  on  being  taken  out,  appear  weathered.  Yet  there  are 
crystal-lined  cavities,  some  parts  of  it  being  mostly  made  up  of  calc  spar.  Since  the  formation  of 
the  crystals,  calcareous  water  has  again  deposited  lime  on  the  edges  of  the  crystals,  which,  having 
first  been  of  the  thin  (axe-shaped)  variety,  have  now  the  appearance  of  separate  but  crowded  cock's 
combs,  the  little  beaded  accretions  of  lime  being  arranged  on  their  edges.  There  is  also  a  consid- 
erable quantity  of  uncrystallized  lime  on  other  surfaces.  The  interior  of  the  stone  is  of  a  light 
gray  or  drab  color,  and  when  compact  and  free  from  crystals  is  very  fine  grained.  It  is  said  to 
make  a  white,  strong  quicklime,  of  which  there  can  be  no  doubt.  This  limestone  outcrop,  which 
shows  only  about  16  inches,  is  within  a  mile  of  the  red  quartzyte  outcrop  near  New  Ulm,  the  bare, 
bald  surfaces  of  which  are  visible  from  this  point,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Minnesota. 

"  A  little  below  the  last  described  exposure,  is  Mr.  Wm.  Winkelmann's  limekiln  and  quarry. 
The  stone  here  burned  is  in  the  same  horizon,  and  comes  from  the  banks  of  a  ravine  that  here 
enters  the  Minnesota.  The  limestone  is  much  mixed,  confusedly,  with  shale,  but  the  following 
general  section  can  be  made  out,  in  which  no  fossils  were  seen: 

Section  at  Wm.  Winkelmann's,  sec.  2,  Cottonwood. 

1.  Alluvium  and  boulders 2  ft. 

2.  Green  shale,  interstratified  with  belts  and  irregular  nodules  or  masses  of  gray 

limestone 15  ft. 

3.  Green  shale 1  ft. 

4.  White  sand,  varying  to  green  shale 1 J  ft. 

5.  Green  clay 2  ft. 

6.  Calcareous  shale,  or  marl,  with  some  argillaceous  matter 5  ft. 

7.  Green  shale,  or  clay,  with  blotches  of  red,  seen 1  ft. 

Total 25ift. 


576  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Cretaceous  bads. 

"  The  same  kind  of  greenish  marl  is  exposed  up  the  Waraju,  the  immediate  bluffs  being 
somewhat  wrought  in  it,  to  a  point  just  back  of  New  Ulm,  where  the  bank  is  opened  by  Mr.  Win- 
kelmann  for  laying  pipes  to  supply  his  machinery  and  brick-yard.  The  trench  which  he  has  dug 
passes  through  it  just  before  reaching  the  bank  of  the  Waraju  river." 

In  a  later  examination  of  the  strata  at  Mr.  Winkelmann's,  Prof.  Winchell  has  noted 
about  40  feet  of  the  green  shale,  with  thin  layers  of  concretionary  limestone;  underlain  by  red 
shale,  of  which  a  thickness  of  about  5  feet  was  seen,  but  it  may  extend  below  the  river-level,  which 
is  some  five  feet  lower  than  the  base  of  the  section  exposed.  Occasional  layers  of  red  shale  were 
seen  somewhat  above  its  general  mass,  separated  from  it  by  green  shale.  There  seems  to  be  a 
very  slight  dip  toward  the  south. 

Prof.  James  Hall,  in  the  paper  referred  to  on  page  98,  mentions  ferruginous  sandstone,  con- 
taining plant  remains,  interbedded  with  red  marls,  lying  below  the  green  shale  and  concretionary 
limestone  in  the  vicinity  of  Mr.  Winkelmaim's  limekiln.  Four  species  of  fossil  leaves,  collected  in 
these  beds  by  Hall,  and  found  also  in  other  states  on  the  west  and  south,  are  described  by  Lesque- 
reux,  who  regards  them  as  proof  that  the  formation  belongs  to  the  Dakota  group  at  the  base  of  the 
Cretaceous  series.*  The  green  shale  and  nodular  limestone  may  belong  to  a  later  formation,  and 
Prof.  Winchell  refers  them  provisionally  to  the  Niobrara  group.  The  highest  divisons  of  the 
Cretaceous  series  seem  also  to  be  represented  in  these  counties,  at  least  by  fossils  derived  from 
them,  found  in  the  drift  as  noted  in  the  description  of  wells  in  Milford  and  Stately. 

Of  the  Cretaceous  strata  seen  at  New  Ulm  Prof.  Winchell  writes:  "The  flat  on  which  New 
Ulm  stands  seems  to  be  made  up  by  a  terrace  wrought  in  the  Cretaceous.  The  surface  of  this 

flat  is  strewn  with  boulders The  general  section  of  the  Cretaceous  at  New  Ulm  is 

as  follows: 

1.  Drift,  gravel  and  boulders,  with  a  surface-loam  in  some  places,  or  large- 

ly made  up  of  sand 10  to  20  ft. 

2.  Fine  clay,  blue,  bedded,  weathering  white,  used  for  pottery  or  brick —    4  to  10  ft. 

3.  Sand  or  fine  gravel,  not  cemented,  readily  crumbling,  containing  mag- 

nesian  balls,  or  rounded  lumps  made  up  of  a  fine  white  powder — seen  20  to  30  ft. 

"The  conspicuous  Cretaceous  terrace  that  occurs  along  the  Minnesota  at  New  Ulm,  is  due 
to  this  fine  sand,  overlain  by  a  more  tenacious  clay  or  shale.  The  varying  composition  of  the 
Cretaceous  makes  it  difficult  to  establish  the  horizontality  of  different  outcrops,  but  there  cannot 
be  much  doubt  that  No.  3  above  is  the  equivalent  of  No.  2  of  the  section  on  the  Waraju."  The 
section  here  referred  to  has  been  presented  on  page  574,  its  No.  2  being  white  sand,  100  feet 
thick,  overlying  the  deposits  that  are  dug  for  making  fire-bricks. 

The  terrace  at  New  Ulm  thus  formed  of  Cretaceous  beds,  overlain  by  drift,  is  more  than  a 
mile  long,  parallel  with  the  river,  and  varies  in  width  from  twenty-five  to  fifty  rods  or  more. 
Minnesota  street,  the  principal  business  avenue,  is  on  this  terrace,  sections  of  which,  agreeing 
well  with  that  just  quoted,  are  exposed,  especially  near  its  south  end,  by  ravines  and  gullies  at  its 
margin.  Its  night  is  about  90  feet  above  the  bottomland  and  river,  and  40  feet  above  the  depot, 
which  is  on  an  intermediate  terrace.  The  west  part  of  New  Ulm,  including  State  street,  several 
churches  and  the  county  buildings,  occupies  a  higher  terrace  or  plateau  of  modified  drift,  which  is 
elevated  some  25  to  35  feet  above  Minnesota  street,  or  115  to  125  feet,  approximately,  above  the 
river  (see  fig.  47,  page  582).  Further  details  respecting  the  topography  and  geology  of  the  Min- 
nesota valley  in  this  vicinity  will  be  brought  out  in  treating  of  the  glacial  and  modified  drift. 


FIG.  46.    SECTION  ON  THIKD  NORTH  STREET,   NEW  ULM. 

In  the  north  part  of  New  Ulm  the  grading  of  Third  North  street  close  northeast  of  the  rail- 
road, exposes  Cretaceous  clays.  This  cut  (fig.  46)  is  14  feet  deep  and  200  feet  long,  with  its  top 
about  45  feet  above  the  river.  Its  upper  4  feet  are  soil  and  drift,  containing  and  overspread  with 

*U.  S.  geol.  survey  of  the  territories;  vol.  vi,  The  Crelacioun  Flora,  pp.  6.  68,  76,  90  and  93.  These  species  are  Ficus 
(f)  HaUiana,  Lesq.,  Laurophyllwn  reticulatum,  Lesq.,  Bumelia  Marcouana,  Ijean^Leguminosites  J/arcouanus,  Heer)  and 
Lirioaendron  Meekii,  Heer.  The  last  two  are  figured  in  Dana's  Manual. 


BROWN  AND  REDWOOD  COUNTIES.  577 

Cretaceous  beds.]  » 

boulders  of  granite,  gneiss  and  schists,  up  to  six  feet  in  diameter.  The  remaining  10  feet  are 
curved,  contorted,  and  irregularly  interstratificd.  red,  yellow,  green  and  gray  clays.  They  are  free 
from  gravel,  but  contain  flat,  limy  concretions,  in  some  portions  abundant  up  to  one  inch  in 
diameter,  and  elsewhere  joined  in  sheets  a  foot  or  less  in  length  and  a  half  inch  or  less  in  thick- 
ness, conforming  with  the  stratification.  These  strata  are  eroded  and  covered  unconformably  by 
the  drift. 

In  Sherman,  Redwood  county,  Prof.  Winchell  records  an  exposure  of  Cretaceous  beds  of 
sandy  marl,  hoiizontally  stratified,  seen  in  the  road  that  descends  from  the  Lower  Sioux  Agency 
to  the  ferry.  At  this  place  in  1860  Prof.  A.  W.  Williamson  found  in  a  cut  for  the  road  about  30 
feet  above  the  Minnesota  river  a  large  coiled  shell,  since  lost,  which  agreed  nearly  with  the  figure 
of  Ammonites  monilis  seen  in  an  English  text-book  of  geology. 

About  four  miles  farther  northwest,  or  half  way  from  the  Lower  Sioux  Agency  to  Redwood 
Falls,  a  Cretaceous  outcrop,  including  a  thin  layer  of  lignite,  occurs  in  the  south  bluff  of  the 
Minnesota  valley,  above  Tiger  lake,  being  in  the  southwest  corner  of  section  35,  Ilonner,  some 
three-quarters  of  a  mile  west  from  the  mouth  of  Crow  creek.  Mining  for  the  exploration  of  the 
lignite,  which  is  an  imperfectly  formed  coal,  of  inferior  quality,  yet  valuable  for  fuel,  was  under- 
taken here,  on  land  of  George  Johnson,  in  1871,  by  William  II.  Grant  and  others,  a  horizontal 
drift,  or  adit,  being  excavated  into  the  bluff  to  a  distance  of  about  260  feet  from  its  face  south- 
ward. This  followed  the  seam  of  lignite,  which,  or  at  least  a  black  lignitic  shale,  was  found  con- 
tinuous along  all  this  distance,  being  level  in  the  direction  of  the  adit,  but  dipping  to  the  west 
about  three  degrees,  or  five  feet  in  a  hundred.  The  adit  is  about  a  third  of  the  way  up  from  the 
foot  to  the  top  of  the  bluff,  or  some  60  feet  above  the  river.  Several  tons  of  coal,  sometimes  quite 
clear  for  a  thickness  of  six  to  nine  inches,  were  obtained  from  the  mine,  and  were  used  as  fuel. 
The  cost  of  the  work,  however,  was  about  $2000,  without  discovering  any  portion  of  the  bed  that 
could  be  profitably  mined. 

Professor  Winchell  describes  the  formation  here  explored,  and  the  similar  lignite  layer  in  the 
bluffs  of  the  Redwood  river,  a-t  follows:  "  Tliis  coal  is  from  one  of  those  layers  in  the  Cretaceous 
that  are  usually  known  as  lignites.  It  is  earthy,  passing  sometimes  into  a  good  cannel  coal,  or 
into  a  bituminous  clay.  The  compact  cannel  coal  is  in  detached  lumps,  and  occurs  throughout  a 
band  of  about  four  feet  in  thickness.  This  lignitic  baud  was  followed  in  drifting  into  the  bank  at 
Crow  creek,  and  was  found  to  divide  by  interstratification  with  black  clay,  showing  some  leafy 
impressions  and  pieces  of  charcoal. 

"  The  'coal'  here  is  said  to  overlie  a  bed  of  lumpy  concretionary  marl In  some 

of  the  concretions  are  small  shining  balls  of  pyrites Over  the  'coal'  is  a  blue  clay, 

requiring  a  timbered  roof  in  the  tunnel.  This  clay  is  likewise  Cretaceous.  The  underlying 
lumpy  or  concretionary  white  marl  becomes  siliceous,  or  even  arenaceous,  the  concretions  appear- 
ing more  like  cheit.  Some  of  it  is  also  pebbly,  showing  the  action  of  water  currents. 

"The  same  lignite  coal  occurs  near  Mr.  Johnson's,  on  the  land  of  Hugh  Curry,  Wm.  II. 
Cornell,  E.  O.  King  and  Mr.  Hiker,  in  the  little  ravines  that  enter  the  Minnesota,  the  exposures 
being  kept  fresh  by  the  freshet  waters.  More  or  less  exploring  and  drilling,  besides  that  done  by 
Mr.  Grant,  has  been  engaged  in,  in  this  vicinity,  but  never  with  any  better  success. 

"Near  Redwood  Falls,  on  land  of  Mr.  Birney  Flynn,  is  another  outcrop  of  carbonaceous  de- 
posit in  the  Cretaceous.  This  is  seen  in  the  left  bank  of  the  Redwood  river.  It  is  in  the  form  of 
a  black  bedded  clay  or  shale,  five  or  six  feet  thick,  more  or  less  mingled  with  charcoal  and  ashes, 
the  whole  passing  below  into  charcoal  fragments  mixed  with  the  same  ash-like  substance.  In 
the  latter  are  sometimes  large  pieces  of  fine,  black,  very  compact  coal,  the  same  as  that  already 
spoken  of  at  Crow  creek,  as  cannel  coal.  These  masses  show  sometimes  what  appears  to  the  eye 
to  be  fine  woody  fiber,  as  if  they,  too,  were  simply  charred  wood.  Further  examination  will  be 
needed  to  determine  their  origin  and  nature.  They  constitute  the  only  really  valuable  portions 
of  the  bed,  the  light  charcoal,  which  everywhere  shows  the  distinct  woody  fiber,  being  generally 
mixed  with  the  light  ashy  substance,  and  in  a  state  of  fine  subdivision. 

"A  short  distance  above  Mr.  Flynn's  land  is  that  of  George  Iloughton,  where  the  Redwood 

Falls  coal  mine  was  opened.    This  mine  consists  of  a  drift  into  the  bluff,  forty  feet,  following  a 

lignite,  or  charcoal  bed  in  the  Cretaceous.    The  bed  here  is  seven  feet  thick,  the  greater  part  of 

it  being  made  up  of  black,  bedded  shale  or  clay,  though  Mr.  Flyim  is  authority  for  the  statement 

37 


578  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Cretaceous  lignite. 

that  it  showed  a  great  deal  more  of  the  real  charcoal  than  any  other  point  discovered.  Some 
fragments  that  lay  near  the  opening,  contained  about  nine  parts  of  light  charcoal  to  one  of  ash, 
the  whole  very  slightly  cemented,  and  so  frail  as  to  hardly  endure  transportation.  In  this  drift 
were  also  numerous  pieces  of  what  is  described  by  the  owners  both  here  and  at  Crow  creek,  as 
'stone  coal.'  It  is  the  same  as  that  mentioned  as  probably  a  cannel  coal,  occuring  at  Crow  creek. 
It  is  these  harder  lumps  that  are  found  scattered  in  the  drift  thioughout  the  southwestern  part 
of  the  state." 

This  mining  was  done  in  1868  or  1869,  on  the  northwest  or  left  side  of  the  Redwood  river, 
about  one  and  a  quarter  miles  north  from  Redwood  Falls,  on  the  south  part  of  the  S.  W.  J  of 
section  30,  Ilonner,  the  hight  of  the  drift  being  some  75  feet  above  the  river,  and  about  the  same 
amount  below  the  top  of  the  bluff  and  general  surface  of  the  country.  The  lignitic  bed  is  reported 
to  dip  slightly  toward  the  southwest,  and  to  be  overlain  conformably  by  shale,  above  which  the 
upper  part  of  the  bluff  is  till.  Next  below  the  black  coaly  bijer,  is  said  to  have  been  a  marl, 
varying  from  reddish  to  white,  six  inches  to  two  feet  in  thickness,  underlain  by  yellow  and  blue 
clay.  No  exposure  of  gneiss  or  granite  is  visible  at  this  locality. 

Specimens  from  the  lignite  and  lignitic  deposits  thus  mined  near  Crow  creek  and  Redwood 
Falls,  and  another  from  an  outcrop  of  lignite  west  of  Bismarck,  in  Dakota,  were  analyzed  by 
Prof.  S.  F.  Peckham.  In  the  list  of  samples  submitted  for  analysis,  these  are  numbered  and  de- 
scribed as  follows: 

"No.  11.    Cretaceous  coal,  cannel,  from  Crow  creek,  near  Redwood  Falls,  Minn." 

"No.  12.    Coal,  from  the  surface,  near  Bismarck,  D.  T.,  having  the  same  external  charac- 
ters as  the  last." 

"No.  13.    Earthy  coal,  from  Crow  creek,  near  Redwood  Falls,  Minn." 

"No.  14.    A  mixture  of  charcoal  and  ash,  apparently,  from  the  lignite  beds  of  the  Creta- 
ceous, at  Redwood  Falls,  Minn." 

Professor  Peckham  writes:*  "The  specific  gravity  was  first  determined  by  sifting  the  dust 
from  the  finely  granulated  coal  and  weighing  in  a  sp.  gr.  llask,  after  standing  under  water  at 
least  12  hours.  One  gramme  was  then  weighed  in  a  platinum  crucible  and  dried  at  a  tempera- 
ture of  215°-220°  Fahr.  until  it  ceased  to  lose  weight.  The  loss  is  water. 

"The  residue  was  then  heated  over  a  Bunsen's  burner  for  3.5  minutes,  and  then  over  a  blast 
lamp  for  the  same  length  of  time,  and  weighed.  The  loss  was  considered  to  be  volatile  com- 
bustible matter.  The  residue  was  burned  to  an  ash  and  the  ash  weighed.  The  loss  from  com- 
bustion was  considered  to  be  non-volatile  combustible  material,  or  fixed  carbon. 

"The  coals  are  quite  unlike.  Nos.  11  and  12  are  semi-cannel  coals.  No.  13  consists  of  a 
mass  of  clay  containing  carbonaceous  matter.  No.  14  consists  of  an  earthy  mass,  chiefly  silica, 
containing  fragments  of  mineral  charcoal. 

"No.  11  is  homogeneous  and  brittle,  of  a  dull  black  color,  and  cracks  in  a  dry  atmosphere. 
When  heated  it  is  non-caking,  the  pieces  retaining  their  form  and  size,  and  in  this  respect  it  re- 
sembles some  of  the  Cretaceous  coals  of  the  Pacific  coast.    The  results  of  analysis  are  as  follows: 
Specific  gravity,  1.441. 

Water 13.53  per  cent. 

Volatile  combustible  matter 54.1 1    "      " 

Fixed  carbon 29.49    "      " 

Ash 2.87    "      " 


100.00    "      " 

The  total  amount  of  combustible  matter  in  this  coal  is  83.60  per  cent. 
"No.  12  in  some  respects  resembled  No.  11.    It  is  a  semi-canuel  in  appearance,  very  friable 
in  dry  air,  and  non-caking.    The  results  of  analysis  are  as  follows: 
Specific  gravity,  1.425. 

Water 12.70  per  cent. 

Volatile  combustible  matter 38.32    "      " 

Fixed  carbon 45.61    "      " 

Ash 3.37    "      " 


100.00 
The  total  amount  of  combustible  matter  in  this  coal  is  83.93  per  cent. 

*Fifth  annual  report,  p.  57. 


BROWN  AND  REDWOOD  COUNTIES.  579 

C'retaceous  lignite.] 

"No.  13  is  a  specimen  of  dark  colored  clay  containing  an  unusual  amount  of  organic  com- 
bustible matter,  not  enough,  however,  to  give  it  any  value  as  fuel.    It  burns  to  a  very  light-col- 
ored ash  consisting  largely  of  alumina,  and  would  therefore  in  all  probability  make  very  good 
brick  if  sufficient  sand  were  mixed  with  it.    The  results  of  analysis  were  as  follows: 
Specific  gravity,  1.968. 

Water ] 

Volatile  combustible  matter j.29.55 percent. 

Fixed  carbon J 

Ash,  consisting  of  clay 70.45    "      " 

100.00  "  " 
The  ash  contained — 
Insoluble  portion,  consisting  of  insoluble  alumina  and  silicic  acid. .  92.751  per  cent. 

Soluble  silicic  acid 490  "  '  " 

Sulphuric  acid -. 282  ' 

Ferric  oxide  and  alumina  2.894  "  " 

Lime 1.076  "  " 

Magnesia 348  "  " 

Undetermined  matters 1.159  "  " 


100.000    "      " 

"No.  14  consisted  of  a  soft,  siliceous  rock,  containing  small  fragments,  grains  and  specks  of 
mineral  charcoal.    The  results  of  analysis  are  as  follows: 
Specific  gravity,  2.141. 

Water  and  combustible  matter 26.54  per  cent. 

Ash 73.46    "      " 

100.00  "  " 
The  ash  contained— 

Insoluble  matter,  chiefly  silicic  acid 96.549  per  cent. 

Soluble  silicic  acid 0.836  "  " 

Sulphuric  acid 0.178  "  " 

Ferric  oxide  and  alumina 0.257  "  " 

Lime 1.023  "  " 

Magnesia 0.4^2  "  " 

Undetermined  matters 0.695  "  " 

100.000    "      " " 

It  appears  nearly  certain  that  no  workable  deposits  of  coal  exist  in  this  region.  Professor 
Winchell  summarizes  his  observations  and  conclusions,  upon  this  subject,  as  follows: 

"1st.  The  rocks  that  have  been  explored  for  coal,  on  the  Cotton  wood  and  Redwood  rivers, 
belong  to  the  Cretaceous  system,  and  do  not  promise  to  be  productive  of  coal  in  valuable  quan- 
tities. 

"2d.  The  coal  there  taken  out  is  of  an  inferior  grade,  though  varying  from  cannel  coal  to 

charcoal." The  charcoal,  "while  it  is  the  more  abundant,  is  of  less  value  for  use  as 

fuel.  It  is  light,  and  quickly  ignites It  lies  in  irregular  sheets,  generally  not 

more  than  half  an  inch  thick  when  pure,  but  may  be  disseminated  through  a  thickness  of  six  or 
eight  feet.  It  is  very  fragile,  hardly  bearing  transportation."  The  cannel  coal  "is  black,  or  brown 
black,  lustrous,  compact,  rather  hard,  and  presents  every  aspect  of  a  valuable  coal.  It  occurs  in 
isolated  lumps  or  pockets,  in  the  same  beds  as  the  charcoal,  but  less  abundantly.  It  readily 
burns,  making  a  hot  fire.  In  the  air,  when  it  has  become  dry,  it  cracks  and  crumbles  something 
like  quicklime,  but  not  to  a  powder." 

"3d.  As  the  rocks  of  the  Cretaceous  period  are  believed  to  have  existed  throughout  the 
most  of  the  state,  the  only  probable  exception  being  in  the  southeastern  portion,  including  half  a 
dozen  counties,  such  coal  is  likely  to  occur  at  a  great  many  places. 

"4th.  The  'float'  coal  which  has  so  often  attracted  the  attention  of  the  people,  is  derived, 
so  far  as  yet  known,  from  the  disruption  of  the  Cretaceous  rocks  by  the  glaciers  of  the  ice'period. 
It  is  scattered  through  tlie  drift,  and  is  met  with  in  wells  and  other  excavations,  and  may  be  often 
picked  up  along  the  beds  of  streams." 


580  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Strise.    Till.     Glacial  epochs. 

Glacial  and  modified  drift.  Glacial  striae  are  plainly  seen  on  the  south- 
west part  of  the  outcrop  of  quartzyte  that  forms  the  water-fall  in  section  31, 
Stately,  having  a  course  S.  50°  to  55°  E.,  with  reference  to  the  true  meridi- 
an; and  upon  the  ledge  of  gneiss  in  section  12,  T.  ill,  R.  38,  bearing  S.  50° 
to  60°  E. 

The  surface  of  Brown  and  Redwood  counties  is  principally  till,  or  the 
mixture  of  clay  with  smaller  proportions  of  sand  and  gravel  and  occasional 
enclosed  boulders,  which  was  thus  deposited  in  a  mingled  unstratified  mass 
by  the  ice-sheets  of  the  glacial  period.  Its  thickness  in  these  counties  is 
generally  from  100  to  200  feet.  Within  the  till  are  found  occasional  layers  of 
sand  or  gravel,  which  often  yield  large  supplies  of  water  in  wells.  Many  of 
these  veins  of  modified  drift  were  probably  formed  by  small  glacial  streams, 
and  they  cannot  be  regarded  as  marking  important  divisions  of  the  ice  age. 
It  is  shown,  however,  by  shells,  remains  of  vegetation  and  trees,  found  evi- 
dently in  the  place  where  they  were  living,  underlain  and  overlain  by  till, 
that  this  very  cold  period  was  not  one  unbroken  reign  of  ice,  but  that  this 
retreated  and  re-advanced,  or  possibly  at  some  times  was  nearly  all  melted 
and  then  accumulated  anew. 

Two  principal  glacial  epochs  can  be  distinguished:*  in  the  first  of  which  all  of  Minnesota 
except  its  southeast  corner  was  deeply  covered  by  the  continental  ice-sheet,  and  its  border  was 
several  hundred  miles  south  of  this  district,  in  Nebraska,  Kansas,  Missouri,  and  southern  Illinois; 
whereas  in  the  later  very  severely  cold  epoch,  the  ice-fields  were  of  less  extent,  and  terminated 
from  50  to  300  miles  within  their  earlier  limit,  covering  all  the  basin  of  the  Minnesota  river,  but 
not  enveloping  a  large  tract  in  the  southwest  corner  of  Minnesota  and  leaving  uncovered  a  much 
larger  area  than  before  in  the  southeast  part  of  the  state.  Between  these  glacial  epochs  the  ice- 
sheet  was  melted  away  within  the  basins  of  the  Minnesota  and  Red  rivers,  and  probably  from  the 
entire  state.  The  greater  part  of  the  till  appears  to  have  been  deposited  by  this  earlier  ice-sheet; 
and  during  the  retreat  of  the  ice  this  till  was  overspread  in  some  places,  especially  along  the  ave- 
nues of  drainage,  by  beds  of  modified  drift,  or  stratified  gravel,  sand,  and  clay,  washed  from  the 
material  that  had  been  contained  in  the  ice  and  now  became  exposed  upon  its  surface  to  the  mul- 
titude of  rills,  rivulets  and  rivers  that  were  formed  by  its  melting. 

In  the  ensuing  interglacial  epoch,  this  drift-sheet  was  channeled  by  water-courses  till  its 
valleys  were  apparently  as  numerous  and  deep  as  those  of  our  present  streams.  The  interglacial 
drainage  sometimes  went  in  a  different  direction  from  that  now  taken  by  the  creeks  and  rivers; 
and  the  valleys  then  excavated  in  the  drift,  though  partly  refilled  with  till  during  the  last  glacial 
epoch,  are  still,  in  some  instances,  clearly  marked  by  series  of  lakes,  as  described  in  the  report  of 
Martin  county  (pages  479  to  485).  More  commonly  the  interglacial  water-courses  must  have  occu- 
pied nearly  the  same  place  with  the  valleys  of  the  present  time;  and  there  seems  to  be  conclusive 
proof  that  this  was  true  of  the  valley  of  the  Minnesota  river.  A  long  period  intervened  between 
the  great  glacial  epochs;  the  earlier  ice-sheet  gradually  retreated  northward;  a  lake  was  formed  in 
the  Red  river  valley  by  the  receding  ice-barrier  on  the  north;  the  outflow  from  tin's  lake,  and  the 
drainage  of  the  Minnesota  basin  itself,  appear  to  have  excavated  the  valley  of  the  Minnesota  river 
nearly  as  it  now  is;  and  the  further  recession  of  the  ice-sheet  probably  even  allowed  the  drainage 

•Compare  the  first  annual  report ,  p.  61;  the  fifth,  p.  177;  and  the  reports  of  Martin  and  Dakota  counties. 


BROWN  AND  REDWOOD  COUNTIES.  581 

Terminal  moraines.] 

of  the  Red  river  basin  to  take  its  course  northward,  as  now,  to  Hudson  bay,  this  being  indicated 
by  fossiliferous  beds  enclosed  between  deposits  of  till  within  the  area  that  had  been  covered  by 
this  interglacial  lake  and  was  afterward  occupied  by  lake  Agassiz  at  the  close  of  the  last  glacial 
epoch. 

Again  a  severely  cold  climate  prevailed ,  accumulating  a  vast  sheet  of  ice  upon  Bi  itish  America 
and  the  greater  part  of  Minnesota.  By  this  glacial  sheet  the  valley  of  the  Minnesota  river  was 
partly  refilled  with  till,  but  it  evidently  remained  an  important  feature  in  the  contour  of  the  land 
surface.  During  the  final  melting  of  this  ice-sheet,  its  waters,  discharged  in  this  channel,  quickly 
removed  whatever  obstructing  deposits  of  drift  it  had  received,  and  undermined  its  bluffs,  giving 
them  again  the  steep  slopes  produced  by  fluvial  erosion.  This  partial  re  excavation  and  sculpture 
were  then  followed  immediately,  during  the  retreat  of  the  ice-sheet,  by  the  deposition  of  the  strati- 
fied gravel,  sand  and  clay,  75  to  150  feet  deep,  remnants  of  which  occur  as  terraces  on  the  sides  of 
this  valley,  from  its  mouth  to  New  Ulm,  and  less  distinctly  beyond.  Had  not  the  great  valley 
existed  nearly  in  its  present  form  through  the  last  glacial  epoch,  it  could  not  have  become  filled 
with  this  modified  drift,  which  must  belong  to  the  era  of  melting  of  the  last  ice-sheet.  After  the 
departure  of  the  ice,  the  supply  of  both  water  and  sediment  was  so  diminished  that  the  river  could 
no  longer  overspread  the  former  flood- plain  of  modified  drift  and  add  to  its  depth,  but  has  been 
occupied  mainly  in  slow  excavation  and  removal  of  these  deposits,  leaving  remnants  of  them  as 
elevated  plains  or  terraces.* 

Terminal  moraines.  The  morainic  tract  in  Stately  (page  565)  is  probably  a  portion  of  the 
third  terminal  moraine,  formed  at  the  boundary  of  the  ice  of  the  last  glacial  epoch  during  a  pause 
in  its  recession.  This  moraine  is  well  exhibited  in  Martin  county  and  thence  to  Forest  City  and 
Pilot  mound  in  Hancock  county,  Iowa,  as  described  on  page  478.  In  Redwood  county  it  is  not 
prominent,  and  its  course,  which  is  believed  to  coincide  approximately  with  that  of  the  Cottonwood 
river,  has  not  been  traced.  Close  south  of  the  valley  of  this  river  in  the  N.  W.  J  of  section  14, 
Gales,  numerous  small  hillocks  and  ridges,  10  to  20  feet  high,  rough  with  abundant  boulders,  were 
observed  to  occupy  a  width  from  a  few  rods  to  an  eighth  of  a  mile,  reaching  a  half  mile  or  more 
in  length  from  east  to  west;  and  from  a  bridge  in  section  10,  Gales,  a  noteworthy  hill,  perhaps  60 
feet  high,  is  seen  in  the  view  westward,  situated  not  far  from  where  the  Cottonwood  river  crosses 
the  county  line.  Farther  northwest,  this  morainic  belt  is  clearly  traced  across  Yellow  Medicine 
and  Lac  qui  Parle  counties,  its  most  conspicuous  accumulations  being  the  Antelope  hills. 

During  later  stages  in  the  recession  of  this  ice-sheet,  when  the  fourth  and  fifth  terminal 
moraines  of  its  Minnesota  lobe  were  formed,  its  southern  extremity  was  successively  at  Kiester  in 
Faribault  county  and  at  Elysian  in  Le  Sueur  county,  and  its  southwest  boundary  doubtless  crossed 
Brown  and  Redwood  counties,  but  the  marginal  accumulations  of  drift  belonging  to  these  stages 
have  not  been  traced  here.  A  shallow  lake  extended  along  the  edge  of  the  ice-sheet  across  these 
counties  (page  461),  and  acted  to  partially  level  down  and  smooth  the  morainic  deposits.  It  seems 
likely,  however,  that  they  are  still  recognizable,  and  by  careful  observation  might  be  mapped 
approximately.  At  the  time  of  the  fourth  or  Kiester  moraine,  the  ice-margin  probably  extended 
through  the  central  part  of  Brown  and  Redwood  counties;  and  the  kame-like  deposits  (page  582) 
near  Sleepy  Eye,  and  in  T.  Ill,  R.  38,  and  the  northwest  part  of  Vesta,  may  in  part  represent 
this  moraine.  The  fifth  or  Elysian  moraine  is  probably  indicated  similarly  in  section  33,  Swede's 
Forest. 

The  valley  of  Mound  creek,  across  the  morainic  area  in  Stately,  has  a  level  bottom  from  500 
to  1000  feet  wide,  and  appears  as  if  in  some  former  time,  which  was  doubtless  the  epoch  of  melting 
of  the  last  ice-sheet,  it  had  been  the  water-course  of  floods  pouring  southeastward  from  the  upper 
part  of  the  basin  of  the  Big  Cottonwood  river  into  the  Little  Cottonwood  valley. 

Modified  drift  of  the  earlier  glacial  epoch.  Thick  deposits  of  stratified  sand  and  gravel,  found 
enclosed  in  the  till  near  New  Ulm,  and  occurring  below  a  considerable  depth  of  till  ten  miles  far- 
ther southeast  in  Courtland,  Nicollet  county,  are  believed  to  be  portions  of  the  modified  drift  which 
was  deposited  at  the  close  of  the  earlier  glacial  i-eriod,  as  explained  in  the  foregoing  brief  history 
of  the  ice  age.  The  locality  first  mentioned  is  on  the  extension  of  Center  street  a  half  mile  west 
of  New  Ulm,  where  it  rises  to  the  top  of  the  bluff,  180  feet  above  the  river,  but  only  some  100  feet 
above  its  old  channel  which  lies  between  New  Ulm  and  this  bluff  (fig.  47).  The  hight  here 

•See  pages  44o,  576  and  583;  also,  compare  arlicle  on  the  Minnesota  valley  in  the  ice  aite.  Proc.  of  Amer    Auoc  for 
Adv.  of  Science,  1W3,  and  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  (3),  xxvii,  is<*4. 


582  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Interglacial  modified  drift. 

reached  is  the  general  level  of  the  vast  prairie  of  gently  undulating  till,  through  which  the  Min- 
nesota valley  is  excavated.  The  grade  cuts  to  a  depth  of  about  40  feet  at  the  edge  of  the  bluff 
and  thence  ascends,  with  decreasing  depth  of  cut,  along  a  distance  of  some  twenty-five  rods,  to 
the  surface  of  the  drift-sheet.  This  section  exhibits  two  beds  of  true  till,  separated  by  modified 
drift  which  is  probably  an  interglacial  formation,  supplied,  as  already  stated,  at  the  time  of  final 
melting  of  the  earlier  ice-sheet  and  spread  beyond  its  receding  margin  upon  the  unchanneled  sur. 
face  of  the  till  that  had  been  formed  during  that  earlier  part  of  the  ice  age.  The  upper  bed  of  till, 
apparently  representing  the  total  thickness  of  the  drift  deposited  here  in  the  last  glacial  epoch,  is 
16  to  18  feet  thick,  and  is  an  entirely  unstratified  yellowish  gravelly  clay,  containing  occasional 
rock-fragments  up  to  six  or  eight  inches  in  diameter,  but  showing  only  two  or  three  of  larger  size, 
these  being  two  or  three  feet  in  diameter.  Portions  of  this  till,  within  six  to  eight  or  ten  feet 
below  the  top,  are  gray,  with  limy  concretions  and  limy  layers  that  have  been  gathered  by 
percolating  waters.  The  bottom  of  this  upper  till,  seen  clearly  exposed  along  a  distance  of  about 
250  feet,  is  an  almost  exactly  level  line.  Next  below  is  the  earlier  modified  drift.  Its  thick- 
ness is  also  16  to  18  feet,  levelly  stratified  throughout,  but  having  the  horizontal  layers  often 
obliquely  laminated.  The  dip  of  this  lamination,  which  marks  the  direction  of  the  current 
of  water  that  brought  this  sediment,  is  to  the  east  or  northeast,  toward  the  Minnesota  river, 
and  varies  in  amount  from  two  or  three  to  fifteen  or  twenty  degrees.  Floods  produced  by  glacial 
melting,  and  carrying  gravel,  sand  and  clay  that  had  been  contained  in  the  ice-sheet,  appear  to 
have  taken  their  course  along  the  central  depression  of  the  Minnesota  basin,  coming  from  ice- 
fields which  still  covered  its  upper  portion,  with  their  retreating  border  probably  only  a  few 
miles  distant  at  the  time  when  this  stratum  was  deposited.  Its  largest  pebbles  are  six  to  eight 
inches  in  diameter.  The  underlying  till  was  seen  along  an  extent  of  100  feet,  the  greatest  depth 
cut  into  it  being  about  eight  feet.  Its  upper  line,  separating  it  from  the  modified  drift  is  ap- 
proximately level  but  undulating,  with  its  highest  points  two  or  three  feet  above  the  lowest. 
This  till,  like  the  upper  bed,  bears  no  marks  of  stratification;  and  neither  shows  any  interbed- 
ding  or  transition,  but  both  are  bounded  by  definite  lines,  at  their  junction  with  the  intervening 
gravel  and  sand.  The  lower  bed  of  till  is  dark  bluish,  excepting  for  about  twenty  feet  from  the 
face  of  the  bluff  inward,  where  weathering  has  changed  it  to  the  same  yellow  color  that  charac- 
terizes the  modified  drift  and  upper  till. 


FIG.  47.     SECTION  OF  THE  MINNESOTA  VALLEY,  SOUTHWEST  FROM  THE  RIVEK,  AT  NEW  ULM. 

The  modified  drift  below  till,  mentioned  in  Courtland,  ten  miles  southeast  from  this  local- 
ity, is  made  known  by  a  well  that  was  bored  to  a  depth  of  100  feet  at  the  house  of  Carl  llichert, 
in  the  S.  W.  J  of  section  11,  upon  the  upland  or  general  level,  even  in  hight  with  the  top  of  the 
bluffs  of  the  Minnesota  valley,  from  which  its  distance  is  about  an  eighth  of  a  mile.  Its  section 
was  soil,  2  feet;  yellow  and  gray  till,  30  feet;  sand,  mainly  yellow,  but  in  considerable  part  white 
near  the  bottom,  54  feet;  and  yellowish  gravel,  14  feet  and  extending  lower.  No  water  was 
obtained,  and  the  well  was  given  up. 

Modified  drift  of  tlie  last  glacial  epocli.  Upon  the  sheet  of  till  which  covers  these  counties 
are  frequently  noticed  mounds  and  knolls  or  short  ridges  of  gravel  and  sand,  10  to  20  feet,  or 
rarely  30  feet  or  more,  in  hight,  which  in  any  excavation  are  seen  to  be  irregularly  interstratified 
and  obliquely  bedded.  These  deposits  appear  to  have  been  formed  by  streams  that  llowed  from 
the  drift-strown  surface  of  the  departing  ice-fields  of  the  last  glacial  epoch;  having  a  similar 
origin  with  the  eskers  or  kames,  which  form  prolonged  ridges,  or  series  of  interlocking  ridges  and 
mounds,  in  Ireland  and  Scotland,  in  Sweden,  and  in  New  England.  Conspicuous  kame-like  de- 
posits of  modified  drift  in  Redwood  county  were  observed  in  the  N.  E.  }  of  section  33,  Swede's 
Forest,  where  a  mound  of  this  class  rises  some  30  feet  above  the  general  level;  in  the  northwest 
part  of  Vesta,  which  has  numerous  hillocks  and  short  ridges  of  gravel  and  sand,  10  to  40  feet  in 
hight,  trending  from  north  to  south  more  commonly  than  in  other  directions;  and  in  T.  11 1,  B. 
38,  and  thence  southwestward  to  the  Cottonwood  river.  In  Brown  county  a  notable  series  of 
kames,  or  short  ridges  and  knolls  of  gravel  and  sand,  25  to  40  feet  high,  occurs  about  a  mile  east 


BROWN  AND  REDWOOD  COUNTIES.  533 

Modified  drift.    Alluvium.] 

and  southeast  of  Sleepy  Eye,  extending  from  north  to  south  through  the  S.  W.  J  of  section  28, 
and  in  the  W.  J  of  section  33,  in  the  south  part  of  Home. 

The  modified  drift  which  was  deposited  in  the  Minnesota  valley,  as  shown  on  page  581,  is 
represented  at  New  Ulm  by  the  plateau  of  gravel  and  sand,  a  mile  long  and  about  an  eighth  of  a 
mile  wide,  on  which  the  west  and  highest  part  of  the  city  is  built  (fig.  47).  A  hollow,  about  forty 
feet  lower  and  a  quarter  of  a  mile  wide,  lying  between  this  plateau  and  the  bluff,  was  formerly  a 
channel  of  the  river,  since  which  time  the  valley  has  been  cut  eighty  feet  below  it.  Other  re- 
mains of  the  valley  drift  are  seen  on  the  southwest  side  of  the  river  for  two  or  three  miles  north- 
west from  New  Ulm;  and  on  the  northeast  side  it  forms  long  and  wide  terraces  in  Courtland, 
about  150  feet  above  the  river,  and  a  narrow  terrace,  nearly  as  high,  generally  discernible  along 
the  bluffs  through  West  Newton  township. 

Below  the  modified  drift,  New  Ulm  is  underlain  by  Cretaceous  beds  which  have  been  al- 
ready described.  These  differ  in  hardness  and  ability  to  wii  hstand  the  river's  erosion  in  cutting  its 
valley,  which  characters  have  been  elements  in  determining  the  position  and  outlines  of  the  lower 
terraces  of  this  city,  as  that  of  Minnesota  street,  about  90  feet  above  the  river,  and  that  of  the 
depot  and  brick  yard,  50  to  40  feet  above  the  river,  and  of  the  continuation  of  the  latter,  about 
40  feet  in  hight.  along  the  valley  some  three  miles  below  New  Ulm,  reaching  beyond  the  Cotton- 
wood  river,  as  also  of  a  terrace  at  nearly  the  same  elevation  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Minnesota 
river.  A  considerable  thickness  of  modified  drift  forms  the  surface  of  these  terraces,  including 
the  clay  at  Aufderheide's  brick-yard;  but  their  lower  portions  are  Cretaceous  beds,  from  which 
pottery  clay  has  been  taken  near  the  southeast  end  of  Minnesota  street,  while  the  terraces  about 
40  feet  high,  at  each  side  of  the  Minnesota  river  contain  beds  of  nodular  gray  limestone,  much  of 
which  has  been  burned  for  lime,  interstratified  with  green  and  red  clay  and  shale.  The  cut  in 
Cretaceous  clays  upon  Third  North  street  in  New  Ulm  (fig.  46,  page  576)  is  at  nearly  the  same 
horizon,  but  in  that  vicinity  it  forms  no  well  marked  terrace. 

Alluvium.  The  bottomland  at  New  Ulm  and  generally  along  the  Minnesota  valley  at  the 
north  side  of  these  counties,  is  from  a  half  mile  to  a  mile  wide.  It  is  composed  of  recent  alluvium, 
mostly  sand  and  fine  silt,  having  a  hight  from  5  to  15  feet,  and  sometimes  more,  above  the  river, 
which  meanders  through  this  lowland,  here  and  there  sweeping  quite  to  its  border.  The  highest 
floods,  formed  by  snow-melting  in  spring  or  by  heavy  rains,  cover  the  greater  part  of  this  bottom 
or  flood-plain,  and  at  each  inundation  add  slightly  to  it  by  their  sediment. 

Water-worn  boulders.  Very  remarkable  water- worn  boulders  occur  in  the  Minnesota  valley 
within  two  miles  east  from  the  west  line  of  Redwood  county,  in  sections  17,  18  and  7,  Swede's 
Forest.  The  river  road  here  winds  among  outcrops  of  gneiss  and  granite,  before  described,  and 
along  their  whole  extent  of  one  and  a  half  miles  in  Swede's  Forest,  detached  blocks  or  boulders 
of  the  same  formation  are  seen  frequently  beside  the  road  and  at  a  distance  from  it,  of  all  sizes 
up  to  fifteen  feet  in  diameter.  A  large  proportion  of  these  boulders,  probably  a  quarter  part  of 
all,  are  very  noticeably  water-worn,  in  shallow  pot-holes,  grooves  and  indentations,  so  that  some 
of  them,  to  compare  great  things  with  small,  have  forms  like  those  stamped  upon  balls  of  dough 
or  clay  by  finger-impressions.  One  of  these  water-worn  boulders,  fifteen  feet  in  diameter,  lies 
close  beside  the  road  three-quarters  of  a  mile  west  of  the  school  house  which  was  mentioned  on 
page  569.  Again,  several  large  water-worn  blocks  are  seen  near  together,  about  twenty-five  rods 
southeast  from  this  school  house;  one  of  them,  twelve  feet  long  and  nine  feet  high,  having  its 
east  side  remarkably  sculptured,  like  the  channel  of  a  water-fall.  Boulders  water-worn  in  this 
peculiar  manner  are  unknown  in  the  ordinary  glacial  drift,  and  it  appears  that  these  blocks,  if  not 
thus  worn  where  they  now  lie,  which  seems  improbable,  were  formerly  united  in  a  ledge  over 
which  the  river  flowed  at  some  point  not  far  distant  to  the  northwest,  probably  near  the  present 
county  line. 

Wells  in  Brown   county. 

Examples  of  the  sections  made  in  the  drift  by  wells  in  Brown  county,  are  as  follows: 

Linden.  M.  O.  Breste;  sec.  31 :  well,  16  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  14  feet;  water 
comes  from  sandy  streaks  in  the  till. 

Milford.  William  Skinner;  sec.  33,  at  south  side  of  the  township:  well  at  house,  30  feet;  all 
yellow  till;  water  seeps,  filling  the  well  twelve  feet.  About  eight  rods  northwest  from  this,  a  well 
50  feet  deep  was  in  yellow  till  for  its  upper  25  feet,  with  blue  till  for  all  below;  scarcely  any 


584  THE  GEOLOGY  OF 

(Wells. 

water;  the  bark  of  wood  and  fragments  of  Baeulites,  in  a  sandy  layer  one  or  two  inches  thick, 
were  found  in  this  til!  31  feet  bslow  the  surface;  and  several  pieces  of  lignite  were  found  in  the 
till  of  each  of  these  wells,  derived,  like  the  Baeulites  fragments,  from  Cretaceous  beds. 

Sigel.    Joseph  Flor;  sec.  24:  well,  14;  soil,  4  feet;  gravel  and  sand,  10  feet. 

John  Kratscli;  sec.  36:  well,  20:  soil,  3;  yellow  till,  17;  water  rose  four  feet  ill  an  hour,  from 
gravel  and  sand  at  the  bottom. 

Lake  llanska.  Christian  Ahlness;  sec.  13:  well,  14;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  12;  water 
seeps. 

E.  G.  Pahl;  sec.  26:  well,  20;  dug  17  feet,  and  bored  two  inches  in  diameter  for  the  remain- 
ing three  feet;  all  yellow  till,  hard  and  picked,  with  occasional  sandy  and  gravelly  streaks;  water 
rose  from  gravel  or  sand  at  the  bottom,  with  such  force  that  it  could  not  be  plugged,  and  came  to 
a  permanent  level  ten  feet  below  the  surface. 

Homi.  Horatio  Werrinj;  sec.  H:  well,  40  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  10;  harder  blue  till,  24; 
cemented  layer,  6  inches;  blue  till,  H  feet;  coarse  sand,  2  feet,  containing  water,  which  did  not 
rise  above  this  stratum  of  modified  drift. 

The  wells  at  Golden  Gate  in  this  township  are  12  to  20  feet  deep,  in  till. 

Sleepy  Eye,  in  Home  township.  P.  Randall;  weli,  23  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  16:  harder  blue 
till,  with  yellowish  gravelly  streaks,  5  feet.  A  piece  of  wood,  sixteen  inches  long,  appearing  like 
a  splintered  limb  of  elm,  was  found  in  the  lower  part  of  this  well. 

Joseph  Troutman;  well,  71;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  18;  harder  blue  till,  15;  changing  to  soft  blue 
till,  16  fetet;  then,  hard,  dark  bluish  sand,  free  from  gravel  stones,  20  feet,  remaining  stable  when 
bordd,  but  caving  when  the  water  cama,  which  rose  seven  or  eight  feet  in  the  first  day,  from  gravel 
at  the  bottom,  and  within  a  few  days  became  forty  feet  deep,  thought  to  be  all  from  the  bottom. 
Other  wells  equally  deep  near  find  only  gravelly  clay  or  till. 

The  blue  till  in  this  vicinity  Is  usually  harder  than  the  overlying  yellow  till;  the  lowest  one 
or  two  feet  of  each  are  specially  hard;  at  the  base  of  the  blue  till,  next  overlying  the  water-bear- 
ing gravel  and  sand,  is  often  a  layer  firmly  cemented  with  iron  or  lime.  Water  is  commonly 
found  50  to  60  feet  below  the  surface,  and  rises  in  most  wells  10  to  20  feet  above  the  stratum  in 
which  it  is  found.  Lignite  frequently  occurs,  in  fragments  up  to  six  inches  in  diameter. 

A  well  was  bored  195  feet  deep  at  Sleepy  Eye  for  the  railroad  company,  apparently  not  pass- 
ing through  the  glacial  drift,  which  was  yellowish  till  for  about  25  feet,  and  dark  buish  till  be- 
low, probably  to  the  bottom,  where  a  log  of  wood,  resembling  elm,  was  encountered,  stopping  the 
work.  Water  filled  this  well  to  twenty-five  feet  below  the  top,  and  was  a  large  supply;  but  the 
well  is  not  now  used. 

Stark.  William  Kuehn ;  Iberia  village :  well,  26  feet;  soil,  2  feet;  yellow  till,  17 ;  sand,  2 
feet ;  blue  till,  5  feet  and  deeper;  water  comes  from  the  sand ;  these  tills  are  about  equally  hard, 
both  needing  to  be  picked. 

Eden.  F.  Ilartwick;  Lone  Tree  Lake  post-office,  sec.  5:  well,  20  feet;  soil.,  2;  gravel,  2; 
sand,  finest  at  the  bottom,  16 ;  unfailing  water.  This  is  on  a  kame-like  swell,  and  most  of  the 
land  all  around  is  till. 

Leavenworth.  John  Youngmann ;  sec.  2 :  well,  32  feet ;  soil,  2 ;  yellow  till,  18 ;  blue  till, 
easier  to  bore,  12;  water  rose  twelve  feet  in  four  hours  from  sand  at  the  bottom. 

Burnstown.  John  F.  Burns ;  sec.  19:  well,  22  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  containing  sandy 
streaks,  15;  much  harder  blue  till,  picked,  4;  sand,  1;  water  rose  six  feet  in  one  day.  Wells  in 
this  township  are  15  to  30  feet  deep;  no  fossils  found,  excepting  lignite  in  pieces  up  to  six  inches 
iii  diameter. 

Bashaw.  C.  L.  Thor;  sec.  26:  well,  24  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  10;  blue  till,  moist  and  softer, 
12;  water  rose  twelve  feet  in  six  hours  from  gravel. 

Stately.  John  Wood;  sec.  14:  well,  28  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  12;  harder  blue  till,  14; 
water  rose  five  feet  in  a  half  day  from  gravel  and  sand  at  the  bottom ;  numerous  fragments  of 
lignite  were  found. 

A.  B.  Dickerson;  S.  W.  }  of  sec.  30:  well,  33  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  picked,  31;  enclosing, 
but  only  at  one  side  of  the  well,  a  narrow  vein  of  coarse  gravel,  one  foot  thick,  15  feet  below  the 
top;  in  the  lower  part  inteibedded  vith  layers  of  darker  bluish  till,  which  was  the  material  at  the 
bottom;  water  seeps,  three  to  six  feet  deep. 


BROWN  AND  REDWOOD  COUNTIES.  585 

Wells.l 

D.  H.  Semans'  well  in  sec.  31,  close  north  of  the  Little  Cottonwood  river,  found  in  its  lower 
part,  about  30  feet  below  the  surface,  f  raiments  of  Baculites  and  a  cast  of  an  Inoceramus,  resem- 
bling /.  umbonatus.  M.  &  II.;  a  piece  of  wood,  perhaps  red  cedar,  some  nine  inches  long  and  three 
inches  wide,  at  25  feet;  and  several  pieces  of  lignite.  These  were  probably  in  glacial  drift,  a  large 
part  of  which  was  derived  from  Cretaceous  beds. 

Wells  in  Redwood  county. 

Sherman.  J.  M.  Little;  sec.  6:  well,  33;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  28;  gravel,  3  feet,  and 
extending  lower;  water  rose  seven  feet  in  a  half  day. 

Delhi.  Thomas  II.  King;  sec.  31:  well,  20;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  picked,  6;  blue  till,  somewhat 
easier  to  dig,  12;  water  burst  up  from  sand  at  the  bottom,  rising  twelve  feet  in  fifteen  minutes. 

Redwood  F"lls.  Town  well,  70  feet  deep:  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  18;  blue  till,  harder  to  bore,  50 
feet,  and  extending  lower;  the  only  water  found  in  this  well  seeps  from  the  yellow  till. 

Swede's  Forest.  Nels  Hanson;  sec.  35:  well,  55  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  28  feet;  harder 
blue  till,  picked,  25  feet,  and  below;  no  sand  found,  and  no  water. 

Vail.  Chauncy  Bundy;  sec.  6:  well,  36  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  16:  sand  and  gravel, 
i  inch,  with  some  water;  softer  blue  till,  16  feet,  yielding  several  small  pieces  of  lignite,  and  a 
piece  of  wood  (peihaps  willow)  about  a  foot  long,  the  last  being  in  the  lowest  foot  of  this  till;  an 
interglacial  bed  of  vegetable  mould,  1}  inches  thick,  containing  many  willow  leaves  and  the  leaves 
and  stems  of  rushes,  "looking  like  a  lake-shore  drift,"  extending  over  the  whole  area  of  the  well, 
six  feet  in  diameter;  bluish,  clayey  quicksand,  2  feet  and  below;  water  rose  eight  feet  in  a  half 
day. 

David  Weaver;  N.  E.  |  of  sec.  28:  well,  28  feet  deep;  soil,  3  feet;  yellow  till,  spaded,  12  feet; 
blue  till,  also  spaded,  12  feel;  very  hard,  compacted  gravel,  1  foot  and  deeper;  water  rose  from  the 
gravel  eight  feet  in  one  day. 

Waterbury.  Hans  Hanson;  N.  E. J  of  sec.  34:  well,  18;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  picked,  10;  harder 
blue  till,  5;  gravel,  1  foot  and  deeper;  water  rose  four  feet  in  a  half  day,  a  large  supply,  of  excel- 
lent quality.  Several  pieces  of  lignite,  up  to  six  inches  in  diameter,  and  nodules  of  pyrite,  were 
found  in  this  well. 

Lamberton.  Praxel  &  Schandera;  Lamberton  village:  well,  50  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  3; 
blue  till,  with  occasional  layers  of  dry  sand  up  to  six  inches  thick,  45 ;  water  rose  six  feet  in  a 
half  day.  A  few  pieces  of  lignite  were  found. 

Arnold  C.  Ells;  sec.  10:  well,  40  feet  deep;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  picked,  23;  harder  blue  till, 
15;  water  rose  from  gravel  and  sand  at  the  bottom  twenty-two  feet  in  two  days,  rising  the  first 
ten  feet  in  three  hours.  Pieces  of  lignite  and  Cretaceous  shells  were  found  in  this  till. 

T.  Ill,  E.  38.  Absalom  Ames;  sec.  8:  well,  24  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till  12;  yellowish,  and 
darker,  bluish  till,  interbedded,  6;  blue  clay,  soft  and  moist,  considerably  filled  with  fragments 
of  Cretaceous  shells,  4;  water  came  in  a  small  and  narrow  vein  of  fine  gravel,  about  six  inches  in 
diameter,  enclosed  in  this  blue  fossiliferous  clay,  and  rose  six  feet  in  one  day. 

Walnut  Grove, in  North  Hero  township.  Most  of  the  wells  here  are  from  12  to  30  feet  deep, 
their  material  being  yellow  and  blue  till,  containing  occasionally  small  pieces  of  lignite,  and 
rarely  of  wood.  W,  J.  Masters  in  1878  bored  with  a  hope  of  finding  coal  (lignite),  to  a  depth  of 
76  feet  in  the  southwest  part  of  this  corporation,  the  section  being  soil,  2  feet;  yellow  till,  14; 
harder  blue  till,  containing  few  pebbles,  60;  no  coal;  water  rose  to  the  surface.  A  second  boring 
for  coal,  near  the  foregoing,  went  only  27  feet,  because  of  rinding  a  large  amount  of  water  in  quick- 
sand. Its  order  of  materials  was  soil,  2  feet;  yellow  till,  5;  blue  till,  20;  with  quicksand  below, 
from  which  water  rises  to  the  top  and  eight  feet  above  the  surface.  This  fountain  has  been  run- 
ning since  1878,  and  is  the  only  such  flow  of  water  found  in  this  region. 

The  railroad  well  here  is  about  80  feet  deep,  finding  the  yellow  and  blue  till,  of  ordinary 
character,  to  a  depth  of  60  feet;  below  which  was  a  very  hard  and  compact  clay  or  shale,  free 
from  gravel,  adapted  for  making  pottery,  probably  of  Cretaceous  age,  bored  into  about  20  feet, 
but  found  so  hard  that  the  work  was  stopped  in  this  deposit,  without  obtaining  water. 

Underwood.  Malcolm  McNiven;  sec.  6:  well,  34  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  15;  blue  till,  much 
harder,  17;  water  rose  suddenly  eight  feet  from  gravel  at  the  bottom.  Fragments  of  lignite  were 
found. 


586  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINKESOTA. 

[Springs.     Water-powers. 

Westline.  Garrett  Murray;  sec.  14:  well,  30  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  13;  harder  blue  till, 
14;  gravel,  1  foot  and  below,  with  water  rising  from  it  five  or  six  feet. 

Gates.  S.  S.  Gale;  sec.  10:  well,  27  feet;  soil.  2;  gravel  and  sand.  4;  yellow  till,  picked,  6; 
blue  till,  also  picked,  but  softer,  moister,  and  less  gravelly,  and  containing  occasional  pockets  up 
to  six  inches  in  diameter,  of  fine  gray  sand,  15  feet,  and  extending  lower;  at  this  depth  of  27  feet, 
the  compact  till  contained  many  fragments  of  wood.  Another  well,  fifteen  rods  south  of  the  last 
and  on  ground  about  ten  feet  lower,  was  15  feet  deep,  finding  soil  and  gravel  and  sand,  3  feet; 
with  very  compact  till,  which  was  picked,  for  all  below,  containing,  close  to  the  bottom  of  the 
well,  a  prostrate  trunk  of  a  tree,  six  inches  in  diameter,  reaching  five  feet  across  the  well,  at  each 
side  of  which  it  was  chopped  off.  Both  these  wells  thus  encounter  an  interglacial  forest-bed. 

MATERIAL   RESOURCES. 

The  excellence  of  these  counties  for  agriculture,  and  their  areas  of 
woodland  and  prairie,  the  latter  far  exceeding  the  former,  have  been  no- 
ticed in  treating  of  their  soil  and  timber.  Besides  the  fertility  of  the  land, 
this  region  possesses  an  invigorating,  healthful  climate,  and  almost  invari- 
ably good  water  in  its  wells  and  springs.  The  material  resources  which 
remain  to  be  mentioned  are  water-powers,  building  stone,  lime,  bricks,  pot- 
tery, and  mineral  paint.  Explorations  made  for  coal,  its  mode  of  occur- 

• 

rence,  and  the  improbability  that  it  exists  here  in  any  valuable  amount, 
have  been  spoken  of  in  the  account  of  the  Cretaceous  strata.  No  ores  of 
any  practical  importance  have  been  found.  The  principal  resources  of  this 
part  of  the  state  are  the  products  of  its  rich  soil,  and  the  water-powers 
afforded  by  many  of  its  streams. 

Springs  of  water,  often  impregnated  with  iron,  occur  along  the  ravines  and  valleys  of  many 
of  the  creeks  and  rivers  in  these  counties,  one  worthy  of  mention  being  Mound  creek  in  its  course 
through  sections  28,  21  and  22,  Stately.  A  "big  spring,"  well  known  by  this  name,  moderately 
irony,  supplying  nearly  all  the  water  that  is  used  in  the  dry  season  for  running  a  grist-mill  a 
mile  farther  east,  is  in  the  N.  E.  J  of  the  S.  W.  }  of  section  19,  three-quarters  of  a  mile  north- 
west from  Golden  Gate,  in  Home  township.  Both  these  localities  are  in  Brown  county.  At  the 
southwest  side  of  the  Minnesota  valley  in  the  north  part  of  section  30,  Swede's  Forest,  near  the 
west  line  ot  Redwood  county,  is  a  "boiling  spring,"  also  irony;  from  which  a  stream  three  or  four 
feet  wide,  and  six  to  twelve  inches  deep,  flows  away.  This  is  at  the  northwest  side  of  a  rivulet, 
in  a  ravine  some  50  feet  below  the  general  level.  These  springs  issue  from  the  drift,  and  show 
that  large  water-courses  exist  in  sand  and  gravel  veins  or  strata,  enclosed  in  the  till.  Such  sub- 
terranean streams  are  often  struck  in  wells,  with  the  water  sometimes  flowing  constantly  through 
them  at  the  bottom;  but  more  frequently,  when  the  outlet  of  the  spring  is  distant,  the  water  soon 
rises  to  fill  the  well  permanently,  10,  20,  or  30  feet  in  depth. 

Water-powers.  The  water-powers  used  in  Brown  county,  all  employed  by  flouring  mills,  are 
as  follows: 

Leavenworth  mills:  F.  Schieltz;  in  the  east  part  of  sec.  14,  Leaven  worth;  head,  about  ten  feet. 

Iberia  mills:  Schwerdtfeger  &  Platb;  in  the  west  part  of  sec.  16,  Stark;  head,  ten  feet:  canal 
about  forty  rods  long.  . 

Francke  Brothers'  mill;  in  the  S.  E.  J  of  sec.  36,  Home;  head,  eleven  feet. 

Cottonwood  mills:  Frank  &  Bentzin;  at  the  northeast  corner  of  sec.  4,  Cottonwood,  one  and 
a  half  miles  south  from  New  Ulm;  head,  nine  feet;  two  run  of  stone;  a  custom  grist-mill. 

The  foregoing  are  on  the  Cottonwood  river.    Only  one  other  utilized  water-power  was  learned 


BROWN  AND  REDWOOD  COUNTIES.  537 

Stone.     Lime.     Bricks.] 

of  in  Brown  county,  this  being  at  the  Golden  Gate  mill,  a  custom  grist-mill,  owned  by  J.  Heimer- 
dinger  &  Sons,  on  Big  Spring  creek,  in  sec.  20,  in  the  north  part  of  Home  township;  head,  about 
twenty  feet. 

The  only  water-powers  used  in  Redwood  county  are  on  the  river  of  this  name  at  and  below 
Redwood  Falls.  These,  in  descending  order,  are  as  follows:  Delhi  mills,  owned  by  A.  A.  Cook 
&  Co.,  with  a  head  of  twenty  feet;  Redwood  mills,  owned  by  Worden  &  Ruter,  with  a  head  of 
eighteen  feet;  E.  Cuff's  mill,  with  a  head  of  thirteen  feet;  and  E.  Biruui's  mill,  with  a  head  of 
fourteen  feet.  Between  the  second  and  third  is  the  cascade  called  "Redwood  falls,"  which  de- 
scends twenty-five  feet;  and  between  the  third  and  fourth  about  ten  feet  of  fall  is  unused.  The 
foot  of  Birum's  dam  is  30  or  40  feet  above  the  Minnesota  river;  and  the  top  of  Cook  &  Co.'s  dam 
is  140  feet,  approximately,  above  the  Minnesota  river,  being  some  75  feet  below  the  general  level 
of  the  prairie  and  town.  The  beauty  of  this  deep,  rock-walled  gorge,  about  one  and  a  half  miles 
long,  with  its  cascades  and  rapids  and  meandering  river,  can  scarcely  be  over-stated.  Its  geo- 
logical formations  are  equally  interesting,  by  reason  of  their  variety  and  uncommon  character. 

Less  than  a  half  mile  northwest  from  this  gorge,  Ramsey  creek,  a  tributary  of  the  Red- 
wood, has  a  perpendicular  fall  of  30  feet,  over  the  same  granitic  rock  which  forms  the  Redwood 
falls. 

The  Minnesota  river  at  the  north  side  of  Swede's  Forest,  Redwood  county,  has  a  consider- 
able descent,  probably  amounting  in  all  to  25  feet,  in  a  succession  of  rapids,  which  alternate  with 
intervals  of  slow  current,  along  a  distance  of  about  seven  miles,  known  as  Patterson's  rapids. 

Building  stone.  New  Ulm  obtains  considerable  supplies  of  stone  for  common  masonry  from 
the  red  quartzyte  which  outcrops  two  miles  farther  east  on  the  north  side  of  the  Minnesota  river, 
in  Nicollet  county.  Drift  bculders  may  also  be  collected,  and  are  used,  in  most  parts  of  this 
county,  in  the  amount  needed  for  stone-work  on  common  farms,  as  for  foundations,  cellar-walls, 
and  wells.  The  only  quarrying  for  these  purposes  in  Brown  county  is  of  small  amount,  in  an 
outcrop  of  Cretaceous  sandstone,  at  the  north  side  of  the  Cottonwood  river  in  section  25,  North 
Star,  about  a  mile  southwest  from  Springfield  station.  The  recent  calcareous  deposit  generally 
known  as  "petrified  moss,"  occurring  in  the  bed  of  a  small  rivulet  tributary  to  the  Minnesota 
river  near  the  east  line  of  Home  township,  has  been  somewhat  used  as  a  building  material. 

The  gneiss  and  granite  of  the  Minnesota  valley  at  the  north  side  of  Redwood  county  have 
not  yet  been  quarried  to  any  considerable  extent.  The  only  stone  worked  for  masonry  in  this 
county,  excepting  boulders,  is  the  gneiss,  somewhat  decomposing,  at  the  bottom  of  the  gorge  of 
the  Redwood  river,  about  an  eighth  of  a  mile  north  of  Redwood  Falls. 

Lime.  Three  miles  southeast  from  New  Ulm,  beside  the  Minnesota  river  in  section  2,  Cot- 
tonwood, William  Winkelmann's  kiln  has  burned  lime  during  the  past  ten  years  or  more,  from 
the  nodular  limestone  of  the  low  Cretaceous  terrace  before  described.  The  yearly  product  is 
about  3,000  barrels  of  lime,  which  is  sold  at  $1  per  barrel.  This  lime  is  gray,  and  slacks  to  a 
pure  white.  One  to  two  hundred  barrels  of  lime  are  burned  yearly  from  drift  boulders  by  Hanson 
Fisk,  in  Swede's  Forest,  Redwood  county. 

Bricks.  The  brick-yard  at  New  Ulm,  situated  close  southeast  of  the  city,  on  a  terrace 
about  40  feet  above  the  river,  formerly  owned  by  William  Winkelmann,  was  purchased  in  1879  by 
Fritz  Aufderheide,  who  made  about  1,000,000  bricks  here  in  1880,  selling  them  at  $6.50  per 
thousand.  These  are  red  bricks,  of  fair  quality.  No  sand  is  required  for  tempering.  The  clay 
used  is  modified  drift,  probably  overlying  Cretaceous  beds.  It  is  dug  near  the  brick  yard,  on  the 
same  terrace,  showing  a  section  of  about  two  feet  of  fine,  silly,  black  soil,  in  which,  and  scattered 
over  the  surface,  are  occasional  boulders  up  to  four  feet  in  diameter;  underlain  by  yellow  clay, 
finely  laminated,  nearly  horizontal,  but  slightly  undulating  and  irregular  in  stratification,  con^ 
taining  a  few  layers,  up  to  one  or  two  inches  in  thickness,  of  ferruginous  sand,  having  a  vertical 
exposure  in  this  excavation  of  seven  feet  and  extending  lower. 

Before  his  work  here,  Mr.  Aufderheide  had  made  bricks  five  years  in  the  N.  W.  J  of  section 
12,  Milford,  three  miles  northwest  from  New  Ulm,  using  a  similar  stratified,  yellow  clay.  He 
made  700,000  to  800,000  there  yearly;  but  the  business  at  that  locality  is  now  discontinued. 

At  Sleepy  Eye,  a  kiln  of  bricks  was  made  several  years  ago  from  the  pebbly  clay  of  the  till, 
failing  because  of  limestone  particles,  by  which  the  bricks  were  cracked  after  burning. 

Bohn  &  Lamberton,  at  Redwood  Falls,  in  1878,  made  two  kilns  of  red  bricks,  amounting 
to  about  200,000,  which  were  sold  at  48  per  thousand.  The  clay  and  sand  used  are  a  deposit  of 


588  TH15  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Fire-bricks.     Poltcry.     Paint. 

modified  drift,  situated  near  the  top  of  the  bluff  of  Redwood  river,  on  its  west  side,  about  thirty 
rods  north  of  Cook  &  Co.'s  mill,  and  nearly  50  feet  above  their  mill-pond.  The  section  here  is 
black  soil,  2  feet,  gradually  becoming  yellow  in  the  next  2  or  3  feet;  whence,  compact  yellow  clay 
extends  to  9  feet  below  the  surface,  divided  by  darker  partings  into  layers  from  four  inches  to 
eight  inches  or  a  foot  in  thickness,  which  dip  2°  or  3°  E.  These  layers  are  distinctly  continuous 
along  the  whole  extent  of  the  excavation,  about  four  rods.  They  are  probably  the  depositions  of 
successive  years;  the  finer,  dark  partings  being  the  sediments  of  the  season  of  low  water;  while  the 
great  mass  of  each  layer  was  made  by  high  floods,  with  stronger  currents  and  bearing  more 
abundant  detritus,  supplied  from  the  melting  ice-sheet  during  the  warm  portion  of  the  year. 
Below  the  depth  of  8  or  9  feet  the  clay  changes  to  yellowish  sand,  obliquely  bedded  in  layers 
from  a  quarter  of  an  inch  to  one  inch  thick,  separated  by  harder  films  of  iron  rust.  Too  much 
sand  was  mixed  with  the  clay  in  this  brick-making,  so  that  the  bricks  were  somewhat  deficient 
in  hardness  and  durability;  but  the  clay  seems  to  be  excellent  for  this  use. 

Fire-bricks.  From  Cretaceous  beds  on  the  Cottonwood  river,  good  fire-bricks  have  been 
made  by  Christian  Dauffenbach,  by  William  Winkelmann,  and  by  John  Stoeckert,  at  New  Ulm. 
The  characters  of  the  deposits  used,  and  in  what  proportion,  have  been  stated  already  in  the 
description  of  the  section  in  which  they  occur  (page  574). 

Pottery.  Cretaceous  clay,  also  obtained  from  the  bluffs  of  the  Cottonwood  river,  a  few  miles 
farther  west,  as  described  on  page  573,  has  been  used  in  New  Ulm  by  the  same  Messrs.  Dauffen- 
bach, Wiukelmann,  and  Stoeekert,  potters.  In  1879  and  1880,  the  two  former  had  given  up  the 
manufacture  both  of  fire-bricks  and  pottery;  but  these  lines  of  business  are  still  carried  on  by 
Mr.  Stoeekert,  his  products  being  some  $2000  worth  yearly. 

Mineral  paint.  -A  good  and  durable  paint  was  manufactured  in  1868  or  1869  from  ferrugi- 
nous portions  of  the  kaolinized  gneiss  and  granite  mentioned  in  the  vicinity  of  Redwood  Falls. 
The  material  thus  used  was  obtained  from  the  northwest  or  left  bank  of  the  Redwood  river  in  its 
gorge,  about  a  mile  north  of  Redwood  Falls,  in  the  N.  J  of  the  N.  E.  J  of  section  36,  Delhi.  Of 
this  business  Prof.  Winchell  wrote  in  his  second  annual  report:  "At  Redwood  Falls  the  kaolin 
which  has  resulted  from  the  decomposition  of  the  granitic  rock,  has  become  stained  with  iron,  and 
has  a  brownish  or  greenish-brown  color.  It  contains,  generally,  some  silica.  From  this  stained 
kaolin  a  good  mineral  paint  has  been  manufactured.  Messrs.  Grant  and  Brusseau  commenced  the 
enterprise,  and  carried  it  far  enough  to  demonstrate  the  quality  of  the  product.  The  manufac- 
tured article  is  said  to  have  been  equal  to  that  of  Brandon,  Vt..  but  the  cost  was  so  great  that, 
after  transportation  to  St.  Paul,  it  could  not  be  offered  in  the  market  so  cheaply  as  the  Brandon 
paint.  Their  process  was  very  simple.  The  raw  material  was  obtained  from  the  banks  of  the 
Redwood  river,  and  was  of  a  rusty-brown  color,  having  also  a  greenish  tinge.  It  was  broken  or 
crushed  to  the  fineness  of  corn  or  wheat.  It  was  then  dried  in  a  large  pan  placed  over  a  fire,  and 
ground  by  water-power,  between  two  burr-stones.  In  that  condition  it  was  ready  for  use  by 

simply  mixing  with  boiled  or  raw  linseed  oil The  color  produced  was  a  reddish 

umber.  By  making  some  selections  various  lighter  shades,  of  the  same  general  character,  were 
produced.  It  had  a  heavy  sediment,  consisting  probably  of  iron  and  silica.  The  quality  of  the 
paint  is  said  to  have  been  superior  to  that  from  Ohio,  and  fully  equal  to  that  from  Brandon,  Vt. 
The  surface  of  the  wood  painted  becomes  hardened  and  glazed,  but  remains  smooth." 

ABORIGINAL    EARTHWORKS. 

The  only  aboriginal  mound  observed  or  learned  of  by  inquiries  in  Brown  and  Redwood 
counties,  is  situated  a  little  more  than  a  mile  northeast  from  Redwood  Falls,  being  on  the  high 
prairie,  about  ten  rods  northwest  from  the  road  and  twenty-five  rods  south  from  the  edge  of  the 
southwest  bluff  of  the  Minnesota  valley.  It  has  the  usual  circular,  dome-like  form,  and  is  six  feet 
high. 


l'l..\TK  27. 


Z./JC          Q    U    I          P  A    R    L     E  C     C 


GEOLOGICAL  AM)  NATURAL  IIISTOHY 

srKVL'Y  OF  MINNESOTA 


YELLOW  MEDICINE 
LYONAN1J  LINCOLN  * 
COUNTIES 


BY    WARREN     U  PHAM 


Explanation. 

UilUtyo<A>W^fri>?,  GravtL  arid  Jand  . 

1  SmttaOily  nndiiietting  OT-  rolling . 

"S  I i^lforf  prominently  Tolling. 

\\        \ffo,t7/y  and,  h&iy ,  Terminal  Afor 

Ill  Crttet-Cfffua  Son  fistone. . 

BB  Gneiss,  •SchiAte.dTtuiitf  and  •S 


Contour  Lines  are  shoivn  cipproarimfitc/v  ! 
tafK-So  itft  above  thf  .yea.. 


K.  XL.V]      W  B.     XL\'      \\'  R     XLJV    \v 

PIPESTONE        COUNTY 


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.III    W.  H..XI.II     W  H.XUVr:  [(     XI. 

M     U     H      R        AY  COUNTY 


CHAPTER  XX. 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  YELLOW  MEDICINE,  LYON  AND  LINCOLN 

COUNTIES. 


BY   WARREN   UPHAM. 


Situation  and  area.  These  counties  (plate-pages  27  and  28)  lie  in  south- 
western Minnesota,  together  forming  a  district  which  is  bordered  on  the 
northeast  by  the  Minnesota  river  and  on  the  west  by  Dakota.  The  south 
boundary  of  this  district  is  48  miles  north  of  the  Iowa  line.  Its  largest 
towns  are  Granite  Falls  and  Canby  in  Yellow  Medicine  county,  the  former 
being  the  county  seat;  Tracy,  Marshall  and  Minneota,  in  Lyon  county,  on 
the  Winona  &  Saint  Peter  division  of  the  Chicago  and  Northwestern  rail- 
way, Marshall  being  the  county  seat;  Balaton,  in  the  south  part  of  the 
same  county,  on  the  Dakota  Central  railway,  a  branch  of  the  foregoing; 
and  Tyler,  Lake  Benton  and  Verdi,  on  the  same  railway,  in  the  south  part  of 
Lincoln  county,  of  which  Lake  Benton  is  the  county  seat.  The  distances 
from  Minneapolis  and  Saint  Paul  west  to  Granite  Falls,  measured  in  a  direct 
line,  are  about  112  and  120  miles;  from  these  cities  to  Marshall,  which  is 
about  28  miles  south-southwest  from  Granite  Falls,  the  distance  is  approx- 
imately 135  miles;  and  to  Lake  Benton,  which  is  again  28  miles  southwest- 
erly from  Marshall,  the  distance  west-southwest  from  Minneapolis  is  about 
160  miles,  and  from  Saint  Paul,  165  miles. 

The  areas  of  these  counties,  in  square  miles,  is  as  follows: 

Land.  Water.  Total 

Yellow  Medicine, 752.60        10.52        763.12 

Lyon, 709.50        11.16        720.66 

Lincoln, 522.43        19.56        541.99 


590  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Natural  drainage. 

• 

SURFACE  FEATURES. 

Natural  drainage.  The  streams  of  this  district  are  tributary  to  the 
Minnesota  river,  excepting  the  southwest  corner  of  Lincoln  county  which 
lies  within  the  basin  of  the  Big  Sioux  river,  and  a  small  tract  at  the  south 
side  of  Lyon  county,  drained  to  lake  Shetek  and  the  Des  Moines  river. 
Four  great  branches  of  the  Minnesota  river  gather  their  waters  partly  or 
wholly  in  these  counties,  namely,  in  their  order  from  northwest  to  south- 
east, the  Lac  qui  Parle,  Yellow  Medicine,  Redwood  and  Gottonwood  rivers. 
Only  the  second  of  these  has  its  entire  basin  and  course  within  this  district. 

Lac  qui  Parle  river  receives  the  drainage  from  an  area  of  about  60  square  miles  in  northwest- 
ern Lincoln  county,  and  210  square  miles,  approximately,  in  the  west  part  of  Yellow  Medicine 
county.  Its  principal  head-streams  in  this  district,  in  order  from  northwest  to  southeast  are 
Florida  and  Canby  creeks,  and  the  East  branch  of  Lac  qui  Parle  river,  the  last  of  which  receives 
the  overflow  of  lake  Hendricks  on  the  state  line.  Between  this  basin  and  the  Yellow  Medicine 
river,  the  creek  called  Stony  run,  tributary  to  the  Minnesota  river,  drains  a  tract  of  about  150 
square  miles,  lying  wholly  in  Yellow  Medicine  county. 

The  name  of  the  yellow  Medicine  river,  from  the  stream  applied  to  the  county,  is  the  transla- 
tion of  the  Dakota  name  Pejuta  zizi,  which  signifies,  according  to  Mr.  T.  M.  Young,  the  long  and 
slender,  bitter,  yellow  root  of  the  moonseed  (Mffnispermum  Canadense),  used  by  the  Indians  as  a 
medicine.  This  plant  is  found  commonly  along  the  banks  and  bluffs  of  streams  throughout  the 
state.  The  basin  of  the  Yellow  Medicine  river  includes  about  260  square  miles  in  the  central  and 
northeastern  portions  of  Lincoln  county;  about  HO  square  miles  in  northwestern  Lyon  county; 
and  some  200  square  miles  in  Yellow  Medicine  county;  its  whole  area  being  thus  approximately 
600  square  miles.  The  farthest  source  of  this  river  is  lake  Shaokatan,  fifty  miles  southwest  from 
its  mouth.  Besides  these  tributaries,  several  small  creeks,  two  to  four  miles  long,  join  the  Minne- 
sota river  in  Yellow  Medicine  county,  mostly  produced  by  large  springs  which  issue  from  the 
bluffs  of  the  Minnesota  valley,  or  within  the  ravines  which  their  outflow  has  channeled. 

The  basin  of  the  Hedwood  river  in  this  district  embraces  about  450  square  miles,  125  of  which 
are  in  southeastern  Lincoln  county,  the  remainder  being  a  belt  that  crosses  Lyon  county  from 
southwest  to  northeast.  Lake  Benton,  the  farthest  source  of  the  Redwood  river,  is  sixty  miles 
from  its  mouth.  The  largest  tributary  of  this  river  in  its  whole  course  is  Three  Mile  creek,  which 
flows  from  the  west  line  of  Lyon  county  northeastward  twenty  miles,  nearly  parallel  with  the 
Redwood  river  and  three  to  five  miles  northwest  from  it. 

An  area  of  about  240  square  miles  in  southern  and  southeastern  Lyon  county  is  tributary, 
by  many  creeks,  to  the  Cottonwood  river.  The  most  northwestern  branch  of  this  river  flows  east- 
ward nearly  through  the  center  of  Lake  Marshall  township,  being  only  two  to  three  miles 
southeast  from  the  Redwood  river.  Another  important  branch  rises  in  northwestern  Murray 
county,  runs  northeasterly  between  Rock  lake  and  lake  Yankton,  and  crosses  the  Winona  &  St. 
Peter  railroad  close  south  of  Amiret. 

Each  of  these  four  large  tributaries  of  the  Minnesota  receives  numerous  small  creeks  in 
these  counties  from  the  northeastern  slope  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies,  the  base  of  which  extends 
from  the  southeast  part  of  Lyon  county  northwest  across  this  district,  and  enters  Dakota  at  the 
northwest  corner  of  Yellow  Medicine  county.  The  waters  that  have  sunk  into  the  drift-sheet 
upon  the  higher  plateau-like  portion  of  the  Coteau,  which  extends  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  far- 
ther west,  re-appear  in  springs  along  the  great  slope,  about  five  miles  wide  with  a  descent  of  250 
to  500  feet,  which  forms  the  limit  of  this  highland  toward  the  northeast,  notably  distinguished 
on  the  maps  by  its  many  small  streams  flowing  northeastward. 

Lake  Shetek,  tributary  to  the  Des  Moines  river,  lies  close  south  of  this  district  in  Murray 
county,  and  its  area  of  drainage  extends  into  Lyon  county  at  the  middle  of  its  south  side  so  as 
to  include  fifteen  or  twenty  square  miles  of  Rock  Lake  and  Custer  townships. 


YELLOW  MEDICINE,  LYON  AND  LINCOLN  COUNTIES.  591 

Lakcs.J 

Nearly  a  hundred  square  miles  in  southwestern  Lincoln  county,  lying  southwest  of  the  high- 
est ridge  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies,  are  drained  into  the  Big  Sioux  rirer,  by  Medary  and  Flan- 
dreau  creeks.  This  area  includes  Verdi,  and  parts  of  Shaokatan,  Drammen  and  Lake  Benton 
townships.  Its  surface  is  a  smooth  expanse  of  till,  sloping  gently  to  the  southwest,  character- 
ized by  the  absence  of  lakes,  like  Pipestone  and  Rock  counties  on  the  south,  which,  with  this 
tract,  lie  west  and  outside  of  the  western  and  outer  terminal  moraine. 

Lakes.  East  of  this  outer  moraine,  lakes  and  sloughs  are  frequent  in  this  district,  excepting 
the  central  and  north  parts  of  Yellow  Medicine  county.  They  are  most  abundant  upon  the  Co- 
teau des  Prairies  between  its  two  morainic  belts.  The  largest  are  lakes  Benton,  Shaokatan  and 
Hendricks,  respectively  six,  three,  and  three  and  a  half  miles  long,  trending  from  northeast  to 
southwest,  lying  in  Lincoln  county  close  to  the  western  moraine,  with  the  description  of  which 
these  lakes  will  be  noticed  more  fully.  More  than  thirty  other  lakes,  varying  from  a  half  mile 
to  one  and  a  half  miles  in  length,  most  frequently  having  the  longer  axis  from  north  to  south, 
occur  in  central  and  southeastern  Lincoln  county.  Among  these  are  Eagle  lake,  more  than  a 
mile  long  from  northwest  to  southeast,  crossed  by  the  line  between  Royal  and  Limestone  town- 
ships; lake  Stay,  one  mile  long  from  north  to  south,  which  gives  name  to  its  township;  lake 
Nova,  formerly  called  Dead  Coon  lake,  one  and  a  half  miles  long  from  north  to  south  and  half  as 
wide,  in  the  northeast  part  of  Marshfield;  and  Cottonwood  lake,  about  a  mile  long  from  north- 
west to  southeast  and  a  half  mile  wide,  in  the  south  edge  of  Marshfield  and  close  north  of  Tyler 
station.  The  basin  of  the  last  named  lake  was  dry  some  fifteen  years  ago;  in  1875  it  held  a  lake 
of  the  area  mentioned  and  five  to  ten  feet  deep;  in  1880  it  it  was  again  wholly  dry,  and  had  been 
so  for  two  or  three  years,  being  all  hard  mowing-land,  yielding  coarse  marsh-grass  and  sedges, 
with  cattle  pasturing  there,  and  having  a  dwelling-house  on  the  lake-bottom.  These  changes  are 
a  register  of  variations  in  the  average  annual  rain-fall. 

In  southwestern  Lyon  county  the  continuation  of  this  region  of  lakes  includes  Goose  lake 
and  Island  lake,  each  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  long  from  north  to  soulh,  in  the  south  part  of 
Island  Lake  township;  lake  Marguerite,  more  than  a  mile  long  from  north  to  south,  in  the  north 
part  of  T.  1 1O,  R.  43 ;  Black  Rush  lake,  about  a  mile  in  extent,  filled  with  rushes,  near  the 
center  of  Lyons;  two  lakes,  each  about  a  mile  long,  in  southwestern  Shelburne,  near  the  corner 
of  the  county;  Rock  lake  and  lake  Yankton,  each  more  than  a  mile  long  from  north  to  south,  in 
Rock  Lake  township;  Long  lake,  a  mile  long  from  northwest  to  southeast,  in  the  south  part  of 
Custer;  and  lake  Sigel,  about  a  half  mile  in  diameter,  in  southwestern  Monroe,  two  miles  south 
of  Tracy. 

The  only  other  lakes  to  be  mentioned  in  Lyon  county,  are  lake  Marshall,  one  and  a  half 
miles  long  from  northwest  to  southeast  but  narrow,  in  the  southeast  part  of  Lake  Marshall  town- 
ship; Swan  and  Goose  lakes,  crossed  by  the  east  line  of  the  county  at  the  east  side  of  sections  12 
and  1,  Stanley;  and  Lady's  Shoe,  Lady's  Slipper  and  Coltonwood  lakes,  each  about  a  mile  long, 
and  Sham  lake,  of  smaller  size,  a  mile  east  from  the  last,  all  situated  in  Lucas,  the  most  north- 
east township  of  the  county. 

The  greater  part  of  Yellow  Medicine  county  has  no  considerable  lakes.  This  area  probably 
was  covered  by  a  broad  and  shallow  expanse  of  water  during  the  recession  of  the  ice-sheet,  by 
which  the  surface,  consisting  of  till,  in  some*  parts  slightly  modified,  was  smoothed,  and  its  hol- 
lows that  would  have  held  lakes  were  filled;  as  the  nearly  flat  sheet  of  till  that  forms  the  south- 
ern part  and  the  sides  of  the  great  plain  of  the  Red  river  valley  was  smoothed  by  lake  Agassiz  at 
this  epoch.  Upon  the  Coteau  at  the  west  end  of  this  county  occasional  lakelets  are  found  nes- 
tled among  its  knolls  and  irregular  short  ridges  of  morainic  drift;  and  on  the  moderately  undu- 
lating or  rolling  tract  of  till  in  the  southeast  part  of  the  county  are  numerous  lakes  from  a  half 
mile  to  one  and  a  half  miles  long.  These  include  a  group  of  three  in  the  central  part  of  Nor- 
mania;  Wood  and  Sand  lakes,  each  more  than  a  mile  long,  and  trending  respectively  from  north- 
east to  southwest  and  from  east  to  west,  in  Wood  Lake  township;  Tyson's  lake,  a  mile  long  from 
east  to  west,  in  the  north  part  of  Posen;  and  two  lakes,  of  irregular  form,  each  a  mile  or  more  in 
extent,  in  Echo,  the  eastmost,  situated  near  the  center  of  the  township,  being  called  the  lake  of 
the  Woods. 

Topography.    The  Minnesota  valley  along  the  northeast  side  of  Yellow 
Medicine  county  is  from  one  to  one  and  a  half  miles  wide,  and  consists  of 


592  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Topography. 

an  alluvial  bottomland,  mostly  within  reach  of  the  highest  floods,  and 
steep  enclosing  bluffs,  from  whose  top  a  vast  prairie  of  undulating  till  or 
glacial  drift  stretches  away  on  each  side  in  an  apparently  almost  level  ex- 
panse as  far  as  the  view  extends. 

In  these  twenty-five  miles  the  Minnesota  valley  grows  deeper  from  northwest  to  southeast, 
its  depth  being  approximately  100  feet  at  Montevideo;  150  feet  at  Granite  Falls;  165  feet  at  Min- 
nesota Falls;  and  175  feet  at  the  mouth  of  tho  Yellow  Medicine  river.  This  tributary  has  cut  a 
valley  equal  in  depth,  along  the  lower  part  of  its  course,  to  that  of  the  Minnesota,  and  from  a 
half  mile  to  one  mile  in  width,  leaving  between  these  valleys  in  the  north  part  of  Sioux  Agency 
township  a  promontory  or  plateau,  some  three  miles  long  and  less  than  a  mile  wide,  upon  which 
the  ruins  of  the  buildings  of  the  Upper  Sioux  Agency  remain.  At  Sorlien's  mill,  in  the  south 
edge  of  section  35,  Minnesota  Falls,  about  four  and  a  half  miles  above  its  mouth,  the  valley  of 
the  Yellow  Medicine  river  is  75  to  100  feet  deep.  Westward  in  this  county  and  the  northwest 
part  of  Lyon  county,  its  depth  is  diminished  from  75  to  40  or  50  feet;  and  at  the  foot  of  the 
Coteau,  where  its  head-streams  are  crossed  by  the  railroad,  they  flow  in  channels  only  20  to  30 
feet  below  the  average  surface.  The  bluffs  of  both  the  Minnesota  and  Yellow  Medicine  valleys 
are  cut  by  mf.ny  short  ravines,  occupied  by  springs  and  rivulets,  and  all  their  tributary  creeks 
have  formed  channels  that  increase  in  depth  as  they  approach  these  great  valleys.  The  branches 
of  the  Lac  qui  Parle  river,  from  the  foot  of  the  Coteau  to  the  north  line  of  Yellow  Medicine 
county,  flow  30  to  40  feet  below  the  general  level;  and  valleys  of  about  the  same  depth  have  been 
eroded  by  the  Redwood  river  in  the  vicinity  of  Marshall  and  thence  to  the  east  line  of  Lyon 
county;  by  its  tributary,  Three  Mile  creek,  from  Grandview  to  its  mouth;  and  by  the  most  north- 
ern and  main  stream  of  the  Cottonwood  river. 

Excepting  the  valleys  which  have  been  thus  cut  by  streams,  a  gently  undulating  or  in  some 
portions  moderately  rolling  sheet  of  till  covers  the  northeastern  half  of  this  district,  reaching 
from  the  Minnesota  river  twenty-five  to  thirty  miles  southwest  to  the  Cottonwood  river  and  Mar- 
shall lake  in  eastern  Lyon  county,  and  to  the  Winona  &  St.  Peter  railroad  in  its  course  thence 
through  Marshall.  Minneota  and  Canby,  and  nearly  to  the  state  line.  This  expanse  has  a  grad- 
ual ascent  southwestward  of  six  to  ten  feet  per  mile,  so  that  the  railroad  between  Marshall  and 
Canby  is  from  150  to  250  feet  above  the  general  level  of  the  country  adjoining  the  Minnesota 
valley. 

The  most  rolling  portions  of  this  area  are  in  two  belts.  One  of  these  lies  in  eastern  Yellow 
Medicine  county,  within  four  to  eight  miles  west  from  the  Minnesota  valley,  including  Stony 
Run,  the  northeast  part  of  Hazel  Run,  Minnesota  Falls,  eastern  Wood  Lake,  Sioux  Agency  and 
Echo.  In  going  westward  from  Granite  Falls,  the  first  one  and  a  half  miles  are  on  the  bottom- 
land, which  here  averages  20  feet  above  the  river  and  has  many  scattered  knobs  and  small  ridges 
of  gneiss,  10  to  40  feet  higher;  then  the  southwestern  bluff  of  the  valley  is  ascended,  to  the  gen- 
eral surface  of  the  prairie,  some  150  feet  above  the  river.  This  is  moderately  undulating  for 
about  a  half  mile,  at  which  distance  from  the  Minnesota  valley  it  is  marked  by  a  depression,  from 
an  eighth  to  a  quarter  of  a  mile  wide,  and  20  to  30  feet  deep,  bordered  by  gently  sloping  sides, 
and  reaching  several  miles  from  northwest  to  southeast,  parallel  with  the  Minnesota  valley.  The 
entire  extent  of  this  hollow  was  not  traced.  It  is  believed  to  have  been  excavated  by  drainage 
during  the  final  melting  of  the  last  ice-sheet.  Similar  old  water-courses,  now  dry,  extend  in  the 
same  direction  through  Omro  and  Wergeland  in  the  west  part  of  this  county.  These  are  de- 
scribed, and  the  mode  of  their  formation  explained,  in  treating  of  the  glacial  drift.  West  of  this 
channel  the  surface  is  quite  rolling  for  two  or  three  miles,  in  smoothed  swells  and  mounds,  20  to 
30  or  sometimes  40  feet  high,  mostly  trending  from  northwest  to  southeast.  Thence  the  contour 
becomes  gradually  more  even,  so  that  at  six  or  seven  miles  from  Granite  Falls,  and  onward,  it  is 
nearly  flat  and  very  smooth,  undulating  only  10  to  20  feet  in  long  slopes.  Southeastward  from 
the  Yellow  Medicine  river,  by  the  east  side  of  Wood  and  Sand  lakes  to  the  lake  of  the  Woods, 
some  portions  of  the  surface  are  more  prominently  rolling  than  west  of  Granite  Falls,  having 
here  and  there  massive  swells,  25  to  50  feet  above  the  average  of  this  region,  which  both  in  its 
hilly  and  in  its  nearly  level  areas  is  till. 


YELLOW  MEDICINE,  LYON  AND  LINCOLN  COUNTIES.  593 

Antelope  hills  and  valley.      Coteau  des  Prairies.] 

In  western  Yellow  Medicine  county,  a  few  miles  northeast  from  Canby  and  the  Winona  & 
St.  Peter  railroad,  we  find  another  rolling  belt,  more  broken  and  irregular  in  contour  than  the 
preceding,  with  steeper  knolls  and  short  ridges,  from  15  or  20  to  40  or  50  feet  in  hight,  but  oc- 
cupying a  narrower  area,  which  varies  from  an  eighth  of  a  mile  to  one  mile,  or  at  the  most  only 
two  or  three  miles,  in  width.  These  drift  accumulations  consist  of  till,  with  many  boulders,  and 
appear  to  be  a  terminal  moraine,  heaped  along  the  border  of  an  ice-sheet.  They  extend  in  a  con- 
tinuous series,  from  near  the  south  line  of  Yellow  Medicine  county,  northwesterly  to  the  Ante- 
lope hills  in  Lac  qui  Parle  county,  and  onward  through  that  county  into  Dakota.  At  the  west 
side  of  this  low  range  of  knolly  and  hilly  drift,  between  it  and  the  massive  highland  of  the  Co- 
teau des  Prairies,  there  intervenes  a  belt  of  smooth,  slightly  undulating  till,  three  to  six  miles 
wide,  called  the  Antelope  valley.  This  is  part  of  the  undulating  area,  approximately  a  plain, 
that  rises  imperceptibly  from  the  Minnesota  river  to  the  Coteau;  and  its  somewhat  valley-like 
appearance  is  due  to  its  being  separated  from  the  broad  eastern  part  of  this  expanse  by  the 
moraine,  which  attains  a  hight  25  to  100  feet  above  the  general  level,  culminating  in  the  Antelope 
hills. 

The  Coteau  des  Prairies.  A  large  area  extending  from  southeast  to  northwest  through 
southwestern  Minnesota,  including  the  southwest  half  of  this  district,  lias  an  elevation  from  500 
to  1000  feet  above  the  Minnesota  river,  and  from  1300  to  2000  feet  above  the  sea.  Upon  this 
highland  are  the  sources  of  Lac  qui  Parle,  Yellow  Medicine,  Redwood  and  Cottonwood  rivers; 
of  the  Des  Moines  river;  and  of  the  Little  and  Big  Sioux  rivers,  tributary  to  the  Missouri.  This 
elevated  tract,  throughout  its  course  of  two  hundred  miles,  was  called  by  the  earliest  French 
explorers  the  Coteau  des  Prairies,  meaning  the  Highland  of  the  Prairies.  Nicollet  applies  this 
name  to  an  area  ten  to  thirty  or  forty  miles  wide,  its  width  through  this  district  being  twenty  to 
thirty  miles. 

This  highland  may  be  described,  in  general,  as  a  long  plateau  or  massive  ridge,  in  part 
smoothly  undulating  or  rolling  in  contour,  but  having  two  belts  (terminal  moraines)  which  are 
very  irregularly  broken  by  steep  hills,  knolls,  and  small  ridges,  25  to  100  feet  above  the  in- 
tervening hollows.  If  we  except  the  massive  ridge  of  red  quartzyte  in  northern  Cottonwood 
county,  no  exposure  of  the  bed-rock  is  known  along  the  entire  extent  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies, 
and  its  surface  everywhere  is  a  thick  sheet  of  the  unstratifled  glacial  drift,  called  till  or  boulder- 
clay.  On  its  smooth  areas  this  deposit  has  few  boulders;  but  in  the  two  roughly  hilly  belts  it  has 
very  abundant  boulders  and  increased  proportions  of  gravel  and  sand.* 

Elevations,  Winona  &  St.  Peter  division,  Chicago  &  Northwestern  railway. 
From  John  E.  Blunt,  engineer,  Winona. 

Miles  from    Feet  above 
Winona.         the  sea. 

Tracy 226.55  1403 

Amiret 233.65  1283 

Marshall 243.85  1174 

Grandview '. . .  .250.75  1173 

Minneota 256.52  1179 

Canby 274.03  1243 

Gary 284.62  1484 

Elevations,  Dakota  Central  railway. 

Tracy 226.55  1403 

Balaton 239.55  1528 

Redwood  river 246.60  1592 

Redwood  bridge 246.60  1631 

Tyler 253.70  1750 

Lake  Benton,  station 261.50  1759 

Lake  Benton,  water 261.50  1754 

Summit,  grade 262.50  1762 

Depression,  grade 265.50  1715 

Verdi ..267.60  1771 


*For  Nicollet's  description  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies,  see  p.  68;  compare  also  pp.  494,  519.  539  and  544:  and  for  a 
efull  discussion  of  both  its  topographic  and  geologic  features,  consult  a  later  part  of  this  chapter. 

38 


594  TIIE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Elevations. 

The  elevation  of  the  Minnesota  river  along  the  northeast  side  of  Yellow  Medicine  county, 
at  ordinary  low  water,  above  which  its  highest  floods  rise  15  to  20  feet,  is  approximately  as  follows- 

Feet  above 
the  sea. 

At  the  extreme  northern  point  of  Yellow  Medicine  county,  opposite  to  Montevideo 

and  the  mouth  of  the  Chippewa  river 913 

Above  Granite  Falls ' 908 

Below  Granite  Falls 870 

Below  Minnesota  Falls 856 

At  the  mouth  of  Yellow  Medicine  river 848 

At  the  east  line  of  this  county 845 

The  East  branch  of  Lac  qui  Parle  river  crosses  the  north  line  of  Yellow  Medicine  county  at 
an  estimated  hight  of  1150  feet  above  the  sea.  From  Alta  Vista  and  Minneota  the  descent  of 
the  Yellow  Medicine  river  to  its  mouth  is  about  300  feet.  At  the  east  line  of  Lyon  county  the 
elevations  of  the  Redwood  and  Cotton  wood  rivers  are  about  1100  and  1120  feet,  respectively, 
above  the  sea.  Lake  Benton,  at  the  source  of  the  Bed  wood  river,  is  650  feet  higher,  being  1754 
feet  above  the  sea,  which  is  also  approximately  the  altitude  of  lakes  Shaokatan  and  Hendricks. 
The  general  elevation  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies  has  been  already  stated.  Its  highest  points  in 
this  district,  upon  the  outer  terminal  moraine,  are  from  1900  to  1975  feet  above  the  sea,  being  the 
highest  land  in  southwestern  Minnesota.  From  the  west  line  of  Lincoln  county  to  the  Head  of 
the  Coteau,  in  Dakota,  this  moraine,  lying  upon  or  near  the  summit  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies, 
has  an  elevation  of  1900  to  2050  feet  above  the  sea,  or  about  a  thousand  feet  above  lakes  Traverse 
and  Big  Stone.  This  highland  is  very  prominently  seen  in  the  view  westward  from  the  vicinity 
of  these  lakes,  and  from  central  Yellow  Medicine  county,  and  less  conspicuously  from  northern 
and  northeastern  Lyon  county.  The  inner  moraine,  situated  on  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Coteau, 
is  in  this  district  from  1500  to  1700  feet  above  the  sea. 

Yellow  Medicine  county  has  a  difference  in  elevation  of  about  900  feet 
between  its  highest  point,  on  or  near  the  Dakota  line,  in  the  southwest 
corner  of  the  county,  about  1750  feet  above  sea-level,  and  its  lowest  land, 
the  shore  of  the  Minnesota  river  at  its  eastern  boundary.  The  average 
hights  of  the  townships  of  this  county  are  estimated  as  follows:  Sioux 
Agency,  1010  feet  above  the  sea;  Echo,  1050;  Otis,  950;  Minnesota  Falls, 
1000;  Wood  Lake,  1060;  Posen,  1090;  Stony  Run,  1020;  Hazel  Run,  1060; 
Sannes,  1075;  Lisbon,  1075;  Friendship,  1100;  Normania,  1110;  Tyro,  1130; 
Swede  Prairie,  1150;  Omro,  1175;  Burton,  1180;  Oshkosh,  1220;  Wergeland, 
1240;  Hammer,  1260;  Norman,  1400;  Florida,  1450;  and  Fortier,  1600.  From 
these  figures  the  mean  elevation  of  the  whole  county  is  found  to  be  about 
1165  feet. 

The  highest  land  of  Lyon  county,  in  its  southwest  part,  is  about  1750 
feet,  and  its  lowest  land,  where  the  Redwood  river  crosses  its  east  line,  is 
about  1100  feet  above  the  sea-level.  Estimates  of  the  average  elevation  of 
its  townships  are:  Lucas,  1125  feet;  Stanley,  1130;  Clifton,  1160;  Amiret, 
1225;  Monroe,  1400;  Vallers,  1150;  Fairview,  1175;  Lake  Marshall,  1200; 
Sodus,  1300;  Ouster,  1460;  Westerheim,  1175;  Grandview,  1200;  Lynd,  1300: 
Lyons,  1450;  Rock  Lake,  1560;  Eidsvold,  1200;  Nordland,  1350;  Island  Lake, 


YELLOW  MEDICINE,  LYON  AND  LINCOLN  COUNTIES.  595 

Soil  and  timber.] 

1500;  T.  110,  R.  43,  1625;  and  Shelburne,  1700.  The  mean  elevation  of 
Lyon  county  is  thus  about  1320  feet,  or  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  above  the  sea. 
In  Lincoln  county  the  greatest  elevation  is  the  top  of  the  outer  moraine 
west  and  south  of  lak-e  Benton,  1950  to  1975  feet  above  the  sea,  and  about 
200  feet  above  this  lake.  The  lowest  land  of  the  county  is  near  its  north- 
east corner,  where  the  Yellow  Medicine  river  crosses  the  east  line  of  Alta 
Vista,  about  1175  feet  above  the  sea,  or  800  feet  below  this  crest  of  the 
Coteau  des  Prairies,  twenty-five  miles  distant  in  the  southwest  part  of  the 
county.  At  the  southwest  corner  of  Lake  Benton  township,  where  the 
channel  that  extends  south  from  the  "  Hole  in  the  Mountain"  is  crossed  by 
the  county  line,  its  hight  is  about  1675  feet,  being  some  90  feet  below  its 
highest  point,  which  is  a  mile  southwest  from  Lake  Benton.  The  mean 
hights  of  the  townships  of  Lincoln  county  are  nearly  as  follows:  Alta  Vista, 
1325  feet  above  the  sea;  Limestone,  1600;  Lake  Stay,  1700;  Marshfield,  1750; 
Hope,  1775;  Marble,  1550;  Royal,  1700;  Ash  Lake,  1760;  Diamond  Lake,  1800; 
Lake  Benton,  1850;  T.  113,  R.  46,  1725;  Hendricks,  1775;  Shaokatan,  1825; 
Drammen,  1875;  and  Verdi,  1850.  According  to  these  estimates  the  mean 
elevation  of  this  county  above  the  sea  is  approximately  1725  feet. 

Soil  and  timber.  The  soil  throughout  this  district  is  almost  everywhere  the  somewhat  stony 
and  gravelly  clay  of  the  unmodified  glacial  drift.  Vegetable  decay  has  enriched  this  and  colored 
it  black  to  a  depth  that  averages  about  two  feet,  but  varies  from  one  to  four  feet,  being  greatest 
in  depressions  and  least  upon  swells  or  knolls,  especially  on  the  hillocks  and  small  ridges  of  the 
moraines.  Below  this  soil  the  drift,  mainly  consisting  of  the  same  boulder-clay,  extends  from 
fifty  to  a  hundred  or  two  hundred  feet  in  depth,  being  yellowish  and  usually  soft  enough  to  be 
dug  with  a  spade  for  a  thickness  of  ten  or  twenty  feet,  and  thence  dark  bluish  and  harder,  re- 
quiring to  be  picked.  This  deposit,  called  till,  is  made  up  of  the  materials  gathered  during  the 
ice  age  from  near  and  remote  portions  of  a  large  district  northward,  mingled  and  spread  in  an 
unstratified  mass,  which  nearly  everywhere  is  principally  clay,  but  also  includes  considerable  pro- 
portions of  sand  and  gravel,  and  occasional  boulders.  The  majority  of  its  large  boulders  are 
granite  and  gneiss,  while  most  of  its  clay  is  probably  derived  from  Cretaceous  beds  of  clay  and 
shale.  Magnesian  limestone,  occurring  in  fragments,  from  blocks  ten  or  fifteen  feet  in  diameter 
to  the  smallest  pebbles,  and  pulverized,  forming  then  an  indistinguishable  part  of  the  till,  is  one 
of  its  most  important  ingredients  in  this  region  and  through  all  western  Minnesota.  Dissolved 
in  the  waters  of  wells  and  springs,  it  makes  them  hard,  diminishing  their  desirability  for  wash- 
ing and  for  use  in  the  boilers  of  steam-engines,  but  not  for  drinking  and  cooking.  On  the  other 
hand  this  element  contributes  a  large  share  toward  making  the  very  fertile  soil  of  this  district, 
and  producing  the  magnificent  harvests  of  wheat,  which  are  its  principal  export  and  source  of 
wealth. 

Much  of  the  water  that  falls  as  rain  is  absorbed  by  the  land  and  is  gradually  given  up  to 
growing  crops;  while  the  surplus  waters  of  heavy  rains  and  of  snow-melting  in  spring  are  soon 
drained  away  by  the  undulating  slopes  of  the  surface,  and  by  its  many  water-courses.  Here  and 
there,  however,  on  the  approximately  level  parts  of  the  district,  frequent  shallow  depressions, 
mostly  of  small  area,  are  left  without  outlet  and  continue  marshy  till  the  driest  season  or  through 
the  whole  year.  These  wet  tracts,  which  are  called  sloughs,  bear  luxuriant  grass,  and  are  valu- 
able for  their  hay,  the  yield  of  which  is  from  two  to  three  tons  per  acre. 


596  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Soil  and  timber. 

Nearly  the  whole  of  this  district  is  prairie,  or  natural  grass-land  without  trees  or  bushes. 
Excepting  a  tenth  or  twentieth  part,  occupied  by  sloughs,  this  is  dry,  undulating  or  rolling  up- 
land, which  affords  excellent  pasturage,  but  yields  less  than  half  as  much  hay  per  acre  as  the 
wet  lowlands.  Its  smooth  areas  are  ready  for  plowing  and  sowing,  and  are  mostly  occupied  by 
farms,  though  as  yet  only  a  small  part  of  the  land  has  been  brought  under  cultivation.  Its  yearly 
product  of  wheat  to  the  acre  is  ten  to  twenty-five  bushels.  Many  other  crops  grow  well,  includ- 
ing oats,  corn,  barley,  potatoes,  and  the  common  garden  vegetables  and  small  fruits. 

The  agricultural  value  of  the  belts  occupied  by  the  terminal  moraines,  with  their  small  and 
steep  knolls  and  ridges,  and  abundant  boulders,  is  much  less  than  that  of  the  smooth  drift  which 
covers  the  other  parts  of  this  region.  Among  the  hills  of  this  formation,  however,  are  found  con- 
siderable areas  which  have  a  smooth  surface,  nearly  free  from  boulders,  and  possess  a  rich  soil; 
while  the  portions  which  are  too  knolly  and  stony  for  desirable  cultivation  are  valuable  for  graz- 
ing. 

Timber  occurs  in  this  district  only  in  narrow  belts  along  the  rivers  and  in  groves  of  small 
area  bordering  lakes.  At  the  northeast  side  of  Yellow  Medicine  county,  it  fringes  the  bank  of 
the  Minnesota  river,  but  leaves  much  of  the  bottomland  treeless,  excepting  an  extent  of  about 
three  miles,  lying  below  (southwest  and  south  from)  Minnesota  Falls,  where  the  entire  side  of 
the  valley  west  of  the  river,  a  quarter  to  a  half  mile  wide,  is  occupied  by  a  stately  forest  of  bass, 
elm,  bur  oak,  white  ash,  box-elder  and  other  species.  The  bluffs  of  this  part  of  the  valley  have 
frequent  groves,  especially  in  ravines,  but  their  only  portion  continuously  and  fully  wooded  is  in 
the  tract  just  mentioned,  within  a  few  miles  below  Minnesota  Falls. 

Wood  lake  and  the  lake  of  the  Woods,  in  the  southeast  part  of  Yellow  Medicine  county, 
derive  their  names  from  the  small  patches  of  timber  that  skirt  their  shores.  The  priLcipal  spe- 
cies of  trees  found  at  Wood  lake,  in  their  estimated  order  of  abundance  are  white  elm,  white  ash, 
red  or  slippery  elm,  box-elder,  bass,  bur  oak,  haekberry,  wild  plum,  willows  and  cottonwood. 
The  lowest  ten  or  fifteen  miles  of  the  valley  of  Yellow  Medicine  river  have  considerable  wood- 
land, and  bushes  and  small  trees  border  its  banks  along  much  of  its  upper  portion;  but  the 
greater  part  of  this  stream  and  of  the  Lac  qui  Parle,  Redwood  and  Cottonwood  rivers,  from  the 
foot  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies  to  the  border  of  this  district,  are  destitute  of  timber  or  only  scan- 
tily wooded.  On  the  northeastern  slope  of  the  Coteau,  the  ravines  of  the  creeks  which  form  the 
head-waters  of  these  rivers  contain  many  groves  and  narrow  belts  of  timber,  the  largest  amount 
being  in  the  deeply  excavated  valley  of  the  Redwood  river  in  Lynd.  Farther  westward  most  of 
the  lakes  upon  the  Coteau  are  fringed  with  wood  on  some  part  of  their  shores,  but  there  are  no 
notably  large  tracts  of  timber  in  this  part  of  the  district.  At  the  Coteau  lakes,  near  the  crest  of 
this  highland,  in  central  Deuel  county,  Dakota,  thirteen  miles  west  of  the  state  line,  a  tract  of 
woods  about  a  mile  long  and  a  third  of  a  mile  wide,  almost  enclosed  by  a  group  of  four  lakes,  has 
the  following  species  of  trees  and  shrubs,  according  to  Mr.  J.  C.  Godard,  who  lives  there:  bur 
oak,  white  ash,  white  elm,  box-elder,  wild  plum,  willows,  Virginia  creeper,  climbing  bitter- 
sweet, frost  grape,  smooth  sumach,  black  and  red  raspberry,  choke-cherry,  thorn,  rose,  black  cur- 
rant, red  elder,  prickly  and  smooth  wild  gooseberries,  and  waahoo,  common;  and  cottonwood, 
haekberry,  black  cherry,  wild  red  cherry  and  sheep-berry,  less  common. 

GEOLOGICAL   STRUCTURE. 

Eozoic  rocks.  A  broad  belt  of  granite,  syenite,  gneiss,  and  related  crys- 
talline schists,  of  Eozoic  or  Archaean  age,  extends  from  northeastern  Min- 
nesota southwesterly  to  the  Minnesota  river.  Its  outcrops  in  this  district 
are  confined  to  Yellow  Medicine  county,  within  the  deeply  eroded  Minne- 
sota valley,  and  at  three  localities  from  ten  to  twenty  miles  farther  south- 
west, lying  in  Echo,  Posen  and  Omro  townships. 

At  Granite  Falls  and  Minnesota  Falls  ledges  of  gneiss  rise  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  filling 
the  valley  with  a  multitude  of  knobs  and  short  ridges,  30  to  75  feet  high.  These  rocks  begin  five 


YELLOW  MEDICINE,  LYON  AND  LINCOLN  COUNTIES.  597 

Eozoic  rocks.] 

• 

miles  above  Granite  Falls,  near  the  mouth  of  Stony  run.  Along  this  distance  they  are  principally 
on  the  southwest  side  of  the  river.  In  the  N.  E.  }  of  section  24,  Stony  Run,  the  strike  for  an 
eighth  of  a  mile  is  S.  80°  E.,  the  dip  being  75°  N.  10°  E.  Generally,  however,  the  strike  is  nearly 
N.  E.  to  S.  W.,  the  dip  being  southeasterly.  In  the  northwest  edge  of  Granite  Falls,  the  dip  is 
60°  S.  E.,  but  more  commonly  it  ranges  between  25°  and  40°.  In  a  few  places  at  Granite  Falls 
the  dip  is  toward  the  northeast  or  north.  At  Minnesota  Falls  it  was  noted  in  one  place  to  be 
58°  S.  10°  E.,  and  near  by  85°  in  the  same  direction.  These  are  exceptions,  while  the  prevailing 
inclination  is  toward  the  southeast.  The  strata  are  reddish  or  gray  gneiss,  frequently  so  disin- 
tegrated by  the  weather  that  its  outcrops  have  become  turfed,  varying  occasionally  to  more  en- 
during gray  and  red  granite.  These  rocks  also  sometimes  include  trap  dikes,  of  massive,  very 
heavy,  dark  green  rock,  as  at  the  rapids,  recently  used  for  manufacturing,  one  mile  above  Granite 
Falls,  where  two  dikes,  respectively  twenty  and  forty-eight  feet  wide,  occur  fii'ty-four  feet  apart, 
their  course  being  N.  E.  to  S.  W.,  conformable  with  the  strike  of  the  rocks.  Elsewhere  the  gneiss 
may  include  a  bed  or  lenticular  mass  of  hornblende  schist,  as  is  seen  at  the  east  end  of  Granite 
Falls  bridge  and  dam.  Marks  of  water-wearing  occur  on  these  ledges  in  the  vicinity  of  Granite 
Falls  to  a  hight  of  20  or  30  feet  above  the  river.  Gray  syenite,  probably  valuable  for  building  and 
ornamental  purposes,  occurs  about  a  half  mile  south  of  Minnesota  Falls.  A  large  specimen  of  it, 
elegantly  polished,  was  shown  me  by  Mr.  Park  Worden  of  this  place.  It  is  composed  of  white 
quartz  and  black  hornblende,  in  nearly  equal  parts,  somewhat  schistose  as  to  the  direction  of  its 
grains.  The  trap  dikes,  hornblende  schist,  syenite  and  granites,  are  together  but  a  small  portion 
of  these  rocks,  which  are  mainly  gneiss.  Its  outcrops  from  Granite  Falls  to  one  mile  below  Min- 
nesota Falls  are  very  prominent,  rising  in  irregular  and  picturesque  confusion  throughout  the 
entire  valley,  nearly  two  miles  wide.  Lower  ledges  continue  less  frequently  for  a  mile  or  two 
beyond  these.  The  next  outcrops  noted,  also  consisting  principally  of  gneiss,  are  six  miles  down 
the  river,  beginning  in  section  12,  Sioux  Agency,  and  extending  eastward  into  Swede's  Forest, 
Redwood  county. 

In  Echo,  the  most  southeast  township  of  Yellow  Medicine  county,  several  outcrops  of  these 
rocks  occur  from  a  half  mile  to  one  mile  southwesterly  from  the  lake  of  the  Woods,  being  about 
ten  miles  southwest  from  the  Minnesota  river.  On  land  of  Samuel  Mathes,  in  the  N.  E.  J  of 
section  32,  they  appear  in  three  considerable  ledges,  besides  other  small  exposures.  The  largest 
of  these  ledges  extends  some  eight  rods  from  southeast  to  northwest,  is  three  rods  wide,  and 
rises  four  or  flve  feet  above  the  general  surface.  It  is  mainly  a  reddish,  compact  gneiss,  much 
contorted.  At  its  northwest  end  the  dip  of  its  lamination  is  60°  N.  AV.;  elsewhere  the  dip  varies 
somewhat,  and  is  mostly  obscure.  In  its  north  part  this  gneiss  encloses  a  mass  of  dark,  nearly 
black  mica  schist,  fifteen  feet  long  and  two  feet  thick,  its  length  being  in  the  same  direction  with 
the  lamination  of  the  gneiss.  This  included  mass  is  bounded  by  sharply  defined  lines.  Its 
southwest  end  tapers  to  a  point,  but  at  the  other  end  it  is  abruptly  truncated  by  an  elsewhere 
obscurely  bounded  vein  of  coarse  feldspathic  granite.  Ten  feet  farther  east  is  a  second  mass  of 
this  dark  micaceous  rock,  of  irregular  but  well-marked  outlines,  about  three  feet  long  and  one 
foot  wide,  surrounded  by  coarse  feldspathic  granite  and  cut  by  a  vein  of  the  same,  from  one- 
fourth  of  an  inch  to  one  inch  wide.  Similar  very  coarse  granite  also  forms  the  southeast  end  of 
this  rock-outcrop,  gradually  changing  to  the  gneiss  which  makes  up  the  greater  part  of  this  ledge. 
Thin  veins  of  white  quartz  are  seen  here  in  a  few  places.  About  six  and  twelve  rods  northwest- 
erly from  the  foregoing  are  two  other  exposures  of  gneiss,  the  northern  one  having  a  length  of 
about  fifty  feet,  and  a  hight  of  five  feet.  At  its  north  end  the  dip  is  80°  N.  N.  W.  Other  low 
outcrops  of  small  extent  are  found  at  a  short  distance  eastward,  on  the  N.  W.  J  of  section  33, 
and  at  about  a  half  mile  to  the  northwest,  near  the  center  of  section  29. 

Seven  miles  west  from  these  rock-exposures,  and  at  a  distance  of  about  fourteen  miles 
southwest  from  the  Minnesota  river,  nearly  on  the  line  between  sections  29  and  30,  Posen,  an 
outcrop  of  reddish  granite  covers  an  area  about  ten  rods  long  and  eight  rods  wide,  rising  five  to 
fifteen  feet  above  the  adjoining  land.  It  lies  in  a  depression  at  the  east  side  of  a  slough,  and  the 
top  of  the  ledge  is  slightly  lower  than  the  average  hight  of  this  region.  This  granite  is  mostly 
medium-graineJ,  but  in  some  places  of  small  extent,  especially  in  its  south  part,  it  is  very  coarse 
and  principally  made  up  of  feldspar  crystals,  three  or  four  inches  long.  It  contains  here  and 
there  short  quartz  veins  from  two  to  six  or  eight  inches  wide. 


598  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Cretaceous  beds. 

In  section  17,  Omro,  about  twenty  miles  southwest  from  the  Minnesota  river,  hornblende 
schist  is  exposed  in  two  outcrops.  The  largest  of  these  lies  in  the  south  part  of  the  southeast 
quarter  of  this  section,  covering  an  area  about  ten  rods  long  from  north  to  south  and  six  rods 
wide,  and  rising  ten  or  twelve  feet  above  the  average  surface  near  it.  This  ledge  varies  in  tex- 
ture from  ordinary  hornblende  schist  to  a  very  compact  and  hard,  black,  trap-like  rock.  It  is 
more  hornblendic  and  more  broken  by  joints  than  the  other  outcrop,  contains  fewer  quartzose 
seams,  and  for  the  most  part  has  only  thin  veins  of  white  quartz,  in  laminae  no  thicker  than  pa- 
per. The  second  of  these  ledges,  about  a  fourth  of  a  mile  northwest  from  the  foregoing,  extends 
six  rods  from  northeast  to  southwest,  is  from  two  to  four  rods  wide,  and  reaches  a  hight  about 
five  feet  above  the  general  level.  This  is  much  divided  by  joints  and  is  traversed  in  many  por- 
tions by  thin  quartzose  seams,  which  are  harder  and  stand  out  from  a  half  inch  to  one  inch  upon 
the  weathered  surface.  More  rarely  this  rock  encloses  here  and  there  veins  of  white  quartz.  The 
dip  in  both  these  outcrops  is  45°  N.  W.  They  are  situated  in  a  valley,  which  is  25  to  40  feet 
lower  than  the  average  hight  of  the  adjoining  slightly  undulating  prairie.  It  has  a  width  of 
sixty  to  eighty  rods,  and  extends  from  northwest  to  southeast  fully  two  miles  in  each  direction 
from  these  ledges. 

Cretaceous  beds.  Sandstone,  clay,  and  shale,  of  Cretaceous  age,  are 
believed  to  underlie  the  glacial  drift  throughout  the  greater  part  of  this 
district;  but  their  only  natural  exposures  found  during  this  survey  are  a 
few  low  outcrops  of  sandstone  in  northwestern  Lyon  county  and  north- 
eastern Lincoln  county.  Clay  and  shale,  bearing  characteristic  Cretaceous 
fossils,  have  been  encountered  by  wells  in  Wergeland,  Yellow  Medicine 
county,  and  in  Eidsvold  and  Grandview,  Lyon  county,  townships  lying  be- 
tween Canby  and  Marshall.  Though  these  observations  are  limited  to  the 
central  part  of  this  district  it  seems  probable  that  Cretaceous  strata  occupy 
hollows  among  the  Eozoic  rocks  in  Yellow  Medicine  county,  and  that  far- 
ther southwestward  they  attain  greater  thickness  and  make  the  principal 
mass  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies,  hidden  beneath  the  thick  drift-sheet 
which  everywhere  forms  the  surface  of  this  highland. 

The  most  eastern  outcrop  of  the  Cretaceous  sandstone  is  near  the  center  of  section  7,  West- 
erheim,  Lyon  county,  in  the  west  or  left  bank  of  the  South  branch  of  Yellow  Medicine  river, 
about  a  half  mile  from  its  junction  with  the  North  branch.  A  hard,  gray,  somewhat  calcare- 
ous sandstone  is  here  exposed  at  several  points  along  a  distance  of  eight  or  ten  rods,  rising  three 
to  seven  feet  above  this  creek.  So  far  as  can  be  seen  in  these  somewhat  broken  ledges,  the  lay- 
ers of  this  rock  appear  to  be  two  to  three  feet  or  more  in  thickness  and  nearly  level.  In  some 
parts  their  weathered  surface  shows  concretionary  structure,  being  dotted  with  roundish  masses 
from  an  eighth  to  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  which  have  resisted  the  disintegrating  effects 
of  frost  and  rains,  so  that  they  stand  out  slightly  from  the  rest  of  the  stone. 

About  a  mile  northwest  from  this  place,  numerous  blocks  of  the  same  sandstone,  up  to  six 
or  eight  feet  in  length,  were  seen  in  the  channel  of  the  North  branch  of  Yellow  Medicine  river, 
in  the  S.  E.  \  of  section  1,  Eidsvold,  but  no  ledge  of  it  in  place  was  observed  here.  One  of  these 
blocks,  about  five  feet  long,  showing  the  concretionary  character  mentioned,  contains  numerous 
small  flakes  and  particles  of  lignite  and  soft  peaty  matter.  Another  has  become  sculptured  by 
natural  agencies,  perhaps  influenced  by  some  massive  concretionary  structure,  so  that  in  form  it 
resembles  the  trunk  of  a  tree.  Mr.  Simon  Ilovland,  who  owns  and  lives  on  this  quarter-section, 
believing  it  to  be  a  fossilized  tree,  has  removed  it  to  a  location  near  his  house.  The  length  of 
this  stone  is  61  feet,  and  its  diameter  at  one  end  is  3J  feet  and  at  the  other  end  2i  feet.  Its  strat- 


YELLOW  MEDICINE,  LYON  AND  LINCOLN  COUNTIES.  599 

Cretaceous  beds.] 

iflcatioii  is  plainly  seen  at  the  smaller  end,  being  in  layers  from  one  to  four  or  five  inches  thick. 
Iron-rusted  lamina:,  a  twentieth  of  an  inch  thick,  sometimes  mark  the  planes  of  bedding.  The 
weathered  surface  is  in  part  perforated  with  holes  from  a  quarter  of  an  inch  to  one  inch  long  and 
about  a  twentieth  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  similar  to  those  of  worm-eaten  wood.  Other  portions 
exhibit  a  concretionary  structure  in  small  roundish  masses  and  inosculated  ridges,  a  fourth  of  an 
inch  in  diameter  or  width.  Sulphuret  of  iron  is  seen  in  two  or  three  places,  in  somewhat  cylin- 
drical masses,  about  one  and  a  half  inches  long,  consisting  of  straight  fibers,  and  surrounded  by 
stains  of  iron-rust.  At  another  point  near  the  foregoing,  soft  white  matter  tills  a  straight  tube  in 
this  stone,  one  and  a  half  inches  long  and  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  diameter.  These  are  believed 
to  be  in  the  places  originally  occupied  by  fragments  of  wood,  but  are  the  only  trace  of  organic 
remains  seen  in  this  block.  Its  surface  is  soft  and  easily  cut  with  a  knife  to  a  depth  of  about  a 
quarter  of  an  inch,  but  farther  within  it  is  very  hard. 

This  rock  is  exposed  about  five  miles  to  the  southwest,  in  the  N.  E.  }  of  section  20,  Eids- 
vold,  on  land  of  Henry  Jacobs,  being  visible  along  an  extent  of  about  four  rods  in  the  bed  of  a 
small  creek  and  rising  one  to  two  feet.  It  is  a  compact  hard  sandstone,  blue  inside,  but  brown- 
ish gray  on  the  surface.  The  characteristic  concretionary  structure  was  seen  here  only  in  a  de- 
tached block,  which,  however,  was  doubtless  derived  from  this  underlying  ledge.  Again,  near 
the  west  line  of  this  township  and  county  the  same  formation  outcrops  along  an  extent  of  about 
twenty  feet,  with  a  hight  of  one  to  two  feet,  in  the  north  bank  of  the  North  branch  of  Yellow 
Medicine  river,  in  the  S.  W.  J  of  the  N.  W.  J  of  section  7,  Eidsvold. 

In  Alta  Vista,  the  most  northeast  township  of  Lincoln  county,  this  rock  has  a  low  outcrop 
of  similar  extent  with  the  last,  in  the  south  bank  of  the  same  stream,  in  the  N.  E.  J  of  the  S.  E. 
i  of  section  12,  about  ten  rods  west  of  the  county  line.  This  is  on  land  of  Col.  Samuel  McPhail, 
some  forty  rods  north  of  his  house.  The  next  and  last  outcrop  of  this  formation  is  about  a  third 
of  a  mile  farther  west,  being  in  the  S.  W.  i  of  the  N.  E.  J  of  this  section  12.  It  is  on  land  of 
George  B.  Mason,  by  whom  this  ledge,  which  is  light  gray  calcareous  sandstone,  has  been  slight- 
ly quarried,  beginning  in  1879,  the  price  at  which  it  is  sold  being  $4  per  cord.  An  excavation 
about  80  feet  long,  25  feet  wide  and  3  feet  deep,  has  been  thus  made.  The  stone  is  in  layers 
from  one  inch  to  one  and  a  half  feet  in  thickness,  dipping  one  to  two  degrees,  or  from  two  to  five 
feet  in  a  hundred,  to  the  east-northeast.  In  severaF  places  the  bedding  planes  bear  ripple-marks, 
about  three  inches  in  width.  These  planes  and  the  fissures  of  joints  show  on  fully  half  of  all  their 
exposed  surfaces  abundant  concretionary  rounded  masses,  an  eighth  to  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in 
diameter;  but  this  structure  is  not  apparent  within  the  stone  to  a  greater  depth  than  a  half  inch 
or  one  inch,  and  is  evidently  brought  into  notice  by  weathering.  No  fossils  could  be  detected 
here  nor  in  any  of  these  outcrops;  but  the  formation  through  its  extent  of  seven  miles  from  east 
to  west  is  nearly  uniform  in  character,  and  is  evidently  the  source  of  the  masses  noted  in  section 
1,  Eidsvold,  which  contain  particles  of  lignite  and  traces  of  wood. 

In  section  11,  Ouster,  Lyon  county,  on  land  cf  James  Morgan,  much  lignite  in  small  frag- 
ments is  found  along  the  large  southern  branch  of  the  Cottonwood  river,  which  there  and  thence 
northeast  to  Amiret  has  cut  a  valley  75  to  100  feet  deep.  A  tunnel  has  been  dug  into  the  lower 
part  of  the  bluff  by  Mr.  Morgan,  where  springs  occur  at  the  top  of  a  light  bluish  clay  that  is  sup- 
posed to  be  of  Cretaceous  age,  and  in  this  tunnel  pieces  of  lignite  and  of  wood  were  found. 

Clay  or  shale,  containing  fossils  characteristic  of  the  Fort  Pierre  and  Fox  Hills  groups,  the 
upper  divisions  of  the  Cretaceous  series,  has  been  encountered  in  numerous  instances  by  wells 
in  Yellow  Medicine  and  Lyon  counties  near  the  foot  of  the  slope  which  forms  the  eastern  boun- 
dary of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies.  Doubtless  some  of  these  wells  have  reached  Cretaceous  strata 
in  place;  but  others  evidently  have  been  wholly  in  the  glacial  drift,  containing  disrupted  and 
transported  masses  of  Cretaceous  shale  with  fossils.  The  frequency  of  these  fossils  in  the  drift* 
indicates  that  the  upper  Cretaceous  formations  originally  covered  much  of  this  district  and  sup- 
plied a  large  part  of  the  drift,  and  that  they  probably  underlie  the  drift  here  and  in  the  Coteau 
des  Prairies.  Notes  of  several  of  these  sections  are  as  follows: 

Wergeland.  Peter  Palmer;  S.  W.  J  of  sec.  2:  well,  51  feet;  yellow  and  blue  till,  as  usual, 
with  gravelly  and  sandy  layers,  40  feet ;  then  blue  clay,  containing  many  fragments  of  Bacu- 
lites  and  other  fossils,  pieces  of  lignite,  concretionary  nodules  of  pyrite,  one  to  one  and  a 


"Compare  also  the  occurrence  of  Baculilei  in  drift  deposits  in  Brown  county,  pages  584  and  585;  and  in  Nobles 
ouuty,  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  (3),  iii,  24.  1872. 


600  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Cretaceous  beds. 

half  inches  in  diameter,  and  clusters  of  selenite  (gypsum)  crystals;  water  rose  sixteen  feet  from 
gravel  at  the  bottom. 

Eidsvold.  Norman  Webster;  N.  W.  J  of  sec.  8:  well,  14  feet,  on  low  land;  soil,  2;  yellow  till, 
8;  blue  clay,  3  feet,  containing  many  fragments  of  Baculites  ajid  other  Cretaceous  fossils;  white 
quicksand,  1  foot,  from  which  water  rose  one  and  a  half  feet. 

Farmer  Crampton;  S.  W.  }  of  sec.  8 :  well,  35  feet;  soil,  2 ;  yellow  till,  18:  very  fine,  light 
yellowish  sand,  5;  blue  till,  10  feet,  its  upper  two  or  three  feet  including  boulders  up  to  one  foot  in 
diameter,  its  lower  seven  or  eight  feet  harder  and  very  compact,  enclosing  numerous  pebbles  of 
white  limestone  and  irony  concretions,  witli  many  Baculites  fragments  up  to  three  inches  long, 
and  many  other  Cretaceous  fossils,  mostly  broken,  occurring  throughout  this  thickness  of  seven 
or  eight  feet;  from  yellowish,  soft  clay  at  the  bottom  of  this  well,  water  rose  in  one  night  fifteen 
feet,  but  is  very  disagreeable  to  smell  and  taste.  Baculites  ovatus,  Say,  Scaphites  Kicolletii.  Mor- 
ton, Placenticeras  (Ammonites)  placenta,  Dekay,  and  an  Inoceramus  which  may  be  /.  problemati- 
cus,  Schlot.,  were  obtained  in  this  well. 

Orandview.  Peter  Schmitz;  sec.  27:  well,  26  feet;  soil.  2;  yellow  till,  picked,  13;  blue  clay, 
10  feet,  easy  to  dig,  but  very  tenacious,  free  from  gravel,  not  noticeably  laminated,  but  containing 
bivalve  and  gasteropod  shells;  an  Incceramus  was  found  at  the  depth  of  21  feet;  next  was  blue 
sand,  dug  into  one  foot  and  extending  deeper,  from  which  water  rose  four  feet.  Two  or  three 
fragments  of  lignite  were  found  in  the  fossiliferous  clay,  but  no  crystals  of  selenite  nor  nodules 
of  pyrite.  In  digging  his  cellar,  Mr.  Schmitz  found  in  the  till  masses  one  to  two  inches  in 
diameter  of  white  pulverulent  matter,  resembling  chalk,  occurring  in  the  same  manner  as  peb- 
bles, and  doubtless  derived  from  Cretaceous  beds. 

In  S.  W.  Lathe's  well,  sec.  28,  fragments  of  Baculites  and  other  Cretaceous  fossils,  and 
crystals  of  selenite  were  found.  Baculites  fragments  also  are  reported  in  Selden  Coleman's  well, 
in  the  N.  W.  i  of  sec.  26. 

Near  Marshall  a  bed  of  clay  found  36  feet  below  the  surface  in  digging  a  well,  supplied  the 
following  fossils,  which  were  presented  to  the  state  museum  by  Kev.  E.  D.  Alden:  Placenticeras 
placenta,  Dekay,  three  specimens,  each  about  four  inches  in  diameter;  and  ftucula  cancellata,  M. 
&  H.,  one  specimen,  measuring  in  length  1.25  inches,  in  hight,  0.90,  and  in  convexity,  0.62,  being 
thus  about  a  third  larger  than  the  measurements  stated  for  this  species  by  Meek.* 

Glacial  and  modified  drift.  Glacial  striae  were  noted  at  several  places 
on  the  gneiss  in  the  southeast  part  of  Granite  Falls,  east  of  the  river,  bear- 
ing S.  45°  to  50°  E.  They  were  also  distinctly  seen  on  the  ledges  in  section 
32,  Echo,  bearing  S.  50°  to  55°  E.  The  glacial  striation  that  originally 
marked  the  surface  of  the  rock-outcrop  in  the  southwest  part  of  Posen  has 
been  nearly  effaced,  but  the  direction  in  which  the  ice-sheet  moved  is 
shown  by  very  remarkable  furrows,  two  or  three  feet  deep  and  from  three 
to  six  feet  wide,  which  bear  S.  50°  E.  One  of  these  glacial  furrows  reaches 
continuously  across  the  entire  ledge,  ten  rods;  and  another,  fifteen  feet 
farther  northeast,  extends  fully  a  hundred  feet.  Others,  of  smaller  dimen- 
sions or  shorter,  are  also  noticeable.  The  formation  of  these  vast  grooves 
was  evidently  facilitated  by  the  presence  of  a  system  of  joints,  which  ex- 
tends in  this  direction,  intersecting  the  rock  at  intervals  from  one  to  ten 
feet  apart.  Conspicuous  examples  of  these  joints  coincide  in  position  with 


*TJ.  S.  geological  survey  of  the  territories;  vol.  ix.  Invertebrate  Cretaceous  and   Tertiary  fossil*  of  the  upper  Missouri 
country,  p.  102,  and  plate  28.    The  other  fossils  before  mentioned  are  also  described  and  figured  in  this  volume. 


YELLOW  MEDICINE,  LYON  AND  LINCOLN  COUNTIES.  601 

Glacial  drift.    Coteau  des  Prairies.] 

the  deep  glacial  furrows.  On  the  other  rock-outcrops  seen  in  this  district 
the  glacial  striae  have  been  effaced  by  weathering.  . 

Till,  or  the  unstratified  boulder-clay  deposited  by  the  ice  of  the  glacial 
period,  forms  a  thick  sheet,  probably  averaging  a  hundred  feet  in  depth, 
upon  the  surface  of  all  this  district,  the  underlying  rocks  being  seen  only 
in  the  deeply  eroded  valley  of  the  Minnesota  river  and  in  the  few  other 
outcrops  which  have  been  described. 

Though  no  exposures  of  strata  older  than  the  drift  have  been  found 
upon  the  Coteau  des  Prairies  in  this  district  and  northwestward,  the  un- 
derlying formations  are  believed  to  rise  here  much  higher  than  on  either 
side,  in  the  basins  of  the  Minnesota,  Big  Sioux  and  James  rivers.  The  al- 
titude of  the  Coteau  is  doubtless  thus  caused  by  -the  greater  hight  of  the 
formations,  probably  Cretaceous,  upon  which  these  drift  deposits  lie,  rather 
than  by  extraordinary  thickness  of  the  drift  beyond  that  which  it  com- 
monly has  throughout  southwestern  Minnesota. 

The  depth  that  is  added  to  the  general  drift-sheet  by  the  accumulations  of  the  terminal 
moraines  does  not  appear  to  average  more  than  50  to  75  feet.  Upon  the  Coteau  des  Prairies  the 
knolls  and  hillocks  of  the  morainic  belts  rise  20  to  50  and  rarely  75  or  100  feet  above  the  adjoin- 
ing hollows;  and  the  thickness  which  they  add  to  the  drift-sheet  appears  to  be  from  50  to  150 
feet.  That  the  prominence  of  this  highland  is  not  due  to  these  morainic  accumulations  is  shown 
in  Dakota  at  Goodwin  and  farther  north,  by  the  greater  elevation  that  is  reached  within  a  dis- 
tance of  two  to  five  miles  by  the  smooth  sheet  of  till  at  their  west  side,  which  there  forms 
the  water-shed,  and  beyond  descends  to  the  Big  Sioux  river. 


FIG.  48.     SECTION  ACROSS  THE  COTEAU  DES  PRAIRIES  IN  YELLOW  MEDICINE  COUNTY,  MINNESOTA, 
AND  DEUEL  AND  CODINGTON  COUNTIES,  DAKOTA. 

In  crossing  the  Coteau  from  northeast  to  southwest,  there  is  generally  a  very  gradual,  smooth 
slope,  rising  100  to  200  feet  in  a  few  miles;  then  comes  a  steeper  ascent,  which  amounts  to  300 
feet  or  more  within  a  width  of  two  or  three  miles,  coinciding  through  the  greater  part  of  its  extent 
across  southwestern  Minnesota  with  the  tract  of  knolly  and  hilly  drift  that  forms  the  inner  belt 
of  the  moraine.  The  average  hight  beyond,  sometimes  after  a  slight  descent,  continues  to  rise, 
but  only  slowly,  amounting  to  100  or  150  feet  in  crossing  the  smoother,  undulating  or  rolling  area, 
ten  to  fifteen  miles  wide,  between  this  and  the  outer  morainic  range,  which  next  rises  100  to  200 
or  300  feet  within  two  or  three  miles,  and  forms  the  crest  of  this  highland  along  nearly  its  whole 
extent.  West  of  this  moraine  in  Lincoln  county  the  surface  soon  drops  50  to  100  feet,  this  descent 
being  greatest  at  the  south  and  diminishing  northward;  and  thence  a  smooth  slope  of  till  falls 
southwesterly  some  200  feet  within  ten  miles.  Farther  to  the  north,  from  lake  Hendricks  nearly 
to  Goodwin,  a  gently  undulating  expanse  of  till,  slightly  lower  than  this  western  belt  of  drift- hills, 
extends  from  them  westward  approximately  level  for  a  width  of  several  miles,  beyond  which  a 


602  THK  GEOLOGY  Of  MINNESOTA. 

[Outer  terminal  moraine 

similar  slope  falls  to  the  southwest.  On  the  Winona  &  St.  Peter  (Chicago  &  Northwestern)  rail- 
road, the  traveler  going  west  enters  the  inner  morainic  belt  of  the  Coteau  at  the  west  edge  of 
Minnesota,  a  little  east  of  Gary,  about  1450  feet  above  the  sea  (fig.  48).  The  line  crosses  this  belt 
obliquely,  occupying  about  four  miles,  and  ascending  some  200  feet;  then  six  miles  are  moderately 
rolling,  mainly  in  smooth  swells;  and  the  next  six  miles,  lying  partly  on  each  side  of  Altamont, 
are  among  the  knolls  and  small  hills  of  the  outer  moraine,  17-50  to  1950  feet  above  the  sea;  suc- 
ceeded by  a  smooth,  slightly  undulating  area  of  till,  which  rises  to  the  summit  of  this  line  near 
Goodwin,  2000  feet  above  the  sea,  extends  thence  nearly  level  to  Kranzburg,  and  then  descends 
250  feet  by  a  very  gradual  slope  to  Watertown. 

From  Canby  southwestward  the  eastern  ascent  of  the  Uoteau  is  first  a  gradual  and  smooth 
slope  of  till,  rising  some  250  feet  within  four  miles.  Into  this  the  East  branch  of  the  Lac  qui 
Parle  river,  three  miles  south  of  Canby,  has  cut  a  channel  75  feet  deep.  Next  to  the  southwest 
the  ascent  is  among  rough  drift  hills  and  prominent  swells,  which  cover  a  belt  eight  to  twelve 
miles  wide,  their  west  boundary  being  three  miles  east  of  lake  Hendricks.  Southwest  from  Min- 
neota,  Grandview  and  Marshall,  and  onward  through  Lyon  county,  the  smooth  foot-slope  of  the 
Coteau  is  from  six  to  ten  miles  wide,  and  ascends  200  feet,  or  more,  before  coming  to  the  knolls 
and  hillocks  of  the  inner  moraine.  The  upper  part  of  this  smoothly  sloping  sheet  of  till  is  chan- 
neled to  a  depth  of  100  feet  by  the  Redwood  river  at  Camden  and  Lynd,  and  to  a  depth  of  80  feet 
by  the  south  branch  of  the  Cottonwood  river  where  it  is  crossed  by  the  railroad  near  Amiret  sta- 
tion, while  the  smaller  streams  all  flow  in  narrow  ravines. 

Ihe  miter  or  western  terminal  moraine,  accumulated  on  the  southwest  border  of  a  lobe  of 
the  last  ice-sheet,*  forms  the  summit  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies  in  Lincoln  county,  rising  in  a  con- 
spicuous series  of  drift  hills,  which  continues  thence  north-northwest  as  a  belt  of  very  knolly  and 
hilly  drift  from  one  to  five  miles  wide,  to  the  Head  of  the  Coteau,  west  of  lake  Traverse.  Through- 
out this  distance  its  material  is  till  with  abundant  boulders  and  pebbles,  principally  of  granite, 
syenite,  gneiss  and  schists,  but  also  including  many  of  limestone.  Its  surface  is  broken  by  a 
multitude  of  mounds,  short  ridges  and  hillocks,  from  10  to  50  feet  above  the  hollows,  which  occa- 
sionally contain  sloughs  and  lakelets. 

In  Lincoln  county  the  outer  moraine  is  about  two  miles  wide,  and  extends  by  the  west  ends 
of  lakes  Benton  and  Shaokatan,  passing  through  the  middle  of  Lake  Benton  township,  the  south- 
west corner  of  Diamond  Lake,  the  center  of  Drammen,  and  southwestern  Shaokatan.  Its  hight 
from  its  east  edge  is  100  to  200  feet,  and  from  its  west  edge  40  to  75  feet.  In  other  words,  the 
surface  of  the  drift-sheet  adjoining  it  through  this  county,  along  an  extent  of  twenty  miles,  aver- 
ages a  hundred  feet  lower  on  its  east  than  on  its  west  side.  This  difference  was  probably  in  con- 
siderable part  produced  by  the  ice-sheet  of  the  last  glacial  epoch,  in  eroding  the  earlier  drift  upon 
which  it  lay,  the  material  thus  obtained  being  pushed  forward  and  upward  to  form  the  moraine 
Yet  the  mass  of  its  terminal  deposits  at  this  line  is  small  in  comparison  with  the  area,  reaching 
fifty  miles  to  the  northeast,  that  was  covered  by  ice  which  slowly  moved,  more  or  less  directly, 
toward  this  boundary.  The  entire  mass  of  morainic  drift  here  accumulated,  if  spread  uniformly 
over  this  area,  could  not  exceed  a  depth  of  six  feet;  and  if  it  were  all  spread  on  the  adjoining  belt, 
five  or  ten  miles  wide,  to  supply  the  amount  that  was  apparently  eroded  from  that  part  of  the  pre- 
viously existing  drift-sheet,  it  would  scarcely  raise  the  surface  more  than  to  the  uniform  slope 
which  was  probably  its  earlier  contour.  It  thus  appears  that  the  greater  part  of  the  region  cov- 
ered by  this  ice-lobe  contributed  very  little  to  its  terminal  moraine,  and  that  if  much  material 
was  eroded  far  within  the  ice-covered  area,  nearly  all  of  it  was  again  soon  deposited,  without  be- 
ing far  removed  from  its  previous  position;  the  work  of  the  ice-sheet  in  its  central  portion  being 
chiefly  to  excavate  and  re-deposit,  sculpturing  the  surface  anew,  but  conveying  only  a  small 
amount  of  drift  to  its  border.  Near  the  edge  of  the  ice,  however  it  plowed  up  and  carried  away 
to  its  termination  a  great  freight,  and  even  dug,  as  appears  in  the  following  pages,  forty  feet  be- 
low the  present  surface,  its  bottom  being  as  low  as  the  beds  of  lakes  Benton,  Shaokatan  and 
Hendricks.  The  drift  which  is  now  spread  above  the  beds  of  these  lakes  east  of  the  moraine,  was 
apparently  contained  in  the  glacial  sheet,  and  deposited  at  its  final  melting;  but  most  of  it  had 
doubtless  been  eroded  from  beneath,  or  had  been  brought  only  a  few  miles,  and  it  seems  very 
unlikely  that  as  much  material  was  held  suspended  iu  the  ice  throughout  the  central  portions  of 
its  area. 

"Compare  p.  406 ;  also  the  ninth  annual  report. 


YELLOW  MEDICINE,  LYON  AND  LINCOLN  COUNTIES. 


BOH 


Channels  through  the  outer  moraine.  ] 


Channels  through  tlie  outer  moraine.  This  morainic  belt,  and  the  thick  sheet,  of  till  which  is 
massed  against  its  west  side  and  descends  thence  westward,  are  cut  in  the  west  part  of  Lake  Ben- 
ton  township  by  a  deep  channel  or  valley,  which  is  called,  translating  its  Sionx  name,  the  "Hole  in 
the  Mountain."  The  railroad  between  Lake  Benton  and  Verdi  goes  south-southwest  four  miles 
through  this  gap,  bounded  on  each  side  by  picturesque  bluffs  which  are  buttressed  by  steep  spurs 
and  cut  by  deep  tributary  ravines.  Its  depth,  wholly  in  the  glacial  drift,  is  from  150  to  200  feet 
below  the  knolly  surface  of  the  moraine,  and  its  highest  point  is  about  ten  feet  above  lake  Ben- 
ton,  which  has  its  outlet  eastward  into  the  Redwood  river.  This  valley,  from  an  eighth  to  a 
fourth  of  a  mile  wide,  was  evidently  excavated  by  a  river  that  flowed  from  northeast  to  southwest 
across  this  great  ridge,  which  is  the  highest  land  in  southwestern  Minnesota,  being  1  ,000  feet 
above  the  Minnesota  river  on  the  northeast,  350  feet  above  the  Big  Sioux  on  the  west,  and  about 
1960  feet  above  the  sea.  For  three-fourths  of  a  mile  southwest  from  lake  Benton,  this  channel  is 
double,  being  divided  by  a  remnant  of  the  morainic  range,  which  rises  nearly  as  high  as  the 
enclosing  bluffs.  The  east  pass  is  called  the  "  Dutchman's  gap",-  and  through  it  the  carriage 
road  goes  south  and  then  southwest  to  the  "  Hole  in  the  Mountain." 

At  three  other  places,  eleven,  fourteen  and  eighteen  miles  northwest  from  lake  Benton  (see 
fig.  49),  similar  channels  have  been  eroded  through  the  massive  ridge  of  this  moraine  and  through 
the  smooth  sheet  of  drift  that  slopes  downward  from  its  west  side. 

The  first  of  these  channels  begins  at  the  southwest  end  of  lake  Shaok- 
atan,  and  extends  about  two  miles  southwest,  in  the  same  course  with  this 
lake,  through  the  knolly  belt  of  the  moraine,  beyond  which  its  course  for 
the  next  three  miles  is  northwest  along  its  west  side,  crossing  the  state  line, 
from  section  31,  Shaokatan,  to  the  east  part  of  section  21,  T.  Ill,  R.  47. 
There  it  is  joined  from  the  northeast  by  the  second  of  these  channels, 
which  enters  the  moraine  in  the  S.  W.  }  of  section  7,  Shaokatan.  This  is 
the  only  one  of  these  gaps  through  which  drainage  now  takes  place,  as  at  the 
time  of  their  excavation,  from  the  northeast  to  the  southwest  side  of  the 
•  morainic  range.  Bluffs  7-5  to  100  feet  high  form  the  sides  of  these  valleys, 
of  iako»  enclosing  a  nearly  flat  bottomland  which  varies  from  twenty  to  fifty  rods 
dricb.  jn  wi(jth.  Lake  Shaokatan  outflows  northeastward  to  the  Yellow  Medi- 
cine river;  but  the  highest  part  of  the  valley  that  extends  from  it  southwest  and  then  northwest, 
is  only  slightly  elevated  above  it.  The  southwest  course  of  the  second  channel  is  continued  two 
and  a  half  miles  below  their  junction,  having  about  the  same  depth  and  width  to  the  center  of 
section  30,  T.  Ill,  R.  47,  where  it  enters  the  last  of  these  remarkable  valleys.  This  lies  wholly  in 
Brookings  county,  Dakota.  It  extends  six  miles  southward  from  the  southwest  end  of  lake  Ilen- 
dricks,  and  then,  about  a  half  mile  beyond  the  confluence  of  the  valley  from  lake  Shaokatan,  it 
turns  west-southwest.  Its  depth  for  the  first  two  miles  south  of  lake  Hendricks,  where  its  bluffs 
are  capped  by  the  knolls  and  short  ridges  of  the  moraine,  is  from  150  to  200  feet.  Along  the 
remainder  of  its  course  to  the  mouth  of  the  tributary  channel,  its  bluffs  ascend  steeply  about  100 
feet,  and  from  their  top  a  moderate  slope  rises  40  to  50  feet  higher.  Below  this  junction  the  val- 
ley slowly  diminishes  in  depth,  and  after  six  miles  reaches  an  area  of  low  land  in  the  northwest 
part  of  T.  110,  R.  48,  which  stretches  thence  to  the  Big  Sioux  river.  A  nearly  flat  bottomland 
from  thirty  to  eighty  rods  wide  extends  from  lake  Hendricks  the  entire  length  of  this  valley.  Its 
highest  part,  one  and  a  half  miles  from  the  lake,  is  some  fifteen  feet  above  it,  the  outlet  of  this 
lake  being  northeastward  to  the  Lac  qui  Parle  river.  The  channel  which  has  been  last  described, 
running  south  from  lake  Hendricks,  was  called  by  the  Sioux  "the  Brother  of  the  Hole  in  the 
Mountain,"  because  of  its  close  likeness  to  the  pass  southwest  from  lake  Benton. 

The  west  ends  of  lakes  Benton  and  Hendricks,  for  about  a  mile  of  each,  are  bordered  by 
hillocks  and  high  bluffs,  and  occupy  the  extremities  of  these  channels  at  their  entrance  with- 
in the  limits  of  the  moraine.  Lake  Benton  is  six  miles  long  and  from  a  half  mile  to  one  mile 
wide,  its  greatest  width  being  at  the  northeast.  Its  highest  stage  of  water  is  four  and  a  half  feet 
above  the  lowest.  This  lake  is  fed  by  many  springs,  some  of  which  are  ferruginous,  along  the 
southwestern  half  of  its  shores;  and  it  also  appears  that  springs  issue  in  the  bottom  of  the  lake, 
by  which  some  portions  of  its  surface  are  kept  unfrozen  through  nearly  the  entire  winter.  Bird 
island,  in  this  lake,  is  about  25  feet  high,  and  is  wooded.  At  the  ordinary  low  stage  of  water,  it 
is  joined  to  the  north  shore  by  a  bar  of  gravel  and  sand,  several  hundred  feet  long  and  only  from 


vig.  «>.  Map  of  the  regio 
jienum,  shiwkahm  and  H 


604  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Channels  through  the  outer  moraine. 

a  few  inches  to  one  or  two  feet  above  the  water.  Lake  Shaokatan  is  about  three  miles  long,  and 
from  an  eighth  to  three-fourths  of  a  mile  wide,  its  maximum  width  being  near  the  middle.  Its 
highest  stage  is  some  four  feet  above  the  lowest.  The  southwest  end  of  this  lake  is  at  the  north- 
east edge  of  the  morainic  belt.  Lake  Hendricks  is  three  and  a  half  miles  long,  and  its  width 
varies  from  one-fourth  to  three-fourths  of  a  mile,  being  greatest  near  its  northeast  end.  The 
maximum  depth  of  each  of  these  lakes  is  reported  to  be  about  15  feet;  and  they  are  bordered  on 
all  sides  excepting  the  west  by  smoothly  undulating  till,  which  varies  from  10  to  30  feet,  or  rarely 
50  feet,  above  them.  Thus  the  hollows  in  which  they  lie  sink  about  40  feet  below  the  general  level 
of  the  drift-sheet  at  the  east  side  of  the  morainic  range,  and  25  or  30  feet  below  the  highest 
part  of  these  channels  which  are  continuations  from  them  through  the  moraine  and  the  thick  sheet 
of  till  at  its  west  side. 

Nowhere  else  for  at  least  fifty  miles  next  to  the  northwest  from  Murray  county  is  this  mass- 
ive ridge  intersected  by  any  similar  channel,  and  its  altitude  throughout  this  distance  is  from  100 
to  200  feet  above  these  lakes,.  Its  highest  portion,  forming  a  belt  about  two  miles  wide,  marked 
by  many  hillocBs  and  hollows,  appears  to  have  been  pushed  out  at  the  margin  of  an  ice-sheet  that 
lay  upon  its  northeast  side.  The  excavation  of  these  channels  took  place  at  the  same  time  with 
the  accumulation  of  this  moraine,  or  more  probably  at  the  close  of  this  part  of  the  last  glacial 
epoch,  when  the  ice  was  being  rapidly  melted,  but  before  it  had  receded  to  its  inner  line  of  mo- 
raine; for  the  thick  mass  of  the  ice-sheet,  rising  high  above  its  terminal  deposits,  is  the  only  bar- 
rier that  we  can  suppose  to  have  existed  to  turn  the  course  of  drainage  across  this  highland,  which 
is  now  the  water-shed  between  the  much  lower  basins  of  the  Minnesota  and  Big  Sioux  rivers,  and 
after  this  was  withdrawn  to  its  later  limits  at  its  inner  moraine,  extending  from  Spirit  lake  to 
lake  Shetek  and  Gary,  a  lower  avenue  was  opened  southward  to  the  Little  Sioux  river.  Without 
reference  to  this  barrier,  it  is  evident  that  the  course  of  the  waters  that  eroded  these  valleys  was 
southwest,  because  of  their  extent  and  fall  in  this  direction.  The  channel  that  reaches  south  from 
lake  Hendricks  and  then  southwest,  descends  from  the  summit,  one  and  a  half  miles  south  of  the 
lake,  with  a  very  gradual  slope  which  probably  amounts  to  75  or  100  feet  in  the  next  ten  miles,  its 
width  continuing  nearly  the  same  as  where  it  intersects  the  moraine.  Another  proof  that  the 
course  of  drainage  was  southwest  is  the  confluence  in  this  direction  of  the  three  valleys  that 
cross  this  range  at  lake  Shaokatou,  three  miles  farther  northwest,  and  at  lake  Hendricks.  On  the 
other  side  of  the  moraine  no  well  marked  valleys  extend  northeastward  from  these  lakes;  and  their 
outlets,  which  run  only  at  unusually  wet  seasons,  are  turned  in  a  meandering  course  by  slight 
undulations  of  the  surface. 

There  seems  to  be  no  indication  that  the  channels  through  the  moraine  have  been  partially 
filled  since  their  excavation,  raising  them  to  their  summits,  ten  to  fifteen  feet  above  lakes  Benton, 
Shaokatan,  and  Hendricks;  while  yet  the  position  and  form  of  these  lakes  demonstrate  that  the 
portions  of  the  drift-sheet  which  would  have  filled  their  depressions,  were  carried  away  by  the 
rivers  that  cut  these  gaps.  Now  it  is  clear  that  the  overflow  from  a  lake  lying  between  the  ice- 
sheet  and  its  moraine  could  not  excavate  a  hollow  several  miles  long  below  a  summit  which  it 
afterward  crossed.  Respecting  the  possible  action  of  subglacial  rivers  we  have  little  knowledge, 
but  it  appears  improbable  that  they  could  erode  such  hollows,  carrying  the  material  forward  through 
higher  channels.  It  is,  however,  nearly  certain  that  this  removal  of  the  drift  belonging  upon  the 
areas  occupied  by  these  lakes  took  place  while  the  ice-sheet  still  covered  these  areas  and  reached 
to  its  terminal  moraine;  but  near  the  end  of  this  time,  when  a  warmer  climate  was  rapidly  melt- 
ing its  surface  every  summer,  pouring  down  large  rivers  to  its  margin.  By  such  melting  the  drift 
which  had  been  gathered  into  the  ice-mass  would  become  exposed  upon  its  surface,  and  in  and 
near  its  principal  avenues  of  drainage  would  be  washed  away.  Only  in  this  manner  could  the 
material  of  the  drift-sheet  corresponding  to  the  depressions  of  these  lakes  be  removed  by  the  usual 
agency,  that  is,  by  the  current  of  descending  streams.  If  this  be  the  true  explanation,  it  involves 
a  very  important  conclusion  respecting  the  amount  of  drift  contained  in  the  ice-sheet  and  finally 
exposed  by  the  melting  of  its  surface.  Modified  drift  and  kames,  as  also  certain  features  of  the 
till  and  of  the  terminal  moraines,  prove  that  the  ice  of  the  glacial  period  became  considerably 
filled  with  the  material  of  the  drift,  gathered  up  into  its  mass  from  the  land  over  which  it  moved. 
This  explanation  of  the  origin  of  these  lake  basins  indicates  that  the  ice-held  drift  here  amounted 
to  a  sheet  at  least  forty  feet  thick;  but  much  of  it  may  have  been  in  the  lower  two  hundred  feet  of 
the  ice,  below  the  top  of  its  terminal  moraine. 


YELLOW  MEDICINE,  LYON  AND  LINCOLN  COUNTIES.  605 

Second  and  third  moraines.] 

The  second  terminal  moraine  of  the  last  ice-sheet,  which  is  the  eastern  or  inner  belt  of  knolly 
and  hilly  drift  upon  the  Coteau  des  Prairies,  extends  northwesterly  in  a  nearly  straight  course  from 
the  Blue  mounds  near  Windom,  in  southern  Cottonwood  county,  to  Gary  in  the  edge  of  Dakota. 
In  Lyon  county  its  northeast  boundary  passes  through  the  center  of  Custer,  Lyon  and  Island  Lake 
townships,  and  follows  approximately  the  line  between  this  and  Lincoln  county  for  the  next  six 
miles,  at  the  west  side  of  Nordland.  It  crosses  northeastern  Lincoln  county  from  the  southeast 
corner  of  Alta  Vista  to  section  3,  Marble,  six  miles  south  of  Canby;  and  in  Yellow  Medicine 
county  its  course  is  from  section  33,  Norman,  to  section  7,  Florida.  The  most  rough  and  hilly 
part  of  this  moraine  is  from  a  half  mile  to  one  and  a  half  miles  wide  at  its  northeast  side,  where  it 
usually  has  many  irregular  knolls,  short  ridges,  and  hills,  which  rise  from  25  to  50  feet,  and  occa- 
sionally 75  to  100  feet  above  the  intervening  depressions.  Their  conspicuous  appearance,  as  seen 
from  the  northeast,  is  due  to  the  ascent  westward  of  the  country  upon  which  they  lie.  From  the 
specially  hilly  northeast  margin  of  this  morainic  belt  its  width  reaches  five  to  fifteen  miles  south- 
westward  with  a  rolling  and  in  some  places  knolly  or  hilly  surface,  including  the  greater  part  of 
the  distance  to  the  parallel  outer  range  of  drift  hills,  but  leaving  next  to  that  a  smooth,  slightly 
undulating  tract,  three  to  five  miles  wide.  In  Marslifield  and  Lake  Stay  this  smooth  contour 
extends  eight  miles  north  from  Cottonwood  lake  and  the  east  end  of  lake  Benton,  its  limit  being 
here  twelve  miles  from  the  outer  moraine.  All  these  areas  are  till,  with  abundant  boulders  upon 
the  portions  which  are  most  broken  by  knolls,  hills,  and  hollows. 

A  third  terminal  moraine,  consisting  of  knolls,  hills,  and  short  ridges  of  till,  15  to  50  and 
rarely  75  or  100  feet  high,  with  many  large  and  small  rock-fragments,  is  found  in  Yellow  Medicine 
and  Lac  qui  Parle  counties,  lying  eight  to  twelve  miles  northeast  from  the  inner  morainic  belt  of 
the  Coteau,  and  extending  north-northwest  forty  miles  within  the  limits  of  this  state,  beyond 
which  it  continues  with  the  same  course  in  Dakota.  The  width  of  this  morainic  series  in  Minne- 
sota is  usually  from  a  quarter  to  a  half  of  a  mile,  being  less  than  that  of  the  specially  knolly  belts 
upon  the  Coteau  des  Prairies.  It  appears  like  them  to  have  been  accumulated  at  the  margin  of 
the  ice-sheet  of  the  last  glacial  epoch;  but  its  location  shows  that  it  belongs  to  a  later  time  in  this 
epoch,  after  two  distinct  recessions  of  the  ice.  From  sections  32,  29  and  19,  of  Burton,  this  forma- 
tion continues  through  sections  13, 11  and3,  of  VVergeland,  with  similar  outlying  hillocks  and  ridges 
in  sections  9,  15, 16,  21,  22  and  23,  of  this  township;  and  for  the  next  six  miles  northward  it  lies  in 
the  southwest  edge  of  Oshkosh  and  the  northeast  edge  of  Hammer.  In  the  south  part  of  Lac  qui 
Parle  county  it  forms  the  two  conspicuous  clusters  of  the  Antelope  hills,  in  sections  27  and  16, 
Freeland,  elevated  40  to  100  feet  above  the  smoothly  undulating  till  of  that  region. 

The  southeastern  continuation  of  this  third  moraine  may  be  represented  by  the  rocky  drift 
knolls,  10  to  20  feet  high,  which  occur  about  the  north  end  and  at  the  northeast  side  of  lake  Mar- 
shall, in  a  region  which  has  mainly  a  very  smooth  contour.  Again,  twelve  miles  farther  to  the 
east-southeast,  a  belt  of  typically  morainic  knolls,  about  twenty  rods  in  width,  and  a  half  mile  or 
more  in  length,  was  noted  close  south  of  the  Cottonwood  river,  in  sections  14  and  15,  Gales,  in 
Kedwood  county.  It  is  probable  that  a  connection  southeastward  may  be  found,  along  some  line 
of  more  or  less  knolly  and  hilly  drift,  including  these  two  localities  and  the  morainic  tract  in 
Stately,  Brown  county,  to  the  belt  of  morainic  deposits  that  extends  from  Fairmont  in  Martin 
county  southeast  to  Pilot  mound  in  the  northeast  corner  of  Hancock  county,  Iowa.  This  view 
was  suggested  to  me  by  Prof.  T.  C.  Chamberlin,  state  geologist  of  Wisconsin,  who  first  pointed 
out  the  continental  extent  of  these  terminal  deposits  of  the  ice-sheet. 

Professor  Chamberlin  has  also  suggested*  that  these  first,  second  and  third  terminal  mo- 
raines may  be  named  respectively  the  Altamont,  Gary  and  Antelope  moraines  (see  fig.  48,  page  601). 

The  Antelope  valley.  Between  the  third  or  Antelope  moraine  and  the  foot  of  the  Coteau  des 
Prairies  on  the  west  is  the  Antelope  valley,  so  named  by  the  Sioux.  This  is  a  broad  shallow 
depression,  or  rather  a  part  of  an  inclined  plane  (page  593),  with  a  slightly  undulating  surface  of 
till,  being  three  to  ten  miles  wide,  and  reputed  to  extend  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles,  from 
Minneota,  in  the  most  northwest  township  of  Lyon  county,  to  the  south  bend  of  the  Sheyenne 
river  in  Dakota.  The  moraine  of  the  Antelope  hills  and  the  smooth  area  of  till  on  its  east  side 
average  25  to  50  feet  higher  than  the  adjoining  eastern  border  of  the  Antelope  valley,  but  have 
some  lower  portions,  allowing  streams  to  cross  both  the  valley  and  the  moraine  in  their  northeast- 
ward course  from  the  Coteau  to  the  Minnesota  river. 

*Third  annual  report  of  the  U.  S.  geological  survey,  1883. 


606  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

Later  moraines.     Modified  drift 

Ancient  water-courses.  Definite  channels,  which  appear  to  have  been  formed  by  drainage 
during  the  final  melting  of  the  last  ice-sheet,  are  found  extending  from  northwest  to  southeast  at 
three  places  in  Yellow  Medicine  county.  One  of  these,  lying  about  a  half  mile  from  the  Minne- 
sota valley  west  of  Granite  Falls,  and  another  at  the  outcrops  of  rock  in  section  17,  Omro,  have 
been  described  on  pages  592  and  598.  The  third,  situated  in  Wergeland  and  Burton,  has  been 
traced  farther  than  either  of  the  others,  but  its  full  extent  in  either  direction  remains  to  be 
explored.  It  reaches  from  the  East  branch  of  Lac  qui  Parle  river  in  section  5,  Wergeland,  south- 
easterly through  sections  9,  15,  the  south  part  of  14,  and  the  north  part  of  24,  in  this  township; 
and  thence  in  a  nearly  east-southeast  course,  through  sections  19,  the  south  edge  of  20,  the  north- 
east part  of  29,  and  through  28,  27  and  35,  in  Burton,  to  the  south  half  of  section  1,  Eidsvold,  in 
Lyon  county.  In  section  28,  Burton,  and  for  the  next  two  miles  southeastward  this  depression  is 
followed  by  Mud  creek,  and  in  section  1,  Eidsvold,  it  is  crossed  by  the  North  branch  of  Yellow 
Medicine  river,  and  lies  on  its  south  side.  This  ancient  river-course,  now  dry  or  occupied  by 
insignificant  streams,  has  along  this  explored  extent  of  twelve  miles  a  width  that  varies  from  a 
quarter  to  a  half  of  a  mile,  consisting  of  a  nearly  flat  bottomland  whose  subsoil  is  gravel  and  sand, 
bordered  by  areas  of  moderately  rolling  or  morainic  till,  which  average  30  to  40  feet  higher.  A 
large  river  is  believed  to  have  flowed  southeastward  here  during  the  departure  of  the  ice-sheet 
after  the  formation  of  its  third  moraine,  which  seems  to  cross  this  channel  at  the  southeast  cor- 
ner of  section  19,  Burton.  The  receding  ice-fields  on  the  northeast  prevented  drainage  from 
taking  its  present  courses,  and  their  melting  supplied  unusual  floods.  Beyond  this  water-course 
the  ice-margin  southeastward  to  Faribault  county  was  bordered  by  a  long  and  shallow  lake,  which 
overflowed  by  the  way  of  Union  slough  in  Iowa  (page  461).  Similar  water-courses  were  afterward 
channeled,  alongside  the  west  border  of  the  melting  ice-fields  at  successive  stages  of  their  reces- 
sion, in  Omro,  and  near  Granite  Falls,  respectively  seven  and  twenty-three  miles  farther  northeast. 
The  fourth,  fifth  and  sixth  terminal  moraines  of  the  last  ice-sheet,*  formed  at  successive 
stages  in  its  recession,  clearly  exhibited  farther  east  in  the  vicinity  of  Kiester,  Elysian  and  Waco- 
nia,  seem  to  be  represented  in  this  district  by  the  morainic  knolls  and  mounds  of  drift,  with  more 
than  the  ordinary  proportion  of  boulders,  which  are  found  associated  with  the  water-courses  men- 
tioned in  Omro  and  near  Granite  Falls.  A  morainic  belt,  apparently  reaching  a  considerable 
distance  from  northwest  to  southeast,  was  crossed  in  section  30,  Tyro,  a  few  miles  east  of  the 
Omro  valley;  and  another,  described  on  page  592,  probably  representing  the  fifth  and  sixth  mo- 
raines, lies  at  the  west  side  of  the  eastern  channel,  and  consists  of  prominent  smooth  swells, 
occupying  a  width  of  two  or  three  miles  from  three  to  six  miles  west  of  Granite  Falls,  and 
expanding  farther  south  in  Wood  Lake,  Sioux  Agency  and  Echo,  to  a  width  of  six  miles. 

Modified  drift.  No  extensive  areas  of  modified  drift  were  observed  in  this  district.  In  a 
few  places,  however,  small  deposits  of  gravel  and  sand,  partly  kame-like,  form  the  surface.  A 
noteworthy  cut  in  such  beds  was  seen  near  Balaton,  in  southern  Lyon  county.  A  sixth  of  a  mile 
southeast  from  this  station,  close  southwest  of  the  railroad,  in  a  rounded  hillock,  an  excavation 
has  been  made  for  ballast  to  a  distance  into  the  hillock  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  the  section 
exposed  being  twenty  rods  or  more  in  length  and  about  20  feet  high  in  its  highest  part.  It  con- 
sists of  gravel,  yellowish  and  in  many  portions  ferruginous,  mostly  very  coarse  and  containing 
abundant  pebbles  up  to  six  or  eight  inches  in  diameter,  nearly  all  of  them  plainly  water-worn  or 
rounded.  At  4  to  7  feet  below  the  top.  for  a  length  of  a  hundred  feet  or  so  at  the  highest  part,  the 
material  is  fine,  sandy  gravel,  obliquely  bedded  in  slopes  of  5°  to  25°  eastward.  At  the  east  end  of 
this  a  portion  10  to  15  feet  below  the  top  and  20  feet  long  is  represented  in  fig.  50.  The  central 
mass  here  is  sand  while  the  enclosing  strata  are  gravel,  mostly  with  pebbles  less  than  three  inches 
in  diameter,  but  in  some  places  holding  pebbles  up  to  five  or  eight  inches 
in  diameter.  The  lenticular  mass  of  sand  occurring  here  shows  two  small 
faults  at  its  center,  each  of  three  or  four  inches,  the  lower  side  being  at  the 
east.  The  stratification  of  this  deposit  is  conformable  with  the  slope  of 

Fig  60.  Section  in  modified 

drift,  near  Baiuton.  its  surface,  showing  that  it  remains  nearly  or  quite  in  the  same  form  as  it 

was  left  by  the  glacial  floods. 

Only  two  fragments  of  rock  that  exceeded  a  foot  in  diameter,  were  seen  in  this  excavation. 
These  were  one  and  a  half  and  three  feet  long.  About  one-third  of  the  pebbles  here,  both  large 
and  small,  are  limestone;  nearly  all  the  rest  are  granite  and  crystalline  schists;  only  a  few  pebbles, 

'Compare  pages  461,  463  and  581;  and  chapters  xxi  and  xxn. 


YELLOW  MEDICINE,  LYON  AND  LINCOLN  COUNTIES.  (JQ7 

Boulders.    Wells.] 

as  of  shale,  which  could  be  certainly  referred  to  the  Cretaceous,  were  seen;  and  no  quartzyte  nor 
.  conglomerate.  Many  of  the  limestone  fragments  are  obscurely  fossiliferous.  The  top  of  this  cut 
is  about  30  feet  above  lake  Yankton,  and  perhaps  five  feet  below  the  top  of  the  mound  in 
which  it  is  made.  Similar  gravel  forms  the  subsoil,  and  extends  to  a  depth  of  30  feet  in  wells  at 
Balaton  station,  and  reaches  thence  a  half  mile  to  the  northwest  beside  the  lake,  and  two  or  three 
miles  easterly  along  the  railroad. 

Terrace-like  outlines,  noticed  at  a  few  places,  as  near  the  mouth  of  Stony  run,  upon  the  bluffs 
bordering  the  Minnesota  river  in  Yellow  Medicine  county,  appear  to  have  been  wrought  in  the  till 
of  the  general  drift-sheet  during  the  excavation  of  this  great  valley.  A  terrace  of  modified  drift 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  in  Chippewa  county ,  indicates  that  this  part  of  the  valley  has 
been  filled  with  gravel  and  sand  to  a  depth  of  30  or  40  feet  above  the  present  river. 

Boulders.  Very  abundant  boulders  occur  upon  the  bluff  of  the  Minnesota  river  along  an 
extent  of  two  miles  between  one  and  three  miles  southeast  from  the  mouth  of  the  Yellow  Medicine 
river,  in  sections  34,  3,  2,  11  and  12,  Sioux  Agency.  Tlie  bluff  here  is  knolly  and  in  many  places 
thickly  covered  with  large  and  small  rock-fragments  from  the  bottom  to  a  hight  100  to  125  feet 
above  the  river;  but  the  till  which  forms  the  upper  50  feet  of  the  bluff  and  the  prairie  at  its  top, 
has  only  the  usual  small  proportion  of  boulders.  This  feature  was  not  noticed  elsewhere  upon  the 
bluffs  in  Yellow  Medicine  county,  but  is  remarkably  displayed  in  many  places  through  the  next 
fifty  miles  in  ascending  the  Minnesota  river.  It  appears  to  be  due  to  the  occurrence  in  the  drift- 
sheet  of  a  stratum  of  till  thickly  filled  with  boulders;  and  its  origin  is  probably  from  a  terminal 
moraine  accumulated  in  the  early  part  of  the  ice  age,  and  afterward  covered  by  the  more 
extended  ice-sheet  of  the  later  epoch,  by  which  its  mounds  and  hills  of  coarsely  rocky  drift  were 
spread  in  a  nearly  level  layer  and  buried  under  an  additional  thickness  of  ordinary  drift  contain- 
ing few  boulders.  Some  portions  of  the  ledgy  bottomland  two  to  five  miles  up  the  valley  from 
Granite  Falls  are  very  plentifully  strown  with  boulders,  which  were  probably  derived  from  this 
layer  of  the  drift-sheet.  They  are  especially  noticeable  in  section  24,  Stony  Run,  where,  along 
an  extent  of  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  rock-fragments  of  all  sizes  up  to  six  or  eight  feet  in 
diameter  form  almost  the  greater  part  of  numerous  drift-ridges  that  extend  twenty  to  forty  rods 
from  northwest  to  southeast,  and  rise  some  20  feet  above  the  general  level  of  the  valley. 

Wells  in  Yellow  Medicine  county. 

Examples  of  sections  of  the  drift  found  by  common  wells  in  Yellow  Medicine  county  are  as 
follows: 

Echo.  Frederick  Mecklanbuvg;  sec.  8:  well,  52  feet,  bored  two  feet  in  diameter;  soil,  2; 
yellow  till,  17;  blue  till,  much  harder,  "like  stone,"  33;  sand,  8  inches,  with  blue  till  below;  water 
rose  eighteen  feet  in  a  half  hour. 

Otis.  R.  W.  Crandle;.  sec.  31:  well,  52  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  15;  very  hard,  dark  blue  till, 
35;  this  well  was  given  up  as  a  failure  at  the  depth  of  50  feet;  but  Mr.  Crandle  decided  to  bore 
down  the  length  of  a  carpenter's  auger,  when,  at  two  feet  lower,  water  was  struck  and  spouted  up 
six  feet,  rising  in  a  short  time  thirty  feet.  This  is  on  the  high  prairie,  about  150  feet  above  the 
Minnesota  river. 

Granite  Falls.  C.  P.  Griswold;  well,  55  feet;  soil,  2;  very  coarse  gravel,  containing  rounded 
stones  up  to  a  foot  in  diameter,  becoming  below  less  coarse,  and  gradually  changing  to  ordinary 
gravel,  10  feet,  containing  a  small  supply  of  water  in  its  lower  part;  hard  yellow  till,  5  feet;  tena- 
cious, sticky,  hard,  dark  bluish  till,  38  feet;  some  gray  streaks  were  found  in  this  lower  till,  but 
no  sandy  layers  and  no  water. 

Wood  Lake.  B.  G.  Hall;  sec.  23:  well  26  feet:  soil,  2;  sandy  till,  easy  to  dig,  6;  yellow  till, 
picked,  in  the  lower  part  mixed  with  bluish  and  ferruginous  streaks,  14  feet,  containing  pulver- 
ulent and  soluble,  white  particles,  in  appearance  like  coarse  sand;  then,  a  bed  of  sand,  2  feet, 
from  which  water  slowly  seeps,  bitterish;  underlain  by  blue  till,  much  harder  than  the  upper  till, 
2  feet  and  reaching  lower.  Another  well,  on  lower  land,  fifteen  rods  distant,  gets  good  water  at 
12  feet.  Through  all  this  region  the  blue  till  extends  to  a  great  depth,  and  is  much  harder  than 
the  overlying  yellow  till.  The  wells  of  this  township  are  mostly  in  till,  and  vary  from  10  to  40 
feet  in  depth,  the  shallow  wells  having  generally  the  best  water. 

John  Besmern;  sec.  26:  well,  16  feet;  all  caving  gravel  and  sand;  situated  on  the  southeast 
slope  of  a  kame-like  knoll,  fifteen  feet  above  the  general  level.  The  top  of  this  knoll,  partly  ex- 


60S  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Wells. 

cavated  for  a  cellar,  is  found  to  be  sand,  but  its  surface  bears  occasional  boulders  up  to  four  or 
five  feet  in  diameter. 

In  the  central  part  of  Yellow  Medicine  county  most  of  the  wells  are  shallow,  being  from  10  to 
30  feet  deep,  in  till,  which  is  yellowish  near  the  surface,  but  dark  bluish  and  harder  below. 

Burton.  P.  G.  Wells;  sec.  6:  well,  18  feet;  soil,  3;  yellow  till,  spaded,  12;  much  harder 
blue  till,  3  feet  and  extending  lower;  water  seeps. 

P.  C.  Bayard;  sec.  22:  well,  54  feet;  soil  and  yellow  till,  20;  blue  till,  34;  this  was  bored 
three  feet  in  diameter  to  the  depth  of  48  feet,  and  two  inches  in  diameter  for  the  remaining  6 
feet;  water  rose  from  sand  and  gravel  at  the  bottom  so  rapidly  that  in  half  an  hour  it  reached  its 
permanent  level,  22  feet  below  the  surface,  filling  26  feet  of  the  portion  bored  three  feet  in  diam- 
eter. 

Victor  A.  Anderson;  N.  E.  J  of  sec.  30:  well,  34  feet;  soil.  2;  yellow  till,  12;  blue  till,  easier 
to  bore,  20;  water  rose  from  sand  at  the  bottom  nine  feet  in  twenty  minutes.  Several  fragments 
of  lignite  up  to  two  or  three  inches  in  length  were  found  in  this  well. 

Oshkosh.  Mr.  R.  M.  Strong,  well-borer,  reports  the  following  section  of  a  well,  27  feet  deep 
in  sec.  28:  black  soil,  1J  feet;  yellow  clayey  loam,  3  feet;  gravel,  2  inches;  yellow  clay,  with 
rusty  lumps  and  concretions,  but  thought  to  contain  no  stones,  17  feet;  blue  clay,  5  feet;  both 
the  last  are  said  to  be  in  layers;  next  was  quicksand,  containing  water,  which  was  impregnated 
with  iron  and  soon  became  offensive  to  taste,  though  not  contaminated  with  wooden  curbing, 
none  of  any  kind  being  used  in  the  lower  fourteen  feet. 

Norman.  A.  G.  Gulmoti;  sec.  32:  well,  72  feet;  yellow  and  blue  till,  56;  sand,  16;  water 
came  in  a  large  supply,  but  is  only  one  or  two  feet  deep  at  the  bottom  of  the  well. 

Canby.  Wells  at  Canby,  in  the  S.  W.  J  of  sec.  3,  Norman,  are  from  15  to  22  feet  deep, 
passing  through  yellow  till,  to  quicksand  and  coarse  gravel  at  the  bottom,  from  which  water  rises 
only  one  or  two  feet.  Several  wells  here  are  said  to  have  found  bivalve  shells  in  this  water-bear- 
ing layer. 

Gary.  Wells  at  this  town,  in  the  edge  of  Dakota,  near  the  west  line  of  Yellow  Medicine 
county,  are  in  till  and  15  to  30  feet  deep. 

Wells  in  Lyon  county. 

Stanley.  N.  F.  Frary;  sec.  34:  well,  33  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  15;  blue  till,  16;  water  rose 
fifteen  feet  from  sand  at  the  bottom.  This  well  is  curbed  with  wood,  and  in  some  parts  of  the 
year  has  a  bad  taste. 

George  Bissett;  sec.  26:  well,  26J  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  picked,  22,  containing  no  fossils; 
sand  and  gravel,  2}  feet,  enclosing  numerous  gasteropod  and  bivalve  shells;  water,  not  rising, 
plenty  and  good.  Another  well,  twelve  rods  farther  south,  on  land  three  feet  lower,  found  black 
soil,  3  feet;  yellow  sand  and  gravel,  3  feet,  with  water,  a  flowing  spring,  at  the  bottom  of  this 
layer;  below  was  20  feet  of  blue  till,  containing  no  water;  gasteropod  shells,  derived  from  Creta- 
ceous strata,  were  found  in  this  blue  till. 

Amiret.  The  town-well,  27  feet  deep,  is  all  yellow  till;  water  rose  ten  feet  from  sand  at  the 
bottom. 

IVocj/,  in  the  east  part  of  see.  23.  Monroe.  Wells  are  in  till,  mostly  only  12  to  20  feet  deep, 
finding  plenty  of  water.  The  railroad  well  at  this  place,  dug  under  the  superintendence  of  Mr. 
John  McAllister,  of  Winona,  is  reported  by  him  as  follows:  depth,  119  feet;  dark  soil,  2  feet; 
yellow  clay  [till],  15  feet;  tough,  blue  clay,  mixed  with  pebbles  [till],  80  feet;  hardpan  [a  harder 
layer  of  till],  16  feet;  [in  this  hardpan  was  found  a  fragment  of  Eaculites,  five  inches  long  and 
three-fourths  of  an  inch  in  diameter;]  quicksand,  3  feet;  underlain  by  blue  clay,  which  was  bored 
into  3  feet;  the  water  then  rose  so  fast,  probably  from  the  quicksand,  that  the  work  could  not  be 
continued;  it  gradually  rose  during  thirty  hours,  attaining  a  depth  of  sixty-five  feet.  This  sup- 
ply, however,  partially  failed  after  a  month,  and  is  insufficient  for  the  needs  of  the  railroad  en- 
gines. 

The  water  in  many  of  the  wells  about  Tracy,  Marshall  and  Canby,  is  offensive  to  taste  and 
smell.  Most  of  these  wells  apparently  become  so  because  curbed  with  wood  and  left  stagnant. 
Nearly  all  the  wells  in  this  district  which  are  curbed  with  stone  or  iron  pipe  or  cement  pipe, 
especially  when  frequently  drawn  from,  have  good  water. 

Lake  Marshall.    Wells  at  Marshall  and  in  its  vicinity  are  mostly  between  10  and  30  feet 


YELLOW  MEDICINE,  LYON  AND  LINCOLN  COUNTIES.  gQ9 

Wells.] 

• 

deep.  They  generally  find  the  yellow  till  8  to  12  feet  deep.  Then  the  majority  of  these  wells  go 
through  a  black,  mucky  clay,  free  from  gravel,  3  inches  to  2  feet  in  thickness,  almost  always  con- 
taining small  gasteropod  and  bivalve  shells,  described  as  "  like  those  of  the  present  lakes,"  and 
frequently  pieces  of  wood  thought  to  be  willow,  and  also,  occasionally,  small  concretions  of  iron 
pyrites.  Below  this,  there  is  commonly  found  a  foot  or  two  of  gravel  and  sand;  next  to  which, 
or,  where  this  bed  is  wanting,  directly  beneath  the  fossiliferous  mud,  is  dark  bluish  till,  more 
gravelly,  but  containing  fewer  large  boulders  than  the  upper  till.  This  bluish  till,  not  harder  than 
the  yellow  till  above,  but  very  tenacious,  extends  5  to  50  feet  before  coming  to  a  water-bearing 
vein  or  layer  of  gravel  and  sand,  from  which  the  water  usually  rises  considerably. 

C.  H.  Whitney;  sec.  4:  well,  42  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  15;  dry  sand,  2  inches;  blue  till,  23; 
water  was  found  in  sand  and  very  coarse  gravel,  holding  rounded  boulders  up  to  a  hundred  pounds 
in  weight,  at  the  bottom,  dug  into  1J  feet,  yielding  for  the  first  two  months  a  depth  of  about  two 
feet  of  water  of  excellent  quality;  but  one  morning  this  well  was  found  filled  to  a  depth  of 
twenty  feet  with  water  too  disagreeable  in  smell  and  taste  to  be  used,  and  having  an  oily  scum 
lloating  on  its  top.  During  the  process  of  digging,  a  current  of  water  had  been  heard  at  one  side 
of  the  well,  running  in  the  ground  about  twenty  feet  below  the  surface,  and  it  is  supposed  that 
this  had  broken  through. 

Grandview.  A.  A.  Farmer;  sec.  20:  well,  4-5  feet;  soil.  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  8;  blue  till, 
easier  to  bore,  35;  water,  of  good  quality,  rose  from  gravel  and  sand  at  the  bottom  thirty-five  feet 
in  five  minutes. 

Lynd.  O.  C.  Gregg;  sec.  30:  well,  33  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  23;  blue  till,  harder  to  excavate 
because  it  is  so  tenacious,  but  not  harder  to  drive  a  spade  or  pick  into,  becoming  very  hard  and 
compact  in  drying,  8  feet;  abundance  of  good  water  seeps  from  the  till,  from  the  depth  of  20  feet 
to  the  bottom  of  the  well. 

A  flowing  well,  about  20  feet  deep,  was  dug  in  the  northwest  part  of  Lynd,  situated  on  land 
nearly  as  high  above  neighboring  depressions  as  the  depth  of  the  well.  After  digging  here  in  till 
about  20  feet,  this  well  was  left  for  the  night  with  the  tools  in  it  that  had  been  used;  and  the  next 
morning  water,  which  had  broken  into  the  well  and  filled  it,  was  found  running  over  the  top. 

7t.  O.  Titus;  S.  W.  I  of  sec.  26:  well,  40  feet;  soil,  4;  yellow  till,  hard,  but  spaded,  36  feet  and 
extending  below,  in  its  lower  part  showing  some  intermixture  of  blue  till;  water  came  from  a  thin 
vein  or  crevice  in  the  till  at  the  depth  of  16  feet.  Another  well,  twenty  rods  farther  north  and  on 
land  some  eight  feet  lower,  is  11  feet  deep,  finding  soil  and  yellow  till  to  the  depth  of  10  feet,  the 
last  foot  being  in  blue  till;  water  comes  at  9  feet  in  the  yellow  till. 

Lyons.  J.  M.  Millard;  sec.  14:  well,  23  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  17;  sand,  1  foot;  blue  till,  3 
feet  and  extending  lower;  water  from  the  sand  soon  rose  and  usually  fills  the  well  sixteen  feet 
deep. 

Balaton,  in  the  N.  W.  \  of  sec.  23,  Bock  Lake.  Moore  &  Weberg's  well,  30  feet  deep;  soil, 
H;  all  below  is  caring  gravel,  with  occasional  layers  of  sand  up  to  one  foot  in  thickness. 

Eidsvold.  Most  of  the  wells  in  this  township  are  10  to  30  feet  deep,  in  yellow  and  blue  till. 
The  thickness  of  the  yellow  color  of  the  till  is  10  to  20  feet  on  the  swells,  but  only  5  to  10  feet  in 
hollows.  The  yellow  till  is  usually  easily  dug  with  a  spade;  the  lower,  bluish  till  is  more  com- 
pact, harder  to  drive  a  spade  into,  more  moist  and  sticky,  and  less  stony. 

Minneota.  In  this  village,  situated  in  the  southeast  part  of  Eidsvold,  the  shallow  wells  are 
10  to  16  feet  deep;  in  soil,  2;  dark  till,  5;  and  sand  and  gravel,  5  to  10;  finding  good  water,  in 
sufficient  supply  for  ordinary  use.  Deeper  wells  go  below  this  10  to  15  feet  in  blue  till;  at  25  or 
30  feet  these  strike  water  in  bluish  quicksand,  from  which  it  rises  to  about  ten  feet  below  the 
surface.  The  water  is  good  at  first,  but  most  of  the  deep  wells  are  bored  and  curbed  with  pine, 
and  these  become  offensive  when  not  abundantly  used.  The  shallow  wells  are  not  curbed. 

Shelburne.  E.  F.  Dickson;  sec.  24:  well,  21  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  hard,  mostly  picked, 
16;  harder  blue  till,  3  feet  and  reaching  lower;  water  seeps. 

Wells  in  Lincoln  county. 

Marshjield.    G.  W.  Cutler;  sec.  29:  well,  30  feet,  in  yellow  and  blue  till;  water  seeps. 

Tyler,  in  sec.  3,  Hope.  Railroad  well  at  the  station,  94  feet  deep;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  10; 
blue  till,  f-'O;  fine  white  sand,  2,  from  which  water  rose  thirty-six  feet  in  one  night;  it  is  not  re- 
garded, however,  as  a  sufficient  supply  for  a  tank  to  be  used  from  by  engines.  At  the  section- 
39 


610  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Wells.     Travertine.    Springs 

• 

house,  thirty  rods  west  of  the  station,  the  well,  9  feet  deep,  was  all  the  way  in  yellow  till  to  sand 
at  the  bottom  from  which  water  rose  six  feet,  and  proves  to  be  an  ample  and  permanent  supply. 

Lake  View  House:  well,  78  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  16;  blue  till,  60;  water  seeps, 
sometimes  filling  the  well  to  five  feet  below  the  top. 

Ltiamond  Lake.  G.  II.  Bradley;  sec.  28:  well,  24  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  partly  spaded,  10; 
harder  blue  till,  all  picked,  12,  and  reaching  below;  water  seeps  from  sandy  streaks  in  the  blue 
till,  and  stands  twelve  feet  deep. 

Lake  Benton.  A.  W.  Morse,  in  the  town,  sec.  8:  well,  about  40  feet;  yellow  till,  15 ;  blue 
till,  25;  water  seeps  from  sandy  streaks  in  the  yellow  till,  filling  the  well  to  the  top  of  the  blue 
till. 

Hendricks.    Wells  in  this  township  are  10  to  35  feet  deep,  in  yellow  and  dark  bluish  till. 

Sliaokatan.  Samuel  D.  Pumpelly;  sec.  14 :  well,  14  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  12; 
water,  abundant  and  of  excellent  quality,  rose  three  feet  from  sand  and  gravel  which  was  dug 
into  six  inches. 

A.  J.  Crane;  sec.  23:  well,  27  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  25;  water  seeps,  filling  the 
well  four  feet  deep,  but  it  is  too  poor  to  be  used. 

Travertine.  The  water  of  wells  is  generally  good  throughout  this  district,  but  its  dissolved 
carbonates  of  lime  and  magnesia,  derived  from  the  drift,  render  it  hard  and  cause  it  to  deposit 
scale  rapidly  when  it  is  used  in  the  boilers  of  engines.  Sometimes  this  mineral  matter  is  de- 
posited by  springs,  as  a  porous  stone,  a  kind  of  travertine,  preserving  the  form  of  leaves,  sticks, 
and  moss,  which  it  has  encrusted,  so  that  it  is  commonly  called  "petrified  moss."  Fine  speci- 
mens of  this  are  obtained  in  several  little  ravines  near  Camden  mills,  in  section  32,  Lynd,  the 
best  locality  being  about  thirty  rods  southeast  from  the  mill.  At  Gary,  in  the  edge  of  Dakota, 
an  extensive  deposit  of  it  is  found  near  Capt.  Herrick's,  and  has  been  considerably  burned  for 
lime.  It  is  on  one  of  the  small,  irregular  mounds  or  hillocks  of  till,  belonging  to  the  second 
terminal  moraine,  where  its  origin  seems  difficult  to  be  explained,  except  by  referring  it  to  de- 
position from  waters  that  trickled  down  from  the  melting,  drift-laden  surface  of  the  ice-sheet, 
probably  flowing  thus  in  greater  amount  or  more  constantly,  and  during  a  longer  time,  than  at 
most  other  points  on  the  ice-border.* 

Springs.  Large  chalybeate  springs  occur  on  the  south  branch  of  the  Cottonwood  river  in  the 
northeast  part  of  Custer,  a  few  miles  southwest  from  Amiret  station.  The  springs  on  the  shores 
of  lake  Benton  have  been  before  mentioned.  Near  Mr.  J.  G.  Bryan's  house,  at  the  west  end  of 
this  lake,  are  two  springs,  only  a  few  feet  apart,  which  differ  much,  one  being  pure,  cold,  excel- 
lent water;  while  the  other  seems  warmer,  and  is  much  impregnated  with  mineral  matter  that 
makes  an  iron-rusty  deposit,  the  water  not  being  adapted  for  drinking  and  cooking. 

The  amount  of  alkaline  matter,  or  sulphates  of  magnesia,  soda  and  lime,  contained  in  the 
drift  of  this  district,  is  seldom  so  great  as  to  perceptibly  affect  the  water  of  wells  and  springs;  but  it 
appears  to  hasten  the  decay  of  wood  when  this  is  used  as  curbing,  soon  causing  the  water  to  be- 
come offensive,  unless  the  well  is  so  plentifully  drawn  from  that  it  is  being  constantly  supplied 
with  fresh  water.  It  is,  of  course,  much  preferable  to  use  stone  curbing  or  iron  or  cement  pipe. 
The  grayish  white  alkaline  efflorescence  that  is  occasionally  seen  in  this  district  in  shallow  de- 
pressions from  which  pools  of  water  have  dried  up,  forming  a  crust  resembling  frost,  sometimes 
a  fourth  or  a  third  of  an  inch  thick,  made  up  of  flakes  and  columnar  spicules,  has  been  concen- 
trated from  the  inflowing  and  evaporating  waters  of  a  long  period.  These  lands  may  be  re*- 
claimed  by  being  drained,  and  sown  with  wheat,  which  uses  much  of  the  alkaline  ingredients  of 
the  soil;  and  after  several  years  in  wheat,  with  deep  plowing,  they  can  usually  be  planted  suc- 
cessfully to  other  crops. 

MATERIAL    RESOURCES. 

The  soil,  the  timber  and  prairie,  and  the  grand  agricultural  capabili- 
ties of  this  district,  which  are  its  chief  resource,  have  been  treated  of  in 
earlier  parts  of  this  chapter.  Items  remaining  to  be  mentioned  here  are 
water-powers,  building  stone,  and  the  manufacture  of  lime  and  bricks. 

*See  the  second  annual  report,  pp.  195-6. 


YELLOW  MEDICINE,  LYON  AND  LINCOLN  COUNTIES. 

Water-powers.    Stone.     Lime.] 

Water-powers.  The  utilized  water-powers  of  this  district  are  all  employed  for  flouring  mills. 
Four  powers  are  used  on  the  Minnesota  river,  as  follows: 

Hixson  Brothers;  one  mile  west  of  Granite  Falls;  head,  about  eight  feet. 

Banner  mills;  Stoddard  &  Libbey ;  in  the  north  part  of  Granite  Falls;  head,  ten  and  a  half  feet. 

Granite  Falls  mills;  W.  W.  Pinney;  head,  twelve  feet.  It  is  estimated  that  there  is  a  fall  of 
eight  feet  within  a  third  of  a  mile  below  this  mill. 

Minnesota  Falls  mills;  Austin  &  Worden;  head,  ten  feet,  but  it  may  be  increased  to  fifteen 
feet. 

The  Minnesota  river  at  Granite  Falls  is  about  150  feet  wide.  It  usually  has  sufficient  water 
for  running  the  mills  during  the  driest  part  of  the  year. 

On  the  Yellow  Medicine  river  one  power  is  used,  about  five  miles  from  its  mouth,  by  E.  II. 
Sorlien  &  Brother,  in  section  35,  Minnesota  Falls.  This  is  at  the  neck  of  a  long  loop  of  the  river, 
across  which  a  canal  twelve  rods  long  carries  the  water  to  the  mill,  the  head  or  fall  being  about 
twenty  feet. 

The  Kedwood  river  in  Lyon  county  has  three  utilized  powers,  as  follows,  in  descending  order: 

Camdeu  mills;  V.  M.  Smith;  in  the  S.  E.  }  of  section  32,  Lynd;  head,  twenty-one  feet. 

H.  R.  Marcyes'  mill;  in  section  23,  Lynd;  head,  twelve  feet. 

Marshall  mills;  J.  A.  Rea;  in  the  west  edge  of  Marshall;  head,  about  nine  feet. 

No  water-powers  are  used  in  Lincoln  county,  and  none  on  the  Lac  qui  Parle  and  Cottonwood 
rivers  in  this  district. 

Building  stone.  No  quarrying  of  any  importance  has  been  yet  undertaken  in  the  gneiss 
granite  and  syenite  of  the  Minnesota  valley,  nor  in  their  other  outcrops  lying  farther  west  in  Yel-' 
low  Medicine  county.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  some  portions  of  these  exposures  will  furnish 
good  stone  for  ordinary  masonry,  and  perhaps  even  of  sufficiently  fine  quality  for  ornamental 
work.  The  only  quarry  in  this  district  is  George  B.  Mason's,  in  section  12,  Alta  Vista,  Lincoln 
county,  in  the  Cretaceous  sandstone,  which  has  already  been  fully  described  on  page  599. 

Boulders  of  gneiss,  granite  and  limestone,  usually  are  sufficiently  abundant  for  the  ordinary 
masonry  needed  by  farmers,  in  cellar  walls  and  foundations  of  buildings,  in  curbing  wells,  and 
making  culverts  for  roads.  These  boulders  are  especially  plentiful  upon  the  morainic  belts  of  the 
Coteau  des  Prairies,  being  mostly  of  smaller  size  than  five  feet,  but  sometimes  ten  or  fifteen  feet 
or  more  in  diameter. 

Lime.  In  the  northeast  part  of  Sioux  Agency,  the  most  eastern  township  bordering  the 
Minnesota  river  in  Yellow  Medicine  county,  lime  has  been  burned  from  boulders  by  Ole  Swenson 
and  Iver  Olson.  It  is  white,  strong  lime. 

At  Minnesota  Falls,  Simon  Christiansen  and  William  C.  Darby  burn  lime  from  boulders, 
each  making  some  300  ban-els  yearly,  and  selling  at  $1.50  per  barrel.  It  is  white,  and  of  excel- 
lent quality. 

Several  farmers  burn  lime  from  boulders  within  ten  miles  to  the  north  and  west  of  Canby. 

At  Gary  lime  is  burned  by  David  Bradley,  who  leases  Capt.  H.  H.  Herrick's  kiln.  Boul- 
ders, collected  from  the  neighboring  morainic  hills,  yield  white  lime;  and  the  deposits  of  traver- 
tine, or  calcareous  tufa,  mentioned  on  page  610,  situated  at  and  near  the  kiln,  supply  a  dark,  but 
equally  strong  lime.  The  former  is  sold  for  $1.25  per  barrel,  and  the  latter  for  $1,  the  yearly 
product  of  both  together  being  400  or  500  barrels.  Soft  wood,  brought  on  the  cars,  costs  $ 3  to  $4 
per  cord. 

In  western  Lyon  county,  Tobias  Trana,  living  in  the  S.  W.  J  of  section  30,  Nordland,  burns 
lime  from  boulders,  gathered  mostly  on  morainic  hills  within  one  or  two  miles  westerly  in  Lime- 
stone township,  Lincoln  county;  yearly  product,  about  200  barrels,  sold  at  $1.25  per  barrel. 
Abundant  limestone  boulders,  sometimes  ten  to  fifteen  feet  long,  occur  in  northern  Lincoln 
county,  and  have  given  names  to  Limestone  and  Marble  townships. 

One  mile  farther  south,  a  fine  drift-gravel,  cemented  by  carbonate  of  lime,  occurs  in  the  S. 
W.  J  of  section  31,  Nordland,  on  the  west  side  of  the  South  branch  of  Yellow  Medicine  river,  the 
exposure  being  about  40  feet  in  length,  and  4  to  6  feet  in  vertical  thickness,  at  35  to  40  feet  above 
the  creek.  It  is  underlain  by  sand  and  gravel,  and  ten  or  fifteen  feet  below  this  cemented 
stratum  a  large  spring  of  very  irony  water  issues,  and  is  still  forming  a  calcareous  deposit,  work- 
ing in  nearly  the  same  way  as  the  waters  by  whose  agency  the  cementation  of  this  gravel  was  ef- 


612  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Lime.     Bricks.    Mounds, 

f ectecl.  For  fifteen  or  twenty  rods  thence  to  the  south,  at  a  hight  of  10  to  20  feet  above  the  creek, 
masses  of  calcareous  tufa,  free  from  gravel,  but  holding  impressions  of  sticks  and  moss,  are  found 
and  have  been  burned  by  Mr.  Trana,  yielding  a  dark  lime. 

At  Island  Lake  post-office,  also  in  western  Lyou  county,  J.  R.  King  has  burned  lime  from 
boulders  eight  years,  averaging  200  barrels  yearly,  selling  it  at  $1.25  to  $2  per  barrel.  The  greater 
part  of  this  is  white  lime,  but  about  one  piece  in  twenty  is  yellowish.  The  largest  slab  of  lime- 
stone found  by  Mr.  King  was  about  ten  feet  square  and  four  feet  thick.  In  the  south  edge  of 
this  county,  A.  W.  Bean  burns  lime  from  boulders  in  the  southeast  part  of  Kock  Lake  township. 

In  Lake  Benton;  Lincoln  county,  Ira  Scott  and  John  Snyder  burn  lime  from  boulders, 
white  and  of  excellent  quality,  selling  at  $1.50  per  ban-el.  A  few  others  burn  lime  in  small 
amount  elsewhere  in  this  county. 

Bricks.  Before  the  Indian  outbreak  in  1862,  but  not  since  that  time,  bricks  were  made  at 
the  old  town  of  Yellow  Medicine,  on  the  bottomland  of  the  Yellow  Medicine  river,  in  the  south- 
west corner  of  section  29,  Sioux  Agency. 

At  Minnesota  Falls  two  small  kilns  of  bricks,  amounting  to  about  100,000,  were  made  in 

1879  by  Simon  Christianson,  about  twenty-five  rods  south  from  the  mill,  partially  failing  because 
of  small  limy  concretions  in  the  clay  and  limestone  particles  in  the  sand  used  for  tempering, 
which  cause  the  bricks  to  crack  after  burning.    He  intended  to  continue  this  business,  expecting, 
after  these  experiments,  to  produce  bricks  of  good  quality.    The  bricks  are  cream-colored  or 
light  reddish,  sold  for  $8  per  thousand.    They  are  made  of  recent  alluvium,  some  20  feet  above 
the  river.    About  a  foot  at  the  surface  is  removed;  then  the  next  four  to  six  feet  of  dark  alluvial 
clayey  silt  is  used  for  this  brick-making,  mixed  with  considerable  sand. 

Brick-making  was  undertaken  at  Granite  Falls  in  1876  and  1878,  first  a  half  mile  southwest 
from  the  bridge,  and  later  near  Stoddard  &  Libbey's  mill,  failing  as  at  Minnesota  Falls  because 
of  the  presence  of  limy  concretions. 

Two  miles  northeast  from  Canby,  a  small  kiln  of  bricks,  containing  about  10,000,  of  fail- 
quality,  dull  gray  in  color,  were  made  in  1878,  beside  Canby  creek,  from  clay  that  is  free  of  gravel, 
tempered  by  a  considerable  intermixture  of  sand. 

In  section  28,  of  Eidsvold,  the  most  northwestern  township  of  Lyon  county,  Anon  Olson  in 

1880  began  brick-making,  using  clay  and  sand  in  the  proportions  of  three  and  one.    These  are 
red  bricks,  sold  in  Minneota,  three  miles  distant,  at  $10  per  thousand. 

At  Marshall  the  business  is  carried  on  by  W.  A.  Crocker,  in  the  northeast  edge  of  the  town, 
and  by  James  M.  Lockey,  in  its  southwest  edge,  on  the  road  to  Lynd,  both  having  begun  in  1878. 
Mr.  Crooker  made  500,000  bricks  in  1880.  They  are  cream-colored,  but  vary  to  pinkish,  are  of 
good  and  durable  quality,  and  command  $7  to  $8  per  thousand.  The  material  used  is  the  allu- 
vium of  the  Redwood  river,  lying  about  ten  feet  above  this  stream,  but  not  overflowed  at  its 
ordinary  high  water.  It  contains  no  gravel  nor  limy  concretions,  and  no  sand  is  mixed  with  it. 
Mr.  Lockey  makes  about  300,000  yearly,  of  similar  color  and  quality,  using  the  alluvium  of  an  old 
lake-bottom,  which  was  covered  by  water  in  1875.  He  mixes  sand  with  it  in  the  proportion  of 
one  to  three. 

In  section  22,  Verdi,  the  most  southwest  township  of  Lincoln  county,  John  Enke  began 
brick-making  in  1880.  This  is  about  five  miles  southwest  from  Lake  Benton. 

ABORIGINAL  EARTHWORKS. 

The  only  artificial  mounds  observed  during  the  examination  of  these  counties  are  near  Lake 
Benton  station.  About  three-quarters  of  a  mile  northwest  from  this  town,  and  within  sight  from 
it,  upon  the  top  of  the  bluff  175  feet  in  hight,  which  forms  the  northwestern  side  of  the  "Hole  in 
the  Mountain,"  are  three  mounds  near  together,  of  the  usual  circular  form  and  about  five  feet 
high.  They  are  in  the  S.  W.  J  of  section  5,  Lake  Benton,  on  the  crest  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies, 
and  are  visible  from  the  lower  land  on  the  northeast  at  a  distance  of  many  miles.  One  of  these 
mounds,  excavated  by  Mr.  C.  M.  Morse,  contained  several  skeletons  of  men  whose  stature  was 
fully  six  feet.  Another  mound,  also  about  five  feet  high,  is  situated  on  a  high  swell  a  half  mile 
east  of  Lake  Benton  station,  in  the  center  of  the  cemetery. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  BIG  STONE  AND  LAC  QUI  PARLE  COUNTIES. 


BY   WARREN  UPHAM. 

Situation  and  area.  Big  Stone  and  Lac  qui  Parle  counties  (plate  29) 
are  in  western  Minnesota,  adjoining  Dakota.  They  lie  on  opposite  sides  of 
the  Minnesota  river,  which  forms  the  boundary  between  them.  Both  these 
counties  and  also  Lac  qui  Parle  river,  township  and  village,  derive  their 
names  from  those  of  long  lakes  through  which  the  Minnesota  river  flows. 
The  name  of  Big  Stone  lake  alludes  to  the  conspicuous  outcrop  of  granite 
found  in  the  Minnesota  valley  one  to  three  miles  below  the  foot  of  the 
lake;  and  the  French  name  Lac  qui  Parle,  meaning  the  Lake  that  Talks,  is 
a  translation  of  its  aboriginal  title,  applied  to  it  because  of  echoes  thrown 
back  by  its  bordering  bluffs,  or,  as  some  say,  on  account  of  the  loud  sound 
of  waves  dashing  on  rocky  portions  of  its  shore.  Lac  qui  Parle  village, 
which  is  the  county  seat,  two  miles  south  from  the  foot  of  the  lake,  is  130 
miles,  in  a  direct  line,  west  from  Minneapolis,  and  140  miles  from  St.  Paul. 
Ortonville,  the  county  seat  and  largest  town  of  Big  Stone  county,  situated 
at  the  outlet  of  Big  Stone  lake,  is  34  miles  northwest  of  Lac  qui  Parle,  and 
about  160  and  170  miles  distant,  respectively,  from  Minneapolis  and  Saint 
Paul;  aTnd  its  distance  north  from  the  southwest  corner  of  the  state  is  125 
miles. 

The  area  of  Big  Stone  county  is  536.31  square  miles,  or  343,234.75  acres, 
of  which  26,737.33  acres  are  covered  by  water,  including  Marsh  lake  and 
half  the  width  of  Big  Stone  lake;  and  the  area  of  Lac  qui  Parle  county  is 
771.93  square  miles,  or  494,037.40  acres,  of  which  1,227.57  acres  are  covered 
by  water,  not  including  the  lakes  on  its  northeast  boundary. 


614  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Natural  drainage. 


SURFACE  FEATURES. 

Natural  drainage.  Lac  qui  Parle  county  lies  wholly  within  the  basin 
of  the  Minnesota  river,  which  also  includes  nearly  all  of  Big  Stone  county. 
The  only  exception  is  an  area  equal  to  about  one  township  at  the  north 
side  of  this  county,  including  the  north  part  of  Graceville,  about  the  To- 
kua  lakes,  and  the  adjoining  northeast  part  of  Tokua  and  northwest  part 
of  T.  124,  K.  45,  which  have  a  slight  descent  northward,  sending  their  sur- 
plus waters  into  lake  Traverse  and  thence  to  Hudson  bay  by  the  Red  river 
of  the  North. 

The  creeks  of  Big  Stone  county  are  small,  and  include  four  or  five,  varying  from  two  to 
four  miles  in  length,  tributary  to  Big  Stone  lake;  Stony  run,  having  an  extent  of  about  ten  miles, 
flowing  southward  and  uniting  with  the  Minnesota  river  some  six  miles  below  this  lake;  and  Five 
Mile  creek  in  the  southeast  edge  of  the  county,  about  two  miles  east  from  Correll  station,  flow- 
ing into  the  east  part  of  Marsh  lake.  Besides  Big  Stone  and  Marsh  lakes  on  its  boundary,  this 
county  has  numerous  others,  the  largest  of  which  is  Artichoke  lake,  about  five  miles  long  and  a 
half  mile  to  one  mile  wide,  in  the  east  part  of  Artichoke  township.  A  narrower  lake,  about  three 
miles  long,  lies  in  the  same  township  a  mile  farther  west.  More  than  fifty  smaller  lakes,  ranging 
in  size  from  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to  one  or  two  miles,  appear  on  the  map;  these  have  not  yet  re- 
ceived names,  excepting  the  group  of  Tokua  lakes,  close  southwest  of  Graceville,  and  the  Tokua 
Brothers  lakes,  six  miles  farther  west. 

The  Minnesota  river  receives  three  important  tributaries  in  Lac  qui  Parle  county,  namely, 
Whetstone,  Yellow  Bank  and  Lac  qui  Parle  rivers.  The  first  of  these  drains  a  considerable  area 
in  Dakota,  and  joins  the  Minnesota  river  about  a  mile  below  Big  Stone  lake.  Yellow  Bank  river, 
so  named  from  the  color  of  its  newly  undermined  banks  of  till,  has  the  greater  part  of  its  basin 
in  Dakota,  whence  its  north  and  south  forks  flow  into  Minnesota,  and  meet  about  five  miles  east 
of  the  state  line  in  Yellow  Bank  township,  some  seven  or  eight  miles  by  the  course  of  the  river 
from  its  mouth,  which  is  ten  miles  below  Big  Stone  lake.  Lac  qui  Parle  river  joins  the  Minne- 
sota about  a  mile  below  Lac  qui  Parle.  Its  basin  reaches  beyond  this  county  west  into  Dakota, 
and  south  across  Yellow  Medicine  county  and  the  northwest  part  of  Lincoln,  its  remotest  source 
being  a  stream  that  flows  into  the  west  end  of  lake  Hendricks,  fifty  miles  southwest  from  its 
mouth.  The  only  noteworthy  tributary  to  the  Minnesota  in  this  county  below  Lac  qui  Parle 
river,  is  a  creek  three  miles  long,  the  outlet  of  a  little  lake,  which,  both  lake  and  creek,  are  in  the 
township  of  Camp  Belease.  Ten  Mile  lake,  which  gives  its  name  to  the  township  next  southwest, 
is  the  only  other  lake  that  lies  wholly  in  Lac  qui  Parle  county.  Salt  lake,  or  lake  Rosabel,  a 
beautiful  expanse  of  clear  but  brackish  water,  some  three  miles  long  from  east  to  west  and  about 
a  third  of  a  mile  wide,  lies  mostly  in  northwestern  Mehurin,  but  its  west  part  is  crossed  by  the 
state  line. 

In  a  subsequent  part  of  this  chapter,  relating  to  the  glacial  drift  and  the  history  qfr  the  ice 
age,  will  be  found  descriptions  of  the  Minnesota  river,  its  remarkable  valley  and  its  lakes,  Big 
Stone,  Marsh  and  Lac  qui  Parle. 

Topography.  Both  these  counties  have,  through  most  of  their  extent, 
a  moderately  undulating  or  rolling  surface  of  unmodified  glacial  drift  or 
till.  Any  extensive  view  shows  that  the  contour,  as  a  whole,  is  approxi- 
mately level;  but  it  differs  from  a  flat  expanse  in  having  everywhere  small 
and  large  swells  or  elevations,  disposed  without  order  or  system,  and  rising 


I'l.ATE  29. 


j      l»>U>r,ICAL  AMI  XATVRAL  HISTORY 
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BIG  STOKE  AND  LAC  QUI  PARLE  COUNTIES. 

Topography.] 

in  prolonged,  smooth  slopes  to  bights  10  to  20  or  30  feet  above  the  similarly 
irregular  depressions.  In  these  hollows  lie  the  lakes  and  sloughs  of  this 
region,  from  5  to  25  feet  below  the  average  hight  of  their  vicinity.  The 
lake  shores  are  often  gentle  slopes,  but  in  many  places  have  been  eroded  by 
the  action  of  waves,  until  they  form  a  steep  bank  5  to  15  feet  high,  bordered 
at  its  foot  by  boulders  and  coarse  shingle  that  have  been  left  while  the  finer 
portions  of  the  till  have  been  washed  away  and  strown  upon  the  lake-bed 
and  along  other  parts  of  the  shore. 

The  absence  of  lakes  in  most  of  Lac  qui  Parle  county,  as  also  of  Yellow 
Medicine  county  on  the  south,  seems  quite  remarkable  in  contrast  with 
their  frequent  occurrence  in  Big  Stone  and  other  adjoining  counties,  and 
indicates  that  different  conditions  attended  the  deposition  of  the  till  upon 
these  districts.  A  shallow  glacial  lake  (page  461)  seems  to  have  bordered 
the  ice-sheet  in  its  recession  across  Lac  qui  Parle  county,  somewhat  level- 
ing and  evening  up  the  surface  of  the  drift,  thus  filling  many  hollows 
which  would  otherwise  be  occupied  by  lakes. 

The  most  interesting  feature  in  the  topography  of  this  region  is  the 
deep  channel  or  valley  that  was  excavated  by  the  river  Warren,  the  outlet 
of  lake  Agassiz,  and  is  now  occupied  by  lakes  Traverse  and  Big  Stone  and 
the  Minnesota  river.  Its  description,  and  its  origin  and  history,  and  notice 
of  the  series  of  drift  hills  and  knolls  forming  the  third  terminal  moraine, 
which  crosses  western  Lac  qui  Parle  county,  are  presented  farther  on,  in 
treating  of  the  glacial  drift. 

Channels  have  also  been  eroded  in  the  drift-sheet  by  the  tributaries  of  this  main  valley. 
These  increase  in  depth  and  width  from  their  sources  to  their  mouths.  Indenting  their  bluffs, 
as  well  as  those  of  the  great  valley,  are  frequent  ravines,  cut  by  rivulets,  some  of  which  are  fed  by 
perennial  springs,  while  others  are  dry  through  most  of  the  year.  The  branches  of  the  Yellow 
Bank  and  Lac  qui  Parle  rivers  have  excavated  channels  25  to  50  feet  below  the  general  level;  and 
from  their  junctions  to  the  Minnesota  valley,  these  rivers  are  bordered  by  bluffs  50  to  75  feet 
high. 

Elevations,  Hastings  &  Dakota  division,  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul  railway. 
From  profiles  in  the  office  of  George  H.  White,  engineer,  Minneapolis. 

M  iles  from    Feet  above 
Hustings.        the  sea. 

At  the  east  line  of  Big  Stone  county 184.1  987 

Correll 186.9  980 

Odessa 194.3  963 

Stony  run,  track 195.1  965 

Stony  run,  water 195.1  958 

Summit,  grade 199.0  1002 

Ortonville 200.9  990 

Big  Stone  lake 202.0  962.5 


gig  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Elevations. 

Elevations,  Brown's  Valley  branch,  St.  Po.ul,  Minneapolis  &  Manitoba  railway. 
From  profiles  in  the  office  of  C.  A.  F.  Morris,  engineer,  St.  Paul. 

Miles  from    Eeet  above 
St.  Paul.        the  sea. 

Johnson 177.6  1127 

Graceville 184.6  1107 

Hilo 190.5  1105 

Beardsley 177.8  1096 

Top  of  the  bluff  east  of  Brown's  Valley,  grade 201.4  1096 

Depression  at  foot  of  this  bluff,  surface 204.3  973 

Brown's  Valley 204.7  978 

Minnesota  river,  water 204.7  970.5 

Lake  Traverse,  one  mile  north 970 

The  hight  of  the  Minnesota  river  at  ordinary  low  water,  along  the  boundary  of  Big  Stone 
and  Lac  qui  Parle  counties,  is  approximately  as  follows: 

Feet  above 
the  sea. 

At  the  village  of  Brown's  Valley,  about  a  half  mile  north  of  the  northwest  cor- 
ner of  Big  Stone  county 970.5 

Big  Stone  Lake 962.5 

At  the  mouth  of  Pomme  de  Terre  river 934 

Lac  qui  Parle 926 

At  the  mouth  of  Chippewa  river,  close  below  the  east  line  of  Lac  qui  Parle  county  913 

Big  Stone  county,  excepting  the  valley  of  Big  Stone  lake  and  the  Min- 
nesota river,  is  mostly  about  1,100  feet  above  the  sea.  Its  highest  land  ap- 
pears to  be  a  rolling  tract,  1,125  to  1,175  feet  in  elevation,  crossed  by  its 
north  line  four  to  seven  miles  east  from  Brown's  Valley.  The  most  prom- 
inent swells  along  a  belt  that  extends  thence  southeastward,  crossing  the 
central  part  of  the  county  to  the  vicinity  of  Artichoke  lake,  have  nearly 
the  same  altitude.  Odessa  and  Akron  have  considerable  land  less  than 
1,100  feet  in  hight,  their  southern  portion,  next  to  the  Minnesota  valley, 
being  about  1,050.  Making  the  reduction  required  by  this  valley,  which  is 
125  feet  lower  than  the  general  level,  the  mean  elevation  of  Big  Stone 
county  above  the  sea  is  estimated  to  be  very  nearly  1,090  feet. 

The  highest  land  in  Lac  qui  Parle  county,  about  1,400  feet  above  the 
sea,  is  at  its  southwest  corner,  on  the  foot-slope  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies, 
nearly  500  feet  above  its  lowest  land,  on  the  shores  of  Lac  qui  Parle  and 
the  Minnesota  river.  From  the  top  of  the  bluffs  bordering  the  Minnesota 
valley  there  is  a  gradual  ascent  of  about  250  feet  in  the  distance  of  twenty- 
five  miles  southwest  to  the  foot  of  the  Coteau.  These  bluffs  rise  100  to  1 25 
feet  above  the  river,  being  highest  northwestward,  and  their  elevation 
above  the  sea  is  from  1,075  or  1,100  to  1,025  feet,  descending  to  the  south- 
east with  nearly  the  same  slope  as  the  valley.  The  base  of  the  Coteau  is 
about  1,300  feet,  and  the  east  side  of  the  Antelope  valley  1,200  to  1,225  feet 


BIG  STONE  AND  LAC  QUI  FABLE  COUNTIES.  617 

Elevations.     Soil  and  timber.] 

above  the  sea.  Next  on  the  east,  the  hight  of  the  third  terminal  moraine 
is  mostly  about  1,250  feet,  and  of  its  highest  points,  the  Antelope  hills,  ap- 
proximately 1,300  feet. 

Estimates  of  the  mean  hights  of  the  townships  of  Lac  qui  Parle  coun- 
ty are  as  follows:  Camp  Release,  1,025  feet  above  the  sea;  Lac  qui  Parle, 
1,020 ;  Baxter,  1,050 ;  Ten  Mile  Lake,  1,100 ;  Hantho,  1,030 ;  Cerro  Gordo, 

# 

1,060;  Riverside,  1,080;  Maxwell,  1,120;  Lake  Shore,  1,050;  Madison,  1,100; 
Hamlin,  1,125;  Providence,  1,160;  Yellow  Bank,  1,080;  Perry,  1,100;  Arena, 
1,150;  Garfield,  1,175;  Freeland,  1,240;  T.  119,  R.  46,  1,160;  Augusta,  1,225; 
Mehurin,  1,250;  and  Manfred,  1,300.  These  figures  give  1,120  feet  as  the 
estimated  mean  elevation  of  this  county. 

Soil  and  timber.  The  soil  generally  throughout  these  counties  is  the  glacial  drift  or  till,  made 
up  principally  of  clay,  but  containing  a  noticeable  intermixture  of  sand  and  gravel  and  frequent 
small  stones,  with  here  and  there  boulders,  seldom  exceeding  two  or  three  feet  in  diameter.  These 
rock-fragments  are  very  rarely  so  abundant  as  to  be  a  hindrance  to  cultivation.  At  the  surface 
the  till  has  been  enriched  by  the  decaying  vegetation  of  centuries,  and  forms  a  very  fertile,  black 
soil,  commonly  from  one  to  two  feet  deep,  but  often  having  a  depth  of  three  or  four  feet  in  de- 
pressions. Much  of  the  rain-fall  is  absorbed  by  this  soil,  and  the  surplus  of  heavy  rains  and  snow- 
melting  is  soon  drained  off  by  the  gentle  slopes  and  finds  its  way  into  creeks  and  rivers  or  into  the 
permanent  sloughs  and  lakes.  Wheat,  oats,  corn  and  potatoes  are  the  staple  products,  the  first 
being  the  chief  crop  for  export,  with  an  average  yield  of  fifteen  to  twenty  bushels  per  acre.  Dai- 
rying and  stock-raising,  and  the  ordinary  vegetables  and  small  fruits  of  the  garden,  are  also  im- 
portant resources  in  the  agriculture  of  this  region. 

Prairie,  naturally  bearing  a  luxuriant  growth  of  nutritious  grasses  and  many  beautiful 
flowers,  as  the  prairie-clovers,  blazing-stars,  golden-rods  and  asters,  but  having  no  trees  nor  shrubs, 
extends  over  almost  the  whole  of  Big  Stone  and  Lac  qui  Parle  counties.  Timber  occurs  only 
along  the  rivers  and  on  the  borders  of  lakes.  All  the  townships  of  Big  Stone  county,  with  its 
many  lakes,  have  patches  of  woods;  but  they  are  less  frequent,  owing  to  the  fewness  of  the  lakes, 
in  Lac  qui  Parle  county,  timber  being  there  confined  to  the  stream-courses.  The  bluffs  of  this 
part  of  the  Minnesota  valley  are  mostly  treeless,  or  have  only  scattered  small  trees  and  thin 
groves;  and  the  thick  woodland  is  restricted  to  a  narrow  belt  beside  the  river,  and  to  tributary 
valleys  and  ravines.  About  Big  Stone  lake,  timber  generally  fringes  the  shore;  occurs  of  larger 
growth  in  the  ravines  of  its  bluffs;  and  covers  its  islands,  situated  within  five  miles  above  its 
mouth.  The  species  of  trees  observed  by  Prof.  Winchell  near  the  foot  of  this  lake  on  its  north- 
east side,  are  the  following  in  their  order  of  abundance:  white  ash,  bur-oak,  bass,  white  elm,  box- 
elder,  cottonwood,  hackberry,  ironwood,  soft  maple,  wild  plum,  slippery  elm,  and  willow.  The 
shrubs  recorded  in  the  same  locality  are  grape,  prickly  and  smooth  gooseberries,  wolfberry,  black 
currant,  prickly  ash,  red  and  black  raspberries,  elder,  sweet  viburnum,  red-osier  dogwood,  climb- 
ing bitter-sweet,  choke-cherry,  red  and  white  rose,  Virginia  creeper,  waahoo,  and  smooth  sumach. 

GEOLOGICAL   STRUCTURE. 

Granite  and  gneiss.  The  only  outcrops  of  the  bed-rocks  in  Big  Stone 
and  Lac  qui  Parle  counties  consist  of  granite  and  gneiss,  and  are  found  in 
the  Minnesota  valley,  where  the  thick  mantle  of  drift  was  cut  through  by 
the  outflow  from  lake  Agassiz.  No  rocks  older  than  drift,  excepting  a  bed 


618  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Granite  and  gneiss. 

of  Cretaceous  shale,  exposed  in  the  edge  of  Dakota,  as  described  on  a  follow- 
ing page,  are  seen  along  Traverse  and  Big  Stone  lakes,  or  between  them. 

One  mile  below  Big  Stone  lake,  a  coarse  reddish  granite  begins  and  thence  occupies  nearly 
the  whole  valley  for  three  miles,  lying  in  Ortonville  and  the  northwest  part  of  Yellow  Bank,  its 
highest  portions  rising  50  to  75  feet  above  the  Minnesota  river. 

It  again  appears  in  low  outcrops  two  and  three  miles  easterly  from  the  foregoing,  in  sections 
30  and  32,  T.  121,  R.  45,  the  first  of  these  being  in  Odessa,  on  the  north  side  of  the  river  a  little 
west  of  Stony  run,  and  the  second  in  Yellow  Bank,  at  Mr.  Frederick  Frankhaus1,  south  of  the 
Minnesota  and  a  half  mile  west  from  its  ford.  At  the  last  named  locality  this  rock  has  few 
joints,  their  distance  apart  being  sometimes  ten  feet  or  more. 

Two  to  six  miles  farther  southeast,  in  T.  13O,  R.  45,  which  extends  from  the  mouth  of 
Yellow  Bank  river  to  Marsh  lake,  similar  granite  forms  abundant  outcrops,  mainly  on  the  south- 
west side  of  the  Minnesota  river,  in  Yellow  Bank  township,  rising  50  to  75  feet  in  their  highest 
portions.  Professor  Winchell  describes  the  formation  here  as  follows:  "  The  crystals  of  feldspar 
are  large  and  flesh-colored,  or  red.  Yet  the  granite  also  varies  to  a  lighter  color,  in  which  the 
feldspar  is  nearly  white.  It  shows,  in  the  latter  case,  a  perpendicular  jointing,  the  planes  being 
one  or  two  or  three  inches  apart.  The  whole  exposure  consists  of  bare,  massive,  rounded  knobs, 
cut  into  angular  rhomboidal  blocks,  by  jointing  planes,  but  in  no  place  showing  the  dip  seen 
lower  down  the  Minnesota  river." 

North  of  the  last,  two  ledges  of  this  rock,  small  in  extent  and  rising  only  a  few  feet  from 
the  surface  of  the  drift,  but  lying  at  hights  40  or  50  feet  above  the  river,  were  noted  about  a 
mile  apart,  half  way  between  Odessa  and  Correll  stations,  the  west  one  being  a  little  south  of  the 
railroad,  while  the  east  one  is  crossed  by  it.  All  the  foregoing  exposures  are  granite,  very  hard 
and  durable,  but  mostly  too  coarse  and  variable  in  grain  or  texture  and  too  much  jointed  to 
promise  well  for  quarrying.  From  the  color  of  its  predominant  ingredient,  the  feldspar,  this 
granite  takes  its  prevailing  reddish  tint.  It  is  variously  intersected  by  joints,  but  does  not  ex- 
hibit the  gneissic  lamination  which  is  generally  noticeable  in  the  southeastward  continuation  of 
these  rocks. 

For  fifteen  miles  from  the  upper  part  of  Marsh  lake  to  the  middle  of  Lac  qui  Parle  we  have 
no  observations  of  ledges.  In  section  32,  T.  1 19,  R.  42,  an  island  of  rock  occurs  in  Lac  qui 
Parle,  and  two  ledges  outcrop  on  its  southwest  side.  About  two  miles  southeast,  or  one  and  a  half 
miles  above  the  foot  of  the  lake,  are  several  small  and  low  exposures  of  rock,  occuring  at  each 
side  and  also  as  islands.  On  the  northeast  side  this  is  gneiss,  mostly  with  N.  E.  to  S.  W.  strike. 
The  following  description  of  this  vicinity,  by  Prof.  Winchell,  who  examined  the  Minnesota  val- 
ley in  1873,  is  taken  from  the  second  annual  report  of  this  survey.  "Near  the  lower  end  of  Lac 
qTii  Parle  lake,  granite  appears  on  both  sides  of  the  lake.  It  is  usually  inaccessible  from  the 
prevalence  of  water;  but  in  the  dry  months  of  the  year  it  can  be  reached  on  the  northeast  side 
without  any  trouble,  except  from  tall  grass  and  bushes.  There  are  three  or  four  small  bare  spots 
on  the  southwest  shore  that  can  be  seen,  and  three  or  four  others  that  rise  up  in  the  midst  of  the 
lake.  Two  of  these  spots  of  bare  rock  also  occur  on  the  northeast  side,  near  the  foot  of  the  lake. 
This  rock,  so  far  as  can  be  seen  on  the  northeast  side,  shows  very  much  the  same  composition  as 
farther  down  the  river.  It  contains  quartz,  mica  and  flesh-colored  feldspar,  with  patches  and 
veins  of  quartz,  some  of  which  are  mingled  with  porphyritic  feldspar.  The  exposed  surfaces  are 
annually  submerged,  or  nearly  so,  and  do  not  exhibit  very  plainly  such  markings  as  indicate  sedi- 
mentation or  dip.  There  seems  to  be  an  indistinct  arrangement  of  the  mica  scales,  so  as  to  give 
the  rock  a  schistose  structure,  but  this,  although  generally  running  N.  E.  and  S.  W.,  does  not 
have  that  direction  invariably,  and  does  not  at  all  represent  the  lamination  or  bedding  seen  be- 
low" [farther  southeast  along  the  Minnesota  river].  ''In  only  one  small  area  can  there  be  seen  what 
looks  like  the  same  bedding,  and  there  it  is  but  six  inches  in  thickness,  the  beds  being  one  or  two 
or  three  inches,  with  a  dip  of  75°  toward  the  S.  E.  Jointing  planes  divide  the  whole  mass  into 
blocks  and  rhombs,  four  or  five  or  six  feet  in  thickness.  There  is  considerable  low  land  about 
the  lake,  much  of  which  is  flooded  at  the  wet  season  of  the  year,  but  it  is  stony  and  bushy,  and 
has  the  appearance  of  rock  in  a  great  many  places  near  the  surface.  Such  appearances  are  seen 
the  whole  length  of  the  lake,  and  especially  on  the  northeast  side.  About  three  miles  above  the 


BIG  STOKE  AND  LAC  QUI  FABLE  COUNTIES.  619 

Cretaceous  shale.] 

foot  of  the  lake,  rock  can  be  seen  on  the  southwest  side  at  two  points,  rising  plainly  above  the 
general  level  of  the  bottoms,  and  ascending  in  the  slope  from  the  prairie.'' 

Below  Lac  qui  Parle  no  outcrops  of  rock  were  observed  in  this  county.  Its  next  exposures 
found  within  the  Minnesota  valley  are  nine  to  twelve  miles  southeastward,  where  gneiss  occurs 
in  small  ledges  one  mile  west  of  Montevideo  and  close  south  of  this  town,  and  in  extensive  out- 
crops one  to  two  miles  farther  southeast.  All  these  are  in  Chippewa  county,  on  the  northeast 
side  of  the  Minnesota  river,  opposite  to  the  east  end  of  Camp  Release,  the  next  eastern  township 
of  Lac  qui  Parle  county. 

Cretaceous  shale.  The  granite  and  gneiss  of  this  district  are  probably 
in  many  places  overlain  by  Cretaceous  beds,  but  no  exposures  of  them  have 
been  discovered  within  the  limits  of  these  counties.  A  layer  of  shale  of 
this  age  that  outcrops  on  the  Dakota  side  of  the  Minnesota  river,  very 
nearly  opposite  to  the  northwest  corner  of  Big  Stone  county,  is  described 
by  Prof.  Winchell,  as  follows:* 

"About  a  half  mile,  a  little  west  of  south  from  the  stage  station  at  the  head  of  Big  Stone 
lake,  in  Dakota,  an  exposure  of  Cretaceous  occurs  in  the  right  bank  of  the  upper  Minnesota.  It 
shows  superficially  only  a  weathered,  sliding  talus  of  shale,  which  is  black  and  somewhat 
slaty,  but  which  on  digging  becomes  moister  and  soft  and  somewhat  flexible,  yet  parting  into 
small  chips.  Over  the  surface  of  the  ground,  where  this  shale  outcrops,  the  turf  is  prevented 
from  growing,  and  two  conspicuous  objects,  weathered  out  from  the  shale,  are  seen.  1st.  Little 
angular  crystals  of  pure  gypsum,  the  largest  seen  weighing  not  over  half  a  pound.  2d.  Little 
angular  bits  of  yellowish  red  ochre,  that  are  hard  and  thin,  but  can  be  cut  with  a  knife.  There 
is  also  an  occasional  piece  of  brecciated,  clayey,  or  at  least  aluminous  rock,  the  cracks  and  sur- 
faces of  which  are  filled  and  coated  with  crystals  of  cale-spar.  When  broken  by  the  hammer, 
these  part  along  the  numerous  planes  that  on  either  side  are  lined  by  this  calc-spar,  and  each 
fragment  is  entire,  appearing  itself  a  mass  of  calcite.  It  is  only  by  several  attempts  that  a  view 
of  the  interior,  on  which  these  coatings  are  formed,  can  be  obtained.  The  thickness  of  this 
shale  bed  cannot  be  ascertained.  The  angular  bits  of  ochre  are  most  numerous  near  the  top, 
where  the  drift  supervenes,  but  the  gypsum  crystals  are  scattered  over  the  whole  outcrop.  The 
indications  are  that  the  gypsum  and  ochre  are  embraced  within  the  shale,  and  become  superficial 
by  weathering.  The  whole  may  be  twenty-five  feet  thick. 

"This  shale  bed  is  the  cause  of  a  terrace  in  the  descent  from  the  high  prairie,  and  of  numer- 
ous springs  that  issue  below  the  drift,  about  sixty  feet  below  the  prairie  level.  These  springs  ex- 
cavate narrow  ravines  and  'gulches'  in  the  shale,  the  whole  being  smoothly  turfed  over,  except  at 
the  point  above  described.  These  alternating  gulches,  and  the  intervening  short  pieces  of  the 
remaining  terrace,  make  the  bluff  in  general  appear  hilly,  in  its  ascent  from  the  bottomland. 
These  ravines,  in  the  wet  season  of  the  year,  are  very  soft,  and  since  they  appear  practicable  for 
a  horse,  are  the  cause  of  many  misfortunes  to  the  traveler.  Many  such  treacherous,  springy 
places  are  described  as  occuring  along  the  shores  of  lake  Traverse,  at  some  elevation  above  the 
waters  of  the  lake.  The  same  rolling  ascent  from  the  bottomland  to  the  high  prairie  can  be  seen 
also  at  the  head  of  Big  Stone  lake,  on  the  Minnesota  side,  and  it  is  there  doubtless  due  to  the 
same  cause." 

Glacial  and  modified  drift. 

The  ledges  of  granite  near  the  foot  of  Big  Stone  lake  are  quite  remark- 
ably glaciated,  having  been  planed,  rounded  and  worn  smooth  by  ice  which 
moved  from  northwest  to  southeast,  as  shown  by  the  direction  of  large 
grooves  and  hollows  on  the  rock-surface  and  by  its  being  most  noticeably 

'Second  annual  report,  p.  190, 


620  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Glacial  drift. 

sculptured  on  the  northwest  side  of  projecting  knobs.  "The  whole  rock," 
as  Prof.  Winchell  writes,  "  including  the  upper  surface  and  the  sides  of  the 
mounds,  is  planed  off.  The  best  exhibition  of  these  markings  is  seen  on 
the  northwestern  slopes,  in  which  direction  there  is  a  system  of  jointing 
planes,  dividing  the  granite  into  blocks  that  have  at  first  sight  a  strong 
semblance  of  dip,  the  masses  breaking  off  more  nearly  at  right  angles  on 
the  southeast  side."  Again,  at  Mr.  Frankhaus'  in  Yellow  Bank,  glaciation 
from  northwest  to  southeast  has  rounded  the  projections  of  the  rock,  and 
marked  it  with  large  furrows;  but  the  fine  striae  both  there  and  near  Big 
Stone  lake  have  been  effaced  by  weathering. 

The  sheet  of  drift  which  overspreads  these  counties  probably  averages 
a  hundred  feet  or  more  in  thickness.  It  is  principally  till,  or  unmodified  gla- 
cial drift.  Its  material  was  gathered  by  the  ice  from  a  large  region  on  the 
north  and  northwest,  being  quite  certainly  derived  in  large  part  from  beds 
of  Cretaceous  clay  and  shale.  Most  of  its  boulders  are  granite,  gneiss  and 
schists,  similar  to  the  bed-rocks  of  this  district  and  of  northern  Minnesota. 
About  half  of  the  gravel  contained  in  the  till,  and  a  small  proportion,  per- 
haps averaging  one  in  twenty,  of  its  boulders  larger  than  one  foot  in  diam- 
eter, are  fossiliferous  magnesian  limestone,  whose  nearest  exposures,  in 
the  direction  from  which  the  ice-sheet  moved,  are  in  the  vicinity  of  Winni- 
peg, in  Manitoba.  This  rock,  pulverized  and  in  masses  as  pebbles  and 
boulders,  is  thus  a  considerable  ingredient  of  the  drift,  whence  it  is  dis- 
solved by  infiltrating  waters. 

Soft  rain-water,  soaking  through  the  drift,  is  changed  to  hard  water  before  it  finds  its  way 
into  wells  or  issues  in  springs.  The  carbonates  of  lime  and  magnesia  which  it  has  taken  up  form 
a  scale  on  the  inside  of  tea-kettles  and  the  boilers  of  engines;  and  are  occasionally  deposited  by 
springs  as  an  incrustation  of  moss,  leaves,  or  other  objects,  or  as  a  porous  bed  upon  the  surface 
of  springy  ground.  Interesting  springs  of  this  kind  occur  at  the  foot  of  the  bluffs  on  the  south- 
west side  of  Big  Stone  lake,  two  and  a  half  miles  from  its  mouth.  Their  calcareous  deposit  is 
commonly  called  "petrified  moss,"  from  the  fact  that  it  becomes  covered  with  growing  moss,  the 
lower  part  of  which  is  being  slowly  encrusted  and  its  form  preserved  by  this  accumulation.  It 
is  a  light  gray,  very  porous  mass,  one  to  two  feet  thick.  Other  deposits  of  similar  character  oc- 
cur near  by,  where  no  springs  now  exist,  on  the  dry  bluff-side,  some  75  feet  above  the  lake. 

From  the  Cretaceous  strata  the  drift  obtains  a  small  admixture  of  the  sulphates  of  lime, 
magnesia  and  soda,  which  are  also  held  in  solution  by  the  waters  of  wells,  springs,  lakes  and 
streams;  but  their  amount  is  seldom  sufficient  to  impart  a  perceptibly  alkaline  taste.  Salt  lake, 
crossed  by  the  west  boundary  of  Lac  qui  Parle  county,  is  an  exceptional  case,  being  rendered  so 
bitter  that  horses  and  cattle  refuse  to  drink  of  it.  Where  shallow  pools  have  dried  up,  they 
sometimes  leave  a  whitish  alkaline  efflorescence,  resembling  frost,  gathered  by  the  inflowing  and 
evaporating  waters  of  many  years.  The  till  also  contains  rarely  small  fragments  of  Cretaceous 
lignite,  similar  to  that  which  is  mined  thirty-five  miles  west  of  Bismarck,  Dakota. 


BIG  STONE  AND  LAC  QUI  PARLE  COUNTIES.  621 

Terminal  moraines.  J 

The  Coteau  des  Prairies,  rising  a  thousand  feet  above  Big  Stone  lake  and  the  Minnesota 
river,  is  conspicuously  seen  in  the  view  westward  from  these  counties;  and  the  base  of  its  eastern 
slope,  composed  of  smooth  till,  below  the  knolly  and  stony,  rough  belt  of  the  second  moraine, 
reaches  into  Manfred,  the  most  southwest  township  of  Lac  qui  Parle  county. 

Antelope  valley  and  moraine.  Bordering  the  foot  of  the  Coteau  is  a  tract  of  smooth  till, 
known  as  the  Antelope  valley,  three  to  six  miles  wide,  and  reaching  in  a  north-northwest  course 
across  Yellow  Medicine  county,  southwestern  Lac  qui  Parle  county,  and  onward  in  Dakota  to 
the  south  bend  of  the  Sheyenne  river.  In  Lac  qui  Parle  county  it  includes  the  west  part  of 
Freeland,  eastern  Manfred,  the  greater  part  of  Mehuriu,  and  the  west  side  of  Augusta.  North- 
westward in  Dakota  the  north  branch  of  AVhetstone  river  and  the  south  and  north  forks  of  the 
Minnesota  river  lie  in  this  depression.  Its  valley-like  appearance  is  due  to  its  situation  between 
the  massive  Coteau  des  Prairies  on  the  west  and  the  third  terminal  moraine  on  the  east.  The 
smoothly  undulating  belt  which  thus  somewhat  resembles  a  valley  and  is  so  called,  gradually 
rises  10  or  20  feet  per  mile  westward.  Beyond  a  distance  of  a  few  miles  this  scarcely  perceptible 
ascent  is  changed  to  the  steeper  slope  of  the  Coteau,  on  which  the  smooth  surface  soon  gives 
place  to  the  hillocks  and  small,  short  ridges,  of  the  second  or  Gary  moraine.  The  Antelope  valley 
is  virtually  the  continuation  of  the  smoothly  undulating  or  rolling  expanse  of  till  which  reaches 
with  slight  ascent  from  the  Minnesota  river  westward  across  Lac  qui  Parle  county  to  the  third 
or  Antelope  moraine. 

This  third  series  of  terminal  deposits  of  the  last  ice-sheet,  like  the  two  farther  west  on  the 
Coteau,  consists  of  hills  and  knolls  and  small  ridges  of  till,  containing  many  boulders,  chiefly  of 
gneiss,  schists,  granite  and  syenite,  with  a  small  proportion  of  limestone.  It  has  been  traced  in 
a  north-northwest  course  across  Yellow  Medicine  and  Lac  qui  Parle  counties,  a  distance  of  about 
forty  miles,  in  this  state,  and  it  continues  with  the  same  course  in  Dakota.  Its  width  varies 
from  one  mile,  or  less,  to  two  or  three  miles,  and  the  hight  of  its  elevations  is  usually  from  40  to 
100  feet  above  the  contiguous  east  side  of  the  Antelope  valley.  In  southern  Lac  qui  Parle  county 
this  moraine  forms  the  two  conspicuous  clusters  of  the  Antelope  hills,  in  sections  27  and  16,  Free- 
land,  which  rise  about  100  feet  above  the  smoothly  undulating  till  of  their  region,  and  afford  "a 
magnificent  view  of  the  prairies  on  all  sides  and  of  the  Coteau  toward  the  west."  Continuing 
northward,  it  runs  from  section  32,  GarfieJd,  in  a  nearly  straight  course  to  section  33,  T.  119,  R. 
4<i.  One  of  its  hills,  about  60  feet  high,  at  the  north  side  of  the  west  branch  of  Lac  qui  Parle 
river,  in  section  18,  Garfield,  has  been  named  mount  Wickham.  It  is  also  sometimes  called  An- 
telope mound.  Thence  for  five  miles  northerly,  in  the  northeast  part  of  Mehurin  and  southeast- 
ern Augusta,  this  stony  belt,  10  to  40  feet  above  the  general  level  on  each  side,  is  known  as  the 
Stony  ridge.  In  the  east  edge  of  Dakota,  these  accumulations  rise  prominently  in  the  frac- 
tional T.  12O,  K.  47,  and  are  called  Yellow  Bank  hills,  from  the  river  of  this  name  which  flows 
through  them.  Mount  Tom,  their  highest  point,  in  or  near  the  N.  E.  J  of  section  32  of  this 
township,  has  an  elevation  of  about  100  feet.  A  belt  of  rolling  till,  about  three  miles  wide,  higher 
than  the  more  gently  undulating  areas  on  each  side,  continues  from  these  hills  northwesterly 
across  Grant  county  and  into  the  Sisseton  and  Wahpeton  reservation,  lying  two  to  six  miles 
southwest  of  Big  Stone  lake,  and  crossed  a  few  miles  west  of  Brown's  Valley  by  the  road  to  the 
Sisseton  Agency. 

The  fourth  or  Kiester  moraine  seems  to  be  represented  in  T.  119,  R.  46,  by  a  series  of 
knolly  drift  deposits,  composed  of  till  with  plentiful  boulders,  which  extends  from  the  northwest 
corner  of  this  township  five  miles  southeastward  to  the  elbow  of  the  South  fork  of  Yellow  Bank 
river.  A  width  of  only  one  mile  separates  the  third  and  fourth  moraines  at  the  state  line,  but 
they  diverge  to  a  distance  of  three  miles  apart  at  the  South  fork.  The  farther  course  of  the 
fourth  moraine  south-southeast  to  Omro  and  Tyro  in  Yellow  Medicine  county  (page  606)  has  not 
been  traced,  but  this  formation  was  observed  in  1873  by  Prof.  Winchell  in  the  south  part  of  Lac 
qui  Parle  county,  probably  near  the  middle  of  Providence  township.  After  describing  the  Ante- 
lope hills,  he  adds  that  "a  similar  range  of  drift  knolls,  but  much  smaller,  was  seen  about  six 
miles  east  of  this  range,  running  also  in  the  direction  N.  and  S."* 

Later  moraines.  During  the  stages  in  the  recession  of  the  Minnesota  lobe  of  the  last  ice- 
sheet  when  its  fifth,  sixth  and  seventh  (or  Elysian,  Waconia  and  Dovre)  moraines  were  formed, 


*Second  annual  report,  pages  193-4. 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Glacial  lake.     River  Warren. 

its  southwestern  border  appears  to  have  extended  across  Big  Stone  county,  but  traces  of  these 
moraines  have  not  been  sufficiently  looked  for  there.  They  are  probably  indistinguishably  blend- 
ed in  the  area  of  rolling  till,  50  to  75  feet  higher  than  the  average  of  this  county,  that  was  noted 
a  few  miles  east  of  Brown's  Valley  (page  616),  and  the  somewhat  rolling,  lake-sprinkled  surface 
that  stretches  thence  southeastward. 

Glacial  lake  in  the  basin  of  the  Blue  Earth  and  Minnesota  rivers.  When  the  ice-sheet,  dis- 
solved by  a  warmer  climate,  was  retreating  northeastward  across  Lac  qui  Paiie  county,  the 
waters  of  its  melting  were  carried  to  the  southeast  along  the  margin  of  the  ice,  which  was  a  bar- 
rier preventing  their  flow  in  the  direction  of  the  present  drainage.  After  the  ice  had  receded 
from  the  Antelope  moraine,  a  glacial  lake  (page  461)  with  its  surface  11 50  to  1200  feet  above  the  sea, 
probably  increasing  somewhat  in  elevation  from  southeast  to  northwest,  was  formed  in  the  Minne- 
sota basin  along  the  front  of  the  ice  and  reached  from  Faribault  and  Blue  Earth  counties  to  Big 
Stone  lake.  Its  overflow  was  by  Union  slough  in  Iowa,  until  the  continued  retreatof  the  ice-sheet 
permitted  a  lower  outlet  to  the  Cannon  river,  at  first  about  1 ,075  and  afterward  1,025  feet  above  the 
sea.  By  this  submergence  the  drift  in  Lac  qui  Paiie  county  and  upon  a  large  part  of  the  Minnesota 
basin  farther  southeast  was  spread  more  evenly,  and  many  of  its  hollows  that  would  have  held 
small  lakes  were  filled.  This  modification  in  contour  doubtless  is  accompanied  by  a  partial  strati- 
fication, especially  on  low  areas;  but  nearly  everywhere  the  drift  in  this  county  and  throughout 
this  basin  is  a  clay  containing  gravel  and  occasional  boulders,  seldom  showing  such  assorting  ac- 
tion as  to  transform  it  from  till  to  modified  drift.  During  the  somewhat  later  recession  of  the  ice 
across  Big  Stone  county,  free  drainage  could  take  place  from  its  border,  and  the  drift  presents  a 
more  undulating  and  rolling  surface,  dotted  by  many  little  lakes. 

River  Warren.  The  excavation  of  the  remarkable  valley,  or  channel, 
occupied  by  lakes  Traverse  and  Big  Stone  and  the  Minnesota  river,  was 
first  explained  in  1868  by  Gen.  G.  K.  Warren,*  who  attributed  it  to  the  out- 
flow from  an  ancient  lake,  since  named  lake  Agassiz,f  that  filled  the  basin 
of  the  Red  river  and  lake  Winnipeg.  The  bights  of  lakes  Traverse  and 
Big  Stone  are  respectively  970  and  962  feet  above  the  sea,  and  the  lowest 
point  of  the  divide  between  them  is  only  three  feet  above  lake  Traverse. 
These  lakes  are  from  one  to  one  and  a  half  miles  wide,  mainly  occupying 
the  entire  width  of  this  trough-like  valley.  Lake  Traverse  is  fifteen  miles 
long;  it  is  mostly  less  than  ten  feet  deep,  and  its  greatest  depth  probably 
does  not  reach  twenty  feet.  Big  Stone  lake  extends  in  a  somewhat  crooked 
course  from  northwest  to  southeast  twenty-six  miles;  its  greatest  depth  is 
reported  to  be  from  fifteen  to  thirty  feet.  The  portion  of  the  channel  be- 
tween these  lakes  is  widely  known  as  Brown's  valley.  As  we  stand  upon 
the  bluffs  here,  looking  down  on  these  long  and  narrow  lakes  and  the  valley 
which  extends  across  the  five  miles  between  them,  where  the  basins  of 
Hudson  bay  and  the  gulf  of  Mexico  are  now  divided,  we  have  nearly  the 
picture  that  was  presented  when  the  melting  ice-sheet  of  British  Am  erica 

*"On  certain  physical  features  of  the  upper  Mississippi  river,"  American  Naturalist,  vol.  ii,  pp.  497 — 502,  Nov.,  1868; 
Annual  report  of  the  chief  of  engineers,  U.  8.  army,  for  1868,  pp.  307 — 314;  "An  essay  concerning  important  physical  features 
exhibited  in  the  valley  of  the  Minnesota  river,  ana  upon  their  signification,"  with  maps,  Report  of  chiff  of  engineers,  1874; 
"Valley  of  the  Minnesota  river  and  of  the  Mississippi  river  to  the  Ohio.  Its  origin  considered— depth  of  the  bed-rock," 
with  maps,  Report  of  chief  of  engineers,  1878.  (General  Warren  died  August  8,  1882.) 

fCoinpare  the  eighth  and  eleventh  annual  reports. 


BIG  STONE  AND  LAC  QUI  PARLE  COUNTIES.  623 

River  Warren-J 

was  pouring  its  floods  along  this  hollow.  Then  the  entire  extent  of  the 
valley  was  doubtless  filled  every  summer  by  a  river  which  covered  all  the 
present  areas  of  flood-plain,  in  many  places  occupying  as  great  width  as 
these  lakes.  It  seems  fitting  that  this  river,  which  flowed  in  the  ice  age 
where  lakes  Traverse  and  Big  Stone  and  the  Minnesota  river  now  are, 
should  be  called  the  River  Warren,  in  honor  and  in  memoriam  of  general 
G.  K.  Warren,  the  author  of  the  first  adequate  description  of  this  valley.* 

The  bights  of  the  bluffs,  composed  chiefly  of  till,  but  sometimes  having  rock  at  their  base, 
which  form  the  sides  of  this  valley  in  the  portion  adjoining  these  counties,  are  as  follows,  stated 
in  feet  above  the  lakes  and  river:  along  lake  Traverse,  100  to  125;  at  Brown's  Valley  and  along 
Big  Stone  lake,  mainly  about  125.  the  highest  portions  reaching  150;  at  Ortonville,  130;  and  at 
Marsh  lake,  along  Lac  qui  Parle,  and  at  Montevideo,  about  100.  The  outflow  from  lake  .Agassiz 
was  divided  at  two  places,  seven  and  ten  miles  below  Big  Stone  lake,  where  isolated  remnants  of 
the  general  sheet  of  till  occur  south  of  Odessa  station  and  again  three  miles  southeast.  Each  of 
these  former  islands  of  the  river  Warren  is  about  a  mile  long,  and  rises  seventy-five  feet  above 
the  surrounding  low  land,  or  nearly  as  high  as  the  bluffs  enclosing  the  valley,  which  here  meas- 
ures four  miles  across,  having  a  greater  width  than  at  any  other  point. 

Gen.  Warren  observed  that  lake  Traverse  is  probably  due  to  a  partial  silting  up  of  the 
channel  since  the  outflow  from  the  Red  river  basin  ceased,  the  Minnesota  river  at  the  south  hav- 
ing brought  in  sufficient  alluvium  to  form  a  dam;  while  Big  Stone  lake  is  similarly  referred  to 
the  sediment  brought  into  the  valley  just  below  it  by  the  Whetstone  river.  The  deep,  winding 
channel  of  Whetstone  river  near  its  mouth  is  quite  remarkable;  and  its  level  alluvium,  about  five 
feet  above  the  lake,  fills  the  valley,  a  mile  wide,  between  Big  Stone  City  and  Ortonville. 

Fifteen  miles  below  Big  Stone  lake,  tbe  Minnesota  river  flows  through  Marsh  lake,  which  is 
four  miles  long  and  about  a  mile  wide,  shallow  and  full  of  reeds  and  grass.  This  lake  may  be 
due  to  the  accumulation  of  alluvium  brought  into  the  valley  by  the  Pomme  de  Terre  river,  which 
has  its  mouth  about  two  miles  below.  Twenty-five  miles  from  Big  Stone  lake,  the  river  enters 
Lac  qui  Parle,  which  extends  some  ten  miles,  with  a  width  varying  from  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to 
one  mile,  and  a  maximum  depth  of  twelve  feet.  This  lake,  as  Gen.  Warren  suggested,  has  been 
formed  by  a  barrier  of  stratified  sand  and  silt  which  the  Lac  qui  Parle  river  has  thrown  across 
the  valley. 

As  soon  as  the  retreat  of  the  ice-sheet  allowed  lake  Agassiz  to  be  drained  northward  into 
Hudson  bay,  this  deeply  excavated  water-course,  which  had  been  formed  by  its  outflow  to  the 
south,  began  to  be  partially  filled  by  the  deposits  brought  into  it  by  small  tributary  streams  at 
their  stages  of  high  water.  The  valley  was  thus  changed  from  its  original  continuously  descend- 
ing slope,  and  portions  of  its  extent  which  have  been  dammed  by  these  deposits  of  tributaries  are 
occupied  by  long  and  narrow,  picturesque  lakes,  bounded  by  partly  wooded  bluffs,  100  to  150  feet 
high. 

The  beautiful  scenery  of  Big  Stone  lake  has  already  made  Ortonville  and  Big  Stone  City 
popular  resorts  of  summer  tourists.  Small  steamers  carry  excursion  parties  to  the  head  of  the 
lake,  a  distance  of  nearly  thirty  miles,  or  for  picnics  to  wooded  portions  of  the  lake-shore,  or  to 
a  group  of  wooded  islands,  three  to  five  miles  from  the  foot  of  the  lake.  These,  which  are  the 
only  islands  of  Big  Stone  lake,  belong  to  Dakota.  They  are  low,  rising  only  ten  to  fifteen  feef . 
The  largest,  called  Chamberlain  island,  from  the  name  of  its  owner,  is  about  a  mile  long  and  con- 
tains approximately  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  acres.  Another,  lying  a  little  farther  north- 
west, has  an  area  of  about  seventy  acres,  and  is  known  as  Paradise  or  Wheaton  island.  With 
these  are  several  more  of  small  size,  each  containing  a  few  acres.  The  highest  water  of  this  lake, 
due  to  the  rain-fall  or  snow-melting,  rises  five  feet  above  its  lowest  stage.  Another  cause  of 
fluctuation  is  wind,  which,  blowing  strongly  a  half  day  or  more  from  the  south,  lowers  the  lake 

"This  name  was  proposed  in  a  paper  entitled  "The  Minnesota  valley  in  the  ice  age,"  at  the  Minneapolis  meeting 
of  the  American  association  for  the  advancement  of  science,  August,  1^83;  see  also  the  American  Journal  of  ScieticeiS} 
xxvii,  1884. 


624  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Modified  drift  and  alluvium. 

at  Ortonville  one  to  one  and  a  half  feet,  while  an  equal  rise  is  occasioned  by  a  similar  northwest 
wind. 

The  Minnesota  river  along  its  first  ten  miles  below  Big  Stone  lake,  at  its  ordinary  stage  of 
water  in  summer,  averages  only  one  to  two  feet  in  depth.  In  its  next  fifty  miles,  before  reaching 
Granite  Falls,  it  receives  three  large  affluents,  the  Lac  qui  Parle,  Pomme  de  Terre,  and  Chippewa 
rivers;  and  its  width  is  expanded  to  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  with  volume  sufficient  to  fur- 
nish power  for  large  flouring  mills.  During  the  high  water  of  spring  about  twenty  years  ago,  a 
steamer,  said  to  have  been  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  long,  was  run  from  Saint  Paul  up  the 
Minnesota  river  to  a  point  near  the  east  line  of  section  33,  Odessa,  nine  miles  below  Big  Stone 
lake,  where,  becoming  grounded  in  the  channel  of  the  stream,  it  was  abandoned  and  afterward 
burned,  excepting  the  bottom  of  its  hull  which  still  remains.  It  was  expected  to  float  this  steamer 
into  Big  Stone  lake  and  thence  into  lake  Traverse  and  the  Bed  river.  At  the  highest  floods  pro- 
duced by  snow-melting  in  exceptional  years,  such  a  feat  may  be  possible,  as  the  water  where  the 
divide  between  Big  Stone  lake  and  lake  Traverse  would  be  crossed,  close  to  the  east  bluff  a  half 
mile  north  of  Brown's  Valley  station,  is  then  three  or  four  feet  deep.  This  water  comes  mainly 
from  the  overflow  of  the  Minnesota  river  whose  banks  at  Brown's  Valley  station  are  a  few  feet 
higher  than  this  lowest  point  of  the  water-shed.  Currents  of  the  flood  brought  into  the  valley  by 
the  Minnesota  river  often  go  thence  both  to  the  north  and  south;  but  probably  no  outflow  passes 
southward  from  lake  Traverse  into  Big  Stone  lake. 

Modified  drift  and  alluvium.  Four  to  six  miles  southeast  from  the  north  end  of  Big  Stone 
lake,  much  of  the  slightly  undulating  surface  consists  of  water-deposited  gravel  and  sand,  instead 
of  the  unmodified  glacial  drift  which  prevails  elsewhere. 

In  Lac  qui  Parle  county  modified  drift,  or  alluvium,  perhaps  filling  an  ancient  water-course, 
borders  Florida  creek  on  its  west  side  in  sections  19,  20  and  29,  Garfield;  where  it  is  a  mile  wide 
and  extends  two  miles  from  north  to  south,  being  five  to  ten  feet  above  the  creek  and  some  twenty- 
five  feet  below  the  average  hight  of  the  adjoining  areas  of  till.  A  few  miles  farther  south  this 
creek  is  again  bordered  by  a  similar  alluvial  area  in  the  east  part  of  sections  5  and  8,  Freeland. 
This  depression  and  its  deposits  of  modified  drift  lie  close  east  of  the  low  knolls,  strown  with  boul- 
ders, which  form  the  terminal  moraine  in  Garfield,  but  appear  to  extend  southward  on  the  west 
side  of  the  Antelope  hills,  and  may  be  found  to  be  continuous  in  this  direction  to  the  old  water- 
course which  has  been  described  in  the  report  of  Yellow  Medicine  county,  crossing  AVergeland 
and  Burton  townships. 

On  the  surface  of  the  sheet  of  till  which  covers  these  counties,  are  rarely  found  small  knolls 
or  short  ridges  of  gravel  and  sand,  five  to  ten  feet  above  the  average  hight  of  their  vicinity. 
These  appear  to  have  been  brought  by  streams  that  descended  from  the  drift-laden  surface  of  the 
ice-sheet  at  the  epoch  of  its  final  melting.  Their  origin  is  thus  like  that  of  the  long  ridges  of 
gravel  and  sand  called  kames  in  Scotland  and  eskers  in  Ireland.  The  only  typical  kame  observed 
in  the  examination  of  these  counties  lies  near  the  state  line  and  southwest  corner  of  Yellow  Bank 
township.  It  is  composed  of  gravel  and  sand,  and  is  10  to  20  feet  high  and  a  quarter  of  a  mile  or 
more  in  length,  running  approximately  from  east  to  west.  At  its  eastern  end  a  more  prominent 
morainic  ridge  of  coarsely  rocky  till  runs  from  southeast  to  northwest. 

The  bottomland  of  Brown's  Valley,  about  a  mile  in  width  and  reaching  four  miles  from  lake 
Traverse  to  Big  Stone  lake,  is  alluvial  gravel,  sand  and  silt,  along  its  most  depressed  portion;  but 
till  forms  the  plateau,  about  40  feet  above  the  Minnesota  river,  close  south  of  Brown's  Valley  vil- 
lage, and  also,  in  some  places,  it  forms  slopes  of  moderate  ascent  next  to  the  base  of  the  bluffs. 
Along  Traverse  and  Big  Stone  lakes  the  bluffs  of  this  valley  often  rise  directly  from  the  lake-shore, 
leaving  no  considerable  width  of  bottomland;  and  the  margins  of  the  lakes  in  some  portions  is 
made  wholly  of  boulders,  up  to  six  feet  in  diameter,  which  form  a  wall  five  to  eight  feet  high, 
piled  against  the  foot  of  the  bluff.  An  instance  of  this  was  seen  on  the  northeast  shore  of  Big 
Stone  lake,  close  south  of  William  H.  Bowman's  in  section  18,  at  the  west  side  of  Prior.  The 
broadest  area  of  cultivatable  bottomland  adjoining  the  northeast  side  of  Big  Stone  lake  is  in  the 
fraction  of  T.  123,  E.  47,  which  makes  the  southeast  part  of  Prior  township.  S.  P.  Lindholm 
lives  on  this  bottomland,  which  in  sections  11  and  13  has  a  width  of  about  a  half  mile,  consisting 
principally  of  till  and  ascending  by  a  gradual  slope  from  the  edge  of  the  lake  to  a  hight  of  40  or  50 
feet  at  the  foot  of  the  bluff  of  till,  which  next  rises  steeply  75  or  100  feet.  At  Mr.  Jacob  Hurley's, 
in  section  19,  Big  Stone,  about  five  miles  north  of  Ortonville,  the  surface  of  moderately  sloping  till 


BIG  STONE  AND  LAC  QUI  PARLE  COUNTIES.  625 

Terraces.     Interglacial  modified  drift.] 

between  the  lake  and  the  bluff  is  about  forty  rods  wide,  and  rises  some  40  feet  in  this  distance. 
On  the  Dakota  shore  of  Big  Stone  lake,  similar  foot-slopes  of  till,  below  the  steep  bluffs,  vary  from 
an  eighth  to  a  half  of  a  mile  in  width,  along  the  greater  part  of  the  southeastern  half  of  the  lake, 
but  they  are  wanting  farther  northwest. 

A  deposit  of  alluvium,  consisting  mostly  of  sand  and  clayey  silt,  brought  into  the  valley  by 
Whetstone  river,  forms  a  nearly  level  bottomland  about  a  mile  wide  at  the  foot  of  Big  Stone  lake; 
and  a  similar  deposit  extends  two  or  three  miles  next  below  Lac  qui  Parle,  having  been  brought 
by  the  river  of  the  same  name.  Other  portions  of  the  Minnesota  valley  on  the  borders  of  these 
counties  generally  have  an  alluvial  flood-plain  an  eighth  to  a  fourth  of  a  mile  wide,  while  the 
greater  part  of  the  area  enclosed  between  the  bluffs  is  till,  somewhat  modified  at  the  surface  by 
the  waters  that  eroded  the  valley. 

Terraces.  Southeast  from  the  village  of  Brown's  Valley,  the  railroad  in  its  ascent  from 
the  base  to  the  top  of  the  bluff  is  located  upon  an  inclined  terrace  which  rises  southeastward 
along  the  side  of  the  bluff  at  the  rate  of  about  40  feet  to  the  mile,  extending  three  miles.  Where 
this  terrace  is  crossed  by  the  carriage  road  a  mile  easterly  from  the  northwest  corner  of  Big  Stone 
county,  its  width  is  some  forty  rods,  in  which  distance  its  hight  from  its  verge  to  the  base  of  the 
higher  part  of  the  bluff  rises  some  25  feet.  On  the  west  side  of  the  valley,  a  terrace  of  similar 
width  but  approximately  horizontal,  lying  at  half  or  two-thirds  of  the  hight  from  the  base  to  the 
top  of  the  bluff,  extends  from  opposite  Brown's  Valley  nearly  to  Big  Stone  lake.  "Along  this  lake, 
also."  Prof.  Winchell  writes,  "are  terraces  that  have  a  slope  or  dip  striking  across  the  bluff.  One 
may  be  seen  at  Mr.  Hurley's;  ...  it  can  be  traced  three  or  four  miles,  passing,  in  that 
distance,  down  from  union  with  the  prairie  level  to  the  bottoms,  or  so  far  down  as  to  be  blended 
in  the  bottomland.  A  similar  vanishing  terrace  can  be  seen  on  the  Dakota  side''  [a  few  miles  west 
from  Mr.  Hurley's]  ....  "Within  the  space  of  about  three  miles,  its  form  can  be  seen  to 
pass  obliquely  across  the  face  of  the  main  bluff,  from  top  to  bottom,  sloping  to  the  east  or  south- 
east, and  disappearing  in  the  bottomland." 

At  Ortonville  and  for  a  mile  or  more  southeastward,  a  terrace  occurs  about  75  feet  above  the 
lake  and  50  feet  below  the  top  of  the  bluff.  It  varies  from  a  few  rods  to  an  eighth  of  a  mile  in 
width,  and  in  this  width  ascends  10  or  15  feet.  The  rise  of  50  feet  thence  to  the  highest  land  is 
by  an  irregular  slope,  less  steep  than  the  bluff  below  this  terrace.  These  features,  however,  are 
much  broken  by  gullies  and  ravines.  A  similar  narrow  bench  in  the  bluff  of  till  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  Minnesota  valley  is  seen  in  the  northwest  part  of  Yellow  Bank  township  along  a  dis- 
tance of  four  miles  next  southeast  from  Whetstone  river  and  Big  Stone  City. 

Professor  Winchell  has  noted  other  terraces  farther  southeast  in  this  valley,  and  attributes 
their  form  to  erosion  in  Cretaceous  strata  which  are  supposed  to  be  only  thinly  covered  by  drift. 
"A  terraced  condition  of  the  bluffs  may  be  seen  at  a  little  lake,  caused  by  the  enlargement  of  the 
river  on  T.  I2O,  R.  44,  [Marsh  lake,]  as  well  as  in  the  bluffs  of  Lac  qui  Parle.  Here  an  obser- 
vation was  made  that  plainly  indicates  the  origin  of  these  benches.  They  exhibit  a  slope  or  dip 
toward  the  S.  E.,  running  successively  down  to  the  bottoms,  higher  ones  occurring  in  their  places. 
This  can  plainly  be  seen  from  the  opposite  bluff.  This  slope  is  believed  to  be  due  to  the  dip  of 
the  rocks  of  the  Cretaceous,  though  no  outcrop  of  these  rocks  was  seen  at  that  place,  the  bluffs  of 
the  river  and  of  all  ravines  being  smoothly  turfed  over." 

Modified  drift  of  the  earlier  glacial  epoch.  In  the  report  of  Brown  and  Redwood  counties 
(page  582)  mention  is  made  of  a  cut  in  the  bluff  southwest  of  New  Ulm,  where  the  amount 
of  drift  deposited  in  the  last  glacial  epoch  appears  to  be  a  bed  of  till,  16  to  18  feet  thick,  over- 
lying a  bed  of  stratified  gravel  and  sand  of  about  the  same  thickness,  which  was  probably  formed 
during  the  recession  of  an  earlier  ice-sheet.  A  closely  similar  section  was  observed  on  the  Hast-  ' 
ings  &  Dakota  railroad,  about  fifteen  rods  south  of  Mr.  Oehler's  brick-yard  at  Big  Stone  City. 
Here  a  cut  is  made  through  a  ridge  of  drift  which  belongs  to  the  general  drift-sheet,  but  has  been 
left  by  erosion  as  a  level- topped  plateau  jutting  southward  toward  the  Whetstone  river.  The  cut 
is  about  45  feet  deep  and  twenty-five  rods  long.  At  the  top  is  a  stratum,  15  feet  in  thickness, 
composed  of  yellowish  sand  and  gravel,  fine  above  but  coarse  in  its  lower  three  to  five  feet.  Un- 
derlying this  is  unstratified  boulder-clay  or  till  of  the  usual  character,  forming  a  bed  15  to  18  feet 
thick,  its  maximum  thickness  being  at  the  east  end  of  the  cut.  This  has  the  dark  bluish  color 
usually  characteristic  of  the  deep  portion  of  the  till,  except  that  at  each  end  of  the  cut,  next  to 
the  face  of  the  slopes  bounding  this  plateau,  it  has  the  ordinary  yellow  color  of  the  upper  part  of 

40 


626  TIIE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Buried  moraine. 

the  till  to  a  depth  of  thirty  feet  from  the  surface  at  the  west  and  fifteen  feet  at  the  east.  It  is 
bounded  by  definite,  nearly  level  lines  both  above  and  below,  and  is  underlain  by  obliquely  bed- 
ded yellow  gravel  and  sand,  which  has  a  thickness  of  about  15  feet  exposed  to  the  grade  of  the 
track  and  also  extends  deeper.  My  interpretation  of  these  deposits  would  refer  the  lower  gravel 
and  sand  to  an  interglacial  epoch,  their  origin  being  from  the  earlier  ice  during  its  departure;  the 
till  was  quite  surely  deposited  by  the  last  ice-sheet;  and  the  overlying  gravel  and  sand  is  prob- 
ably modified  drift  belonging  to  the  immediately  succeeding  epoch  of  its  recession  and  final 
melting. 

A  buried  moraine.  There  are  many  reasons  for  believing  that  several 
successive  ice-sheets  have  been  accumulated  and  pushed  forward  upon  the 
northern  part  of  the  continent,  repeatedly  overspreading  nearly  all  of  Min- 
nesota; and  if  this  be  true,  some  of  them  doubtless  formed  terminal  mo- 
raines, which  were  afterward  covered  and  their  mounds  and  hills  of  coarsely 
rocky  drift  spread  in  a  nearly  level  stratum  by  the  more  extended  ice-sheet 
of  a  later  epoch.  Such  a  buried  moraine  is  exposed  by  the  deep  channel 
of  the  upper  Minnesota  river.  The  till  here  is  found  to  contain,  at  a  depth 
of  40  to  50  feet  below  the  general  surface,  a  stratum  that  abounds  in 
boulders,  usually  producing  a  narrow  shelf  or  terrace  upon  the  bluffs. 

About  Correll  station,  in  Big  Stone  county,  this  rocky  layer  in  the  till  has  caused  an  exten- 
sive plain  to  be  left  in  the  process  of  erosion,  some  50  feet  below  the  top  of  the  bluffs  and  50  to  75 
feet  above  the  river.  The  west  end  of  this  plain  is  in  section  6,  T.  1 2O,  R.  44,  about  three  miles 
west  of  Correll;  and  it  thence  extends  eight  miles  east  to  the  Pomme  de  Terre  river,  having  a  width 
of  one  and  a  half  to  two  miles  in  its  western  half,  and  expanding  to  a  greater  breadth  farther  east. 
Its  first  one  and  a  half  miles  at  the  west  is  not  remarkably  sprinkled  with  boulders,  but  has  one 
immense  block,  thirty  feet  or  more  in  diameter,  on  section  5,  about  one  and  a  half  miles  west  of 
Correll  station.  Very  abundant  boulders,  however,  are  found  on  the  southern  verge  of  this  part 
of  the  plain,  covering  the  upper  ten  or  twenty  feet  of  the  escarpment,  50  to  60  feet  high,  which  de- 
scends to  the  bottomland  in  the  southeast  part  of  section  6,  and  near  the  south  line  of  section  5. 
A  little  farther  east,  probably  in  the  northwest  comer  of  section  9,  and  about  three-quarters  of  a 
mile  southeast  from  the  large  boulder  before  mentioned,  another  was  observed  in  the  escarpment 
of  this  plain,  measuring  twenty  feet  in  diameter,  and  consisting  of  gray  granite,  in  which  are 
seen  at  one  side  several  fragments  of  hornblende  schist  up  to  three  and  four  feet  in  diameter.  A 
great  profusion  of  boulders  occurs  here  along  the  margin  of  this  plain  through  a  distance  of  two 
miles  or  more,  and  the  same  feature  probably  continues  all  the  way  east  to  the  Pomme  de  Terre 
river,  near  which  it  was  again  observed  in  section  19,  Appleton.  On  the  south,  in  the  region  of 
Marsh  lake,  are  occasional  knolls  and  short  ridges,  composed  mainly  of  boulders,  extending  ten 
to  twenty  rods  and  rising  ten  to  fifteen  feet  above  the  marsh.  For  a  mile  west  from  Correll  sta- 
tion, and  all  the  way  east  to  the  Pomme  de  Terre  river,  this  plain  is  much  sprinkled  by  boulders 
of  all  sizes  up  to  six  or  eight  feet.  Between  Five  Mile  creek  and  the  Pomme  de  Terre  river,  the 
east  part  of  this  area  somewhat  loses  its  plain-like  contour,  and  becomes  in  part  quite  undulating 
and  broken,  having  numerous  knolls  and  ridges  twenty  to  forty  rods  long,  running  mostly  from 
west  to  east,  five  to  twenty  feet  high,  so  thickly  strown  with  boulders  of  all  sizes  up  to  five  or  ten 
feet  in  diameter  that  often  they  cover  three-quarters  of  the  surface.  These  small  elevations  and 
depressions  have  been  shaped  by  the  eroding  action  of  water,  being  more  regular  in  their  outlines 
than  typical  terminal  moraines,  which  they  resemble  in  their  multitude  of  boulders.  It  appears 
that  here  a  terminal  moraine,  accumulated  in  one  of  the  early  glacial  epochs  of  the  great  ice  age, 
has  been  crossed  by  a  later  ice-sheet.  Partly  leveled  and  buried  under  the  later  till,  a  section  of 
it  is  exposed  to  view  by  the  excavation  of  this  valley. 

The  ancient  water- courses,  now  deserted,  which  are  found  in  Chippewa  county  northeast 


BIG  STONE  AND  LAC  QUT  PABLE  COUNTIES.  627 

Buried  moraine.    Red  till-] 

of  Lac  qui  Parle,  connected  with  the  Minnesota  valley  and  running  approximately  parallel  with 
it,  reaching  40  to  80  feet  below  the  general  level  of  the  drift-sheet,  and  varying  from  an  eighth  to 
a  half  of  a  mile  in  width,  frequently  have  their  bed  upon  this  stratum  of  boulders.  On  the  bluff 
of  till  which  rises  at  the  southwest  side  of  the  lower  half  of  Lac  qui  Parle,  this  layer  in  some 
places,  as  in  sections  4,  5  and  9,  of  Lac  qui  Parle  township,  forms  a  rocky,  very  narrow  terrace,  at 
a  horizontal  line  about  75  feet  above  the  lake  and  25  feet  below  the  top  of  the  bluff  and  surface  of 
the  adjoining  country;  and  the  more  gradually  sloping  ascent  from  the  northwest  half  of  Lac  qui 
Parle  shows  many  very  rocky  places  40  to  60  feet  above  the  lake,  which  are  probably  also  a  part  of 
this  buried  moraine.  A  similar  narrow  terrace-mark,  abundantly  strown  with  boulders,  is  gen- 
erally noticeable  upon  the  bluffs  at  each  side  of  the  Minnesota  river,  at  a  bight  of  50  to  60  feet 
above  it  and  some  50  feet  below  the  general  level,  all  the  way  from  Lac  qui  Parle  to  Montevideo. 
Further  exposures  of  this  rocky  stratum  in  the  till  are  seen  in  the  Minnesota  valley  below  Lac 
qui  Parle  county,  at  many  places,  to  a  point  three  miles  below  the  mouth  of  the  Yellow  Medi- 
cine river. 

Northwesterly  from  the  remarkable  Correll  plain,  boulders  are  occasionally  seen  in  great 
abundance  within  the  valley  or  on  the  bluffs  that  enclose  the  Minnesota  river  and  Big  Stone  and 
Traverse  lakes.  About  two  and  a  half  miles  east  of  Odessa  station,  a  boulder  of  exceptional  size, 
being  fully  twenty  feet  in  diameter,  lies  at  the  north  side  of  the  railroad.  Within  a  mile  farther 
west  are  several  very  rocky  knolls  and  short  ridges,  extending  five  or  ten  rods,  trending  approxi- 
mately from  west  to  east,  and  rising  15  to  30  feet  above  this  part  of  the  bottomland,  which  is  not 
reached  by  the  highest  floods  of  the  Minnesota  river. 

Two  other  localities  also  deserve  mention,  as  exhibiting  very  plentiful  boulders,  the  origin 
of  which  is  difficult  to  suggest,  unless  they  are  outcropping  portions  of  this  buried  moraine.  One 
is  at  the  southeast  corner  of  section  15,  in  the  west  part  of  Prior,  where  a  ravine,  about  six 
rods  wide  and  twenty  feet  deep,  has  the  upper  part  of  the  slope  on  each  side  very  profusely 
sprinkled  with  granite  boulders  up  to  three  or  four  feet  in  diameter,  while  only  a  few  boulders  are 
seen  on  the  surface  of  the  region  adjoining  or  along  the  bottom  of  the  ravine.  The  same  feature 
is  also  noticeable  in  a  less  degree  upon  other  ravines  northeast  of  Big  Stone  lake,  while  in  the 
same  region  are  seen  occasional  knolls  or  swells,  5  to  15  feet  high,  abundantly  covered  with  large 
and  small  rock-fragments. 

The  second  locality  where  boulders  are  specially  remarkable  is  at  a  cut  on  the  Hastings 
&  Dakota  railroad  about  five  miles  west  of  Big  Stone  City.  This  cut  is  5  to  10  feet  deep  and  an 
eighth  of  a  mile  or  more  in  length,  and  is  approximately  at  the  average  hight  of  the  surface  of 
the  drift-sheet  in  its  vicinity.  Boulders  here  are  exceedingly  abundant  of  all  sizes  up  to  ten 
feet  in  diameter,  but  are  confined  to  the  surface  and  the  upper  two  or  three  feet,  and  are  com- 
paratively rare  below,  being  not  more  plentiful  than  is  usual  in  the  till  throughout  Minnesota. 
Next  west  of  this  cut  is  a  valley  15  to  20  feet  lower  and  nearly  an  eighth  of  a  mile  wide,  almost 
destitute  of  boulders  though  apparently  till,  while  the  land  at  its  west  side  again  exhibits  a  sur- 
face over  which  they  are  thickly  strown. 

Red  till.  Besides  the  upper  yellowish  till  (changed  to  this  color  by 
weathering)  and  the  lower  dark  bluish  till,  which  ordinarily  make  up  the 
whole  thickness  of  the  glacial  drift  in  this  region,  it  exhibits  at  a  few  pla- 
ces, below  the  foregoing,  a  distinctly  reddish  till,  quite  different  in  color 
from  the  other  two,  and  like  the  red  till  which  overspreads  northeastern 
Minnesota  from  lake  Superior  to  Saint  Paul  and  Minneapolis.  In  that  part 
of  the  state  the  direction  of  glacial  motion  was  southwesterly,  and  the  red 
color  of  the  drift  appears  to  be  due  to  the  large  proportion  of  its  material 
which  was  gathered  from  areas  of  red  sandstone  and  shales  in  the  region  of 
lake  Superior.  Upon  the  western  two-thirds  of  Minnesota  the  ice-currents 


628  TIIE  GEOLOGY  OP  MINNESOTA. 

[Red  till. 

moved  mostly  toward  the  south  and  southeast,  bringing  the  dark  bluish  till, 
weathered  above  to  yellow,  which  covers  this  area.  The  following  include 
all  the  observations  of  red  till  which  have  come  to  my  knowledge  in  west- 
ern Minnesota  and  eastern  Dakota. 

In  the  N.  W.  J  of  section  24,  T.  123,  E.  48  (the  west  township  of  Prior),  a  red  till  was 
found  at  the  bottom  of  J.  P.  Edward's  well,  77  feet  below  the  surface,  underlying  yellow  and 
blue  till.  The  section  of  this  well  is  stated  on  page  629. 

About  two  miles  west  of  Big  Stone  City,  the  lower  part  of  a  newly  undermined  bluff  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Whetstone  river  consists  of  till  which  has  the  same  red  color  that  characterizes 
the  till  of  northeastern  Minnesota.  The  upper  portion  of  this  bluff,  to  a  depth  of  about  20  feet, 
is  yellowish  gray  till;  and  this  is  directly  underlain  by  red  till,  exposed  along  a  distance  of  a 
third  or  a  half  of  a  mile,  with  a  vertical  thickness  of  20  or  30  feet,  and  extending  below.  The 
same  bluff  of  till  reaches  a  half  mile  farther  east,  but  has  there  become  obscured  by  falling  down. 
Its  top,  about  50  feet  above  the  river,  is  probably  40  or  50  feet  below  the  average  surface  of  the 
drift-sheet. 

This  red  till  appears  to  extend  southwesterly,  under  the  yellow  and  blue  till,  nearly  or  quite  to 
the  foot  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies.  It  is  reported  by  Alonzo  Wardall,  who  lives  in  the  S.  W.  }  of 
section  12,  T.  12O,  R.  5O,  in  Grant  county,  Dakota,  seventeen  miles  west-southwest  from  Big 
Stone  City.  He  has  bored  about  seventy-five  wells  within  that  county  and  Big  Stone  and  Lac  qui 
Parle  counties,  frequently  finding  red  till  in  considerable  thickness  in  the  bottom  of  deep  wells. 

At  Montevideo,  in  Chippewa  county,  a  mile  northeast  from  the  east  end  of  Lac  qui  Parle 
county,  an  excavation  for  a  cellar  in  the  base  of  the  bluff  at  the  east  side  of  Main  street  exhibited 
the  section,  about  15  feet  in  depth  and  40  feet  in  length,  shown  by  fig.  51.    This  is  the  east  bluff 
of  the  valley  that  is  now  occupied  by  the  Chippewa  river.    It  is  composed 
of  till,  and  rises  nearly  a  hundred  feet  above  this  excavation,  to  the  general 
|t.level  of  the  adjoining  country.    The  position  of  the  section  here  seen,  and 
the  order  and  character  of  its  materials,  suggest  that  they  are  probably  a 
fallen  down  since  the  valley  was  eroded.    Here  and  there  this  cut 


FIG          ECTION  IN 

MONTEVIDEO.        shows  thin  layers  of  sand,  and  in  part  its  diverse  tills  are  imperfectly  strati-  " 

fled,  with  contorted  bedding;  but  they  are  gravelly  and  stony  clay,  and  doubtless  the  bluff  above 
this  point  embraces  three  corresponding  kinds  of  unmodified  glacial  drift.  Next  below  the  soil 
is  a  dark  gray  till,  from  2  to  6  feet  in  thickness.  This  rests  for  its  greater  part  upon  yellowish 
till,  of  which  a  thickness  of  6  to  12  feet  is  exposed,  having  the  color  usually  seen  near  the  sur- 
face; but  on  the  west  the  latter  abuts  upon  a  small  ridge  five  feet  high  and  scarcely  twice  as 
wide,  which  also  underlies  the  dark  gray  stratum  and  is  composed  of  red  till,  identical  in  color 
with  that  of  Minneapolis  and  Saint  Paul  and  northeastern  Minnesota.  A  little  projection  of  red 
till  appears  to  have  extended  here  in  the  form  of  a  ridge  from  north  to  south,  for  it  was  exposed 
with  nearly  the  same  dimension  and  relation  to  the  rest  of  the  section  at  the  south  side  of  this 
excavation,  twenty  feet  distant. 

These  observations  seem  to  have  their  most  probable  explanation  in  supposing  that  during 
an  early  glacial  epoch  an  ice-sheet  was  pushed  west-southwesterly  from  the  region  of  lake  Supe- 
rior qi.ite  across  Minnesota,  bringing  these  deposits  of  red  till.  This  may  have  been  when  the  ice 
reached  its  greatest  extent,  covering  all  of  this  state  except  its  southeast  corner,  which  lies  within 
a  driftless  area.  Some  of  its  till,  derived  in  large  part  from  the  red  shales  and  sandstones,  retained 
a  distinctly  reddish  color;  but  we  must  suppose  that  at  such  distances  the  admixture  of  other  drift, 
brought  by  convergent  glacial  currents  from  the  north  and  northwest,  would  commonly  give  to 
the  deposits  of  that  ice-sheet  a  prevailing  bluish  color,  like  that  of  the  till  spread  over  this  region 
by  the  southeasterly-flowing  ice  of  the  last  glacial  epoch.  Nuggets  of  copper,  which  were  almost 
certainly  transported  from  the  region  of  lake  Superior  when  the  ice  had  its  maximum  extent,  are 
found  rarely  west  of  the  driftless  area  in  the  till  of  southern  Minnesota  and  of  Iowa.  The  direc- 
tions of  the  strite,  and  the  course  of  the  terminal  moraines  of  the  last  ice-sheet,  show  that  these 
masses  of  copper  could  not  have  been  brought  from  their  northeastern  source  during  the  last  gla- 
cial epoch.  It  seems  thus  to  be  proved  that  ice  flowed  farthest  southwestward  from  lake  Superior 
at  an  earlier  date;  and  that  ice-sheet  is  believed  to  have  deposited  the  red  till  found  in  this  district. 


BL(i  STONE  AND  LAC  QUI  PARLE  COUNTIES.  629 

Wells.] 


Wells  in  Big  Stone  county. 

Prior.  G.  Knutson,  sec.  8,  T.  23,  R.  148:  well,  45  feet;  soil,  2;  yellowish  till,  18;  dark, 
bluish  till,  soft  to  dig,  25;  water  rose  from  the  bottom  four  feet. 

Mr.  Chesley;  S.  W.  J  of  sec.  14,  T.  123,  R.  48:  well,  48  feet;  yellow  till,  25;  gravel,  4 
inches;  blue  till,  20  feet;  gray  gravel,  3  feet;  quicksand,  not  dug  into.  Water  is  found  in  the  gravel 
and  sand  at  the  bottom,  not  rising.  Lumps  of  clay,  as  large  as  one's  fist,  occur  in  the  upper  part 
of  this  water-bearing  gravel.  Lignite  is  found  in  nearly  every  well  in  this  vicinity,  the  largest 
pieces  being  four  or  five  inches  in  diameter. 

J.  P.  Edwards;  N.  W.  J  of  sec.  24,  T.  123,  R.  48:  well,  78  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  picked, 
32;  dry  gravel,  4  inches,  containing  gas  but  no  water;  softer  blue  till,  37  feet;  gray,  clayey  gravel, 
7  feet,  having  plenty  of  water,  which  does  not  rise.  Under  this  was  a  reddish  till. 

Samuel  Varco;  sec.  18,  T.  123,  R.  47:  well,  102  feet;  upper,  yellowish  till,  45;  blue  till, 
30;  dark  sand,  27.  Water  comes  in  large  amount,  but  does  not  rise.  Gas  is  usually  found  in  the 
same  layer  with  the  water  in  this  neighborhood. 

J.  T.  Crippen;  sec.  28,  T.  183,  R.  47:  well,  80  feet;  soil,  3;  gray  till,  with  dark  bluish 
and  reddish  portions,  57;  hard  blue  clay,  4;  sand,  16,  easy  to  dig,  with  water  in  its  lower  part. 
Several  pieces  of  lignite  were  found. 

Thomas  Jennings;  sec.  30,  T.  123,  R.  47:  well,  67  feet;  hard,  yellowish  gray  till,  40,  con- 
taining in  its  lower  part  lumps  of  blue  clay,  three  to  six  inches  in  diameter;  dry  sand  and  fine 
dark  silt,  interstratified,  27  feet,  and  extending  lower;  well  not  finished;  no  water  found  in  this 
depth. 

A.  J.  Scofield;  sec. -32,  T.  123,  R.  47:  well,  76  feet;  soil,  2;  yellowish  till,  30;  dark,  bluish 
till,  36;  sand,  8;  water  comes  slowly  in  the  lower  part  of  this  sand,  not  rising.  Drawing  one 
barrel  empties  this  well. 

E.  T.  Hanes;  sec.  5,  T.  128,  R.  47:  well,  20  feet;  black  soil,  4;  yellowish  till,  very  hard, 
5;  clayey  sand,  8;  quicksand  and  water,  3.  This  water  rises  and  falls  with  Big  Stone  lake,  which 
is  ten  rods  distant. 

Tokua.  W.  E.  Nannary ;  sec.  1 :  well,  75  feet;  soil,  2;  gray  upper  till,  18;  gravel,  1 J  feet,  with  a 
little  water;  blue  till,  soft  and  sticky,  53  feet,  containing  no  sand  veins  and  supplying  no  water; 
sand,  6  inches,  not  dug  farther  into,  full  of  water,  which  rose  ten  feet  quickly,  and  afterward 
slowly  filled  the  well  to  a  depth  of  fifty  feet. 

Graceville.  John  Garvey;  in  the  village,  in  the  N.  E.  J  of  sec.  9:  well,  36  feet;  soil,  1J  feet; 
brown  loam,  1£;  yellow  till,  15;  soft  blue  till,  18;  the  only  water  found  seeps  from  the  upper  till. 

E.  Dunlap;  sec.  8:  well,  70  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  18;  harder  blue  till,  50;  water  comes  at 
the  junction  between  the  yellow  and  blue  tills,  none  being  found  in  the  lower  till. 

In  the  north  part  of  this  township,  several  wells  go  90  to  110  feet,  mostly  in  blue  till,  some- 
times finding  no  water  or  only  a  scanty  supply. 

Ortonville.  Lake  View  hotel:  well,  38  feet;  soil,  3;  sand  and  gravel,  7;  hardpan,  bluish  and 
gray  till,  14;  yellow  gravel,  5;  yellow  quicksand,  9  feet,  with  plenty  of  water,  which  rises  five 
feet  above  the  top  of  this  quicksand. 

Henry  Jacobs;  also  in  the  town:  well,  29  feet;  soil,  3;  gravel,  8;  dark  bluish  till,  10;  yellow 
gravel,  4;  sand,  4;  water  plenty,  rising  three  feet. 

Chamberlain  island,  in  Big  Stone  lake.  C.  A.  Chamberlain;  well,  14  feet;  soil,  1J;  yellow 
till,  picked,  8;  quicksand,  4J;  water  plentiful,  rising  and  falling  with  the  lake. 

Trenton.  G.  Amundson;  sec.  8:  well,  27  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  hard,  25;  to  grafel,  from 
which  water  rose  fifteen  feet  in  two  days. 

Artichoke.  Olaus  Hanson;  sec.  2:  well,  45  feet;  soil,  2 ;  yellowish  till,  20;  darker  bluish 
till,  23;  water  rose  from  the  bottom  several  feet. 

Corrcll.  The  railroad  well  at  this  station  was  bored  145  feet  deep,  but  its  section  was  not 
learned.  Water  rose  from  gravel  to  a  hight  eighteen  feet  below  the  surface. 

Wells  in  Lac  qui  Parle  county. 

Yellow  Bank.  Horace  Leavitt;  sec.  20,  T.  12O,  R.  4«:  well,  35  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till, 
25;  harder  blue  till,  6;  gravel,  2,  from  which  water  rose  seven  feet. 

T.  W.  P.  Lee;  N.  W.  }  of  sec.  29,  T.  12O,  R.  4«:  well,  24  feet;  soil,  2;  hard  yellow  till, 


630  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Wells.     Water-powers.     Stone. 

18,  requiring  to  be  picked,  but  containing  streaks  of  sand;  harder  blue  till,  4;  water  rose  eleven 
feet  from  gravel  at  the  bottom. 

William  Glage;  sec.  18,  T.  12O.  R.  4tt:  well,  60  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  30;  softer  blue  till, 
28;  water  seeps  from  the  lower  part  of  the  blue  till. 

D.  A.  Murray;  sec.  30,  T.  12O,  R.  45:  well,  28  feet;  soil,  3;  yellow  till,  containing  only 
very  little  gravel  or  other  rock-fragments,  22;  bluish  sand,  3  feet,  with  water,  which  does  not 
rise;  gravel  lies  next  below. 

Mehurin.  R.  Kinmore;  sec.  2:  well,  33  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  21;  sand  and  silt, 
not  caving  in,  10;  with  coarser  layers  of  sand  and  gravel  containing  water  at  the  bottom,  from 
which  it  rose  only  one  foot. 

G.  J.  Hardy;  sec.  4:  well,  30  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  picked,  20;  gravel,  2;  dark  bluish  clay, 
probably  till,  6  feet,  to  a  boulder  a  foot  or  more  in  diameter,  which  stopped  the  boring.  Bitter- 
ish water  comes  from  the  gravel  between  the  yellow  till  and  blue  clay. 

Freeland.  C.  B.  Ford;  sec.  10:  well,  20  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  8;  dark  bluish  hardpan, 
very  dry  and  hard  in  digging,  but  becoming  quicksand  when  mixed  with  water,  2  ;  blue  till,  8 ; 
water  in  twenty  minutes  rose  five  feet  from  quicksand  at  the  bottom.  Both  these  tills  required 
to  be  picked,  The  wells  of  this  township  vary  from  15  to  25  feet  in  depth,  and  are  all  in  till. 

Riverside.  J.  B.  Sumner;  sec.  34:  well,  26  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  10;  sand,  1;  blue 
till,  picked,  8;  dark  gravelly  hardpan  [also  till],  much  harder  than  the  last,  5;  water  of  excellent 
quality  rose  three  feet  from  sand  at  the  bottom. 

Lac  qui  Parle.  J.  H.  Brown;  hotel  in  village:  well,  74  feet;  yellow  till,  25;  very  hard  blue 
till,  49 ;  the  only  water  found  seeps  from  the  lower  part  of  the  yellow  till.  A  piece  of  wood, 
splintered,  sixteen  inches  long  and  three  inches  wide,  was  found  in  this  till  at  the  depth  of  52 
feet. 

W.  M.  Mills;  N.  E.  Jof  sec.  30:  well,  31  feet;  soil,  2;  clayey  silt,  8;  yellow  till,  spaded,  7; 
sand,  6  inches;  the  only  water  found  in  this  well,  a  scanty  supply,  is  from  this  sand;  blue  till, 
very  hard,  picked,  14  feet,  including  thin  layers  of  dry  sand.  The  upper  ten  feet  contained 
numerous  bivalve  shells.  The  blue  lower  till  in  this  region  is  reported  to  be  generally  twice  as 
hard  and  compact  as  the  yellow  upper  till. 

MATERIAL  RESOURCES. 

Agriculture  must  evidently  be  always  the  chief  industry  and  source  of 
wealth  in  this  district,  attended,  in  villages  and  towns,  by  needed  branches 
of  trade  and  manufactures. 

Water-powers  are  available  but  have  not  yet  been  utilized  in  these  counties.  Sufficient  fall 
occurs  on  the  Minnesota  river  two  to  five  miles  below  Big  Stone  lake,  and  at  other  points;  and 
this  lake  may  serve  as  a  reservoir,  to  be  raised  at  least  two  or  three  feet  by  a  dam,  for  use  at 
times  of  drought.  The  Lac  qui  Parle  river  has  a  valuable  water-power  on  land  of  W.  M.  Mills,  at 
the  east  side  of  section  30,  Lac  qui  Parle,  two  and  a  half  miles  west  of  the  village.  Mr.  Mills 
states  that  by  excavating  a  tunnel  here  for  a  canal  ten  rods  in  length,  through  a  ridge  of  drift  at 
the  neck  of  a  loop  of  the  river,  a  fall  of  24  feet  might  be  obtained,  the  descent  of  the  stream  in 
this  loop,  two  miles  long,  being  14  feet,  to  which  10  feet  more  may  be  added  by  a  dam. 

Building  stone  is  usually  attainable  in  the  amount  required  by  farmers,  for  foundations  and 
the  walls  of  cellars  and  wells,  from  the  granitic  and  limestone  boulders  of  the  drift,  though  they 
are  seldom  so  numerous  as  to  be  objectionable  in  the  cultivation  of  the  land.  The  outcrops  of 
granite  in  the  Minnesota  valley  may  be  advantageously  worked  to  supply  such  masonry  and  for 
buildings;  but  they  have  not  yet  been  quarried,  except  that  some  rough  stone,  used  at  Ortonville, 
has  been  taken  from  their  surface,  and  from  a  railroad  cut,  about  one  and  a  half  miles  southeast 
of  this  town. 

Lime  is  burned  by  several  farmers  on  the  northeast  shore  of  Big  Stone  lake,  from  dolomyte 
boulders  of  the  drift,  the  fuel  being  obtained  from  the  border  of  the  lake.  These  lime-burners, 
in  their  order  from  northwest  to  southeast,  are  Amund  Ericson,  in  section  23,  Brown's  Valley,  one 
and  a  half  miles  southeast  from  the  head  of  the  lake;  W.  H.  Bowman,  in  section  18,  at  the  west 


BIG  STONE  AND  LAC  QUI  PARLE  COUNTIES. 

Lime.   Bricks.    Mounds.  J 

side  of  Prior,  burning  about  300  barrels  of  lime  yearly,  which  is  sold  for  $1.25  per  barrel;  E.  T. 
Hanes,  in  section  5,  at  the  south  side  of  Prior,  burning  some  150  barrels  yearly,  selling  at  SI  per 
barrel;  Jacob  Hurley,  in  section  19,  Big  Stone,  producing  150  barrels  yearly  since  1870,  selling  for 
$1.25  per  barrel  at  the  kiln;  and  Alfred  Knowlton,  in  section  5,  Ortonville,  a  mile  north  from  the 
town,  producing  annually  300  to  500  barrels  of  lime,  vhich  is  sold  for  $1.25  per  barrel,  used  in 
Ortonville  and  Big  Stone  City.  About  a  tenth  or  twentieth  part  of  these  boulders  yield  yellowish 
or  cream-colored  lime,  while  the  remainder  make  lime  of  snow-like  whiteness.  In  Lac  qui  Parle 
county  lime  is  burned  in  similar  small  amount  from  boulders  by  Mr.  Peterson,  in  the  north  part 
of  Hantho;  by  Ole  Gunderson,  one  and  a  half  miles  northeast  from  Lac  qui  Parle  village,  selling 
at  $1.25  per  barrel;  and  by  Henry  Johnson  and  Andrew  Amarude,  in  Camp  Release  township. 

Brick-making  has  not  been  undertaken  in  Big  Stone  or  Lac  qui  Parle  counties;  but  at  Big 
Stone  City,  in  the  edge  of  Dakota,  this  business  was  begun  in  1879  by  Tobias  Oehler,  who  made 
240,000  that  year  and  about  800,000  in  1880,  selling  at  $10  per  thousand.  These  are  light  red 
bricks,  of  good  quality.  Tlie  deposit  from  which  they  are  made  lies  upon  the  general  surface  of 
the  drift-sheet,  about  a  hundred  feet  above  Big  Stone  lake  and  the  Minnesota  river.  After  strip- 
ping off  the  black  soil,  the  next  three  feet,  consisting  of  yellow  clay  free  from  gravel,  is  used, 
mixed  with  one-fourth  as  much  sand.  This  clay  extends  lower,  but  is  there  somewhat  gravelly. 
It  is  said  to  cover  several  acres,  and  is  apparently  a  bed  of  modified  drift,  formed  when  the  last 
ice-sheet  retired. 

ABORIGINAL  EARTHWORKS. 

At  Big  Stone  City  two  aboriginal  mounds  of  the  usual  circular  form,  each  having  a  hight 
of  about  six  feet,  were  noticed  upon  the  verge  of  the  bluff  of  the  Minnesota  valley  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  north  of  the  Whetstone  river.  Their  distance  apart  from  north  to  south  was  about  six 
rods.  Two  or  three  other  mounds,  of  similar  size,  are  seen  also  on  the  top  of  the  bluff  near  its 
edge,  three-quarters  of  a  mile  south  from  these. 

In  Lac  qui  Parle  township,  four  mounds  occur  similarly  on  the  verge  of  the  bluff  at  the 
southwest  side  of  the  Minnesota  valley,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  east  of  the  Lac  qui  Parle  river, 
and  one  and  a  half  miles  northeasterly  from  the  village  of  this  name.  These  mounds  lie  in  a  nearly 
straight  line,  extending  about  twenty  rods  from  northwest  to  southeast,  parallel  with  the  edge 
of  the  bluff  and  only  three  or  four  rods  from  it.  The  most  northwestern  mound  here  is  seven 
feet  high,  and  the  others  five  to  three  feet  in  hight,  decreasing  toward  the  southeast;  but  they 
cover  nearly  equal  areas,  each  being  about  fifty  feet  in  diameter. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  LE  SUEUR  COUNTY. 


BY  WARREN  UPHAM. 

Situation  and  area.  Le  Sueur  county  (plate  30)  is  in  the  southern  part 
of  Minnesota,  and  is  bounded  on  the  west  by  the  Minnesota  river  in  its 
course  northward  from  its  great  bend  at  Mankato.  The  distance  from  Le 
Sueur,  the  county  seat  and  largest  town,  northeasterly  to  Saint  Paul  and 
Minneapolis  is  50  miles;  east  to  lake  Pepin,  80  miles;  south  to  the  Iowa  line, 
67  miles;  and  west  to  the  Dakota  line,  125  miles.  Other  considerable  towns 
and  villages  in  this  county  are  East  Henderson,  Ottawa,  East  Saint  Peter, 
Kasota,  and  Caroline,  on  the  Chicago,  Saint  Paul,  Minneapolis  &  Omaha 
railway;  New  Prague,  at  the  north  line  of  the  county,  lying  partly  in  Scott 
county,  Montgomery,  Kilkenny  and  Waterville,  on  the  Minneapolis  &  Saint 
Louis  railway;  and,  between  these  lines,  Heidelberg,  Lexington,  Cordova, 
Cleveland,  Marysburgh,  and  Elysian.  The  area  of  Le  Sueur  county  is  472.48 
square  miles,  or  802,388.18  acres,  of  which  17,891.77  acres  are  covered  by 
water. 

SURFACE  FEATURES. 

Natural  drainage.  The  Minnesota  river  receives  the  drainage  from 
three-fourths  of  this  county;  and  the  remainder,  a  tract  of  about  120  square 
miles  in  its  southeast  part,  is  drained  easterly  to  the  Mississippi  by  the 

Cannon  river. 

The  principal  tributaries  of  the  Minnesota  river  in  Le  Sueur  county  are  Shanaska  creek, 
about  seven  miles  long,  the  outlet  of  lake  Washington,  which  enters  the  Minnesota  river  between 
Kasota  and  East  Saint  Peter;  Cherry  creek,  about  thirteen  miles  long,  the  outlet  of  Scotch,  Deck- 
er, and  other  small  lakes  in  Cleveland  and  Cordova,  which  unites  with  the  Minnesota  close  south 
of  Ottawa;  Le  Sueur  creek,  nearly  twenty  miles  long,  the  outlet  of  Eice  lake  in  Sharon  and  other 
lakes,  which  joins  the  Minnesota  close  north  of  Le  Sueur,  after  receiving  from  the  northeast, 
about  a  mile  above  its  mouth,  the  Little  Le  Sueur  creek,  some  twelve  miles  long,  whose  sources 
are  Clear  lake  and  lake  Mary  near  Lexington  arid  School  Section  lake  in  the  southeast  corner  of 


1'LATi;  -U 


U    £ 

GEOLOGICAL  AND  NATURAL  HISTORY 
SURVEY  OF  MINNESOTA 


LE    SUEUR    COUNTl 


COUNTY 


JJJJJjj  Jfoctofai  Drift, ;  vauUey  terraces 


^J  Till,  undulating  or  nearly  flat- 

~^\  1UI,  roBiny,  or  hllv,  Terminal  Moraine. 


LE  SUEUK  COUNTY.  533 

Natural  drainage.      Lakes.] 

Derrynane;  a  small  creek,  about  seven  miles  long,  which  flows  from  Clark's  lake  in  Scott  county 
southerly  into  Tyrone  and  enters  the  Minnesota  at  East  Henderson;  and  Sand  creek,  which  drains 
the  north  part  of  Derrynane,  all  of  Lanesburg  except  its  southwest  corner,  and  the  northeast 
part  of  Montgomery,  lakes  Pepin  and  Sanborn,  and  Hunt  lake,  in  the  two  last  named  townships, 
at  the  head  of  this  stream,  being  sixteen  to  eighteen  miles  in  a  straight  line  from  its  mouth, 
which  is  two  miles  north  of  Jordan  in  Scott  county. 

The  highest  sources  of  the  Cannon  river  are  several  lakes  in  Shieldsville,  Eice  county, 
whence  this  stream  flows  westerly  twelve  miles,  crossing  Kilkenny,  receiving  the  overflow  of 
lakes  Dora  and  Volney,  and  entering  lake  Gorman  at  Cordova.  Next  its  course  is  southerly  eight 
miles,  passing  through  Saber  lake  in  section  30,  Kilkenny,  and  entering  the  west  part  of  lake  Te- 
tonka  in  Waterville.  Above  Saber  lake  this  is  called  Big  Cannon  river,  to  distinguisli  it  from  a 
smaller  stream,  known  as  Little  Cannon  river,  which  flows  into  Saber  lake  from  the  east.  About 
a  mile  above  its  mouth  into  Lake  Tetonka,  this  river  receives  a  tributary  from  the  west,  which  is 
the  outlet  of  lake  Bossuot  in  sections  29,  32  and  33,  Cordova,  and  of  German  and  other  lakes  in 
the  north  part  of  Elysian.  In  Waterville  the  Cannon  river  flows  through  lakes  Tetonka  and  Sa- 
kata,  which  together  extend  from  the  west  to  the  east  line  of  this  township,  being  connected  by 
a  stream  only  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  long.  A  considerable  creek,  whose  basin  extends  into 
northern  Waseca  county,  enters  the  west  part  of  lake  Sakata.  The  townships  of  Le  Sueur  county 
which  are  partly  or  wholly  drained  by  the  Cannon  river  are  Waterville,  excepting  perhaps  half  a 
section  in  its  southwest  corner,  the  northeast  half  of  Elysian,  the  southeast  half  of  Cordova,  all 
of  Kilkenny,  and  the  southern  third  of  Montgomery. 

Lakes.  Among  the  lakes  of  Le  Sueur  county  the  following  deserve  mention:  lake  Jefferson, 
lying  principally  in  Washington  and  the  northwest  corner  of  Elysian,  five  miles  long  from  east  to 
west  and  from  an  eighth  to  two-thirds  of  a  mile  wide,  very  crooked,  with  an  arm  or  branch  on  the 
south  about  two  miles  long;  lake  Washington,  also  of  quite  irregular  form,  having  an  area 
of  about  two  and  a  half  square  miles,  lying  mostly  in  the  southwest  part  of  Washington;  lake 
Emily,  mainly  in  section  26,  Kasota,  two  miles  east  of  Saint  Peter,  similarly  irregular  in  outlines, 
but  only  a  little  more  than  a  mile  long,  very  picturesque,  bordered  partly  by  woods,  but  mostly 
by  fertile  and  well  cultivated  farms,  its  west  end  being  near  the  verge  of  the  bluff  which  descends 
two  hundred  feet  from  this  lake  to  the  bottomland  of  the  Minnesota  valley;  Scotch  lake,  one  and 
a  half  miles  long  from  east  to  west,  in  sections  22  and  23,  Cleveland;  Clear  lake,  three-fourths  of  a 
mile  in  diameter,  in  section  10,  Lexington;  lake  Pepin  and  lake  Sanborn,  each  about  a  mile  long, 
in  Lanesburg;  lake  Dora,  nearly  two  miles  long  from  northwest  to  southeast,  in  the  north  part  of 
Kilkenny;  lake  Gorman,  one  and  a  quarter  miles  long  from  north  to  south,  and  from  a  half  mile  to 
one  mile  wide,  lying  mostly  in  sections  12  and  13,  Cordova;  German  lake,  covering  about  a  thou- 
sand acres,  mainly  in  sections  4  and  5,  Elysian,  and  lake  Francis,  three  miles  long  from  east  to 
west,  in  the  south  part  of  this  township:  lake  Elysian,  whose  north  end  is  crossed  by  the  south  line 
of  the  county  at  the  south  side  of  sections  35  and  36,  Elysian;  and  lake  Tetonka,  four  miles  long 
from  west  to  east  and  averaging  a  half  mile  in  width,  lying  mostly  in  sections  19,  20,  21  and  22, 
Waterville,  and  lake  Sakata,  about  three  miles  long  and  also  averaging  a  half  mile  wide,  extending 
eastward  from  Waterville  and  reaching  into  Rice  county. 

Topography.  The  terminal  moraine  accumulated  on  the  east  side  of 
the  Minnesota  lobe  of  the  last  ice-sheet,  consisting  of  hills,  mounds  and 
ridges  of  till,  occupies  the  east  edge  of  Le  Sueur  county  and  the  adjoining 
western  half  of  Rice  county.  Its  west  border  extends  from  near  the  north- 
east corner  of  Le  Sueur  county  southward  by  lake  Sanborn,  Montgomery, 
Greenleaf  lake,  lake  Volney  and  Saber  lake,  to  Waterville.  The  hills  of 
this  tract,  constituting  the  highest  part  of  the  county,  are  50  to  75  feet 
above  the  intervening  depressions,  or  from  1100  to  1125  feet  above  the  sea. 
In  Montgomery  and  Kilkenny  they  are  principally  massive  swells  with 


634  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Topography. 

smooth  slopes,  only  30  to  50  feet  in  hight.  The  most  prominent  hills  seen 
in  this  county  are  south  of  lake  Sakata,  one  to  two  miles  east  of  Water- 
ville.  They  were  found  by  Nicollet  to  be  134  feet,  according  to  the  barom- 
eter, above  this  lake,  which  makes  their  tops  1137  feet  above  the  sea. 

West  of  this  moraine,  the  greater  part  of  the  county  is  slightly  or  mod- 
erately undulating  till,  approximately  level,  to  the  valley  of  the  Minnesota 
river.  The  bottom  of  this  fertile  and  beautiful  valley  is  from  200  to  225 
feet  below  the  general  level.  The  tops  of  its  bluffs  of  till  are  from  a  half 
mile  to  two  miles,  and  between  Ottawa  and  Le  Sueur  four  miles,  distant 
from  the  river.  Within  these  bluffs  are  high  terraces  of  modified  drift,  the 
largest  of  which,  called  "Le  Sueur  prairie,"  extends  five  miles  south  from 
Le  Sueur,  with  a  width  that  varies  from  two  to  four  miles ;  terraces  of 
Shakopee  limestone,  underlain  by  Jordan  sandstone,  occurring  at  Ottawa 
and  from  Kasota  south  to  Mankato;  and  bottomlands,  which  are  usually 
from  an  eighth  to  a  fourth  or  half  of  a  mile  wide,  but  attain  a  width  of  one 
and  a  half  miles  for  a  distance  of  three  miles  in  the  north  part  of  Kasota. 

The  contour  of  the  drift-sheet  between  the  eastern  moraine  and  the 
Minnesota  valley  varies  from  moderately  undulating  or  rolling  to  nearly 
flat.  Its  most  uneven  portion  is  a  belt  near  the  south  side  of  the  county,  in 
Elysian,  Washington  and  Kasota,  extending  westerly  from  Waterville  and 
Elysian  to  German  lake  and  lakes  Jefferson,  Washington  and  Emily.  The 
undulations  and  swells  here  are  mostly  from  25  to  50  feet  high,  having 
smooth  outlines  and  long  slopes;  but  between  lakes  Tetonka  and  Elysian 
the  surface  is  in  part  quite  irregularly  broken  in  small  hills  and  short 
ridges,  which  one  and  a  half  miles  northeast  of  Elysian  are  about  75  feet 
high.  This  belt  is  apparently  a  moraine  formed  on  the  south  side  of  the 
ice-lobe  during  a  pause  in  its  recession.. 

The  south  part  of  Kasota,  from  lake  Washington  four  miles  west  to  the  valley  of  the  Min- 
nesota river  is  only  slightly  undulating,  with  the  highest  portions  5  to  15  feet  above  the  lowest. 
Cordova,  Lexington,  Derrynane  and  Lanesburg  are  moderately  undulating,  with  crests  20  to  30 
or  40  feet  above  the  hollows  and  frequent  lakes.  These  townships  show  a  somewhat  gradual 
change  from  the  morainic  contour  on  their  east  side  to  the  slightly  undulating  and  in  some  por- 
tions nearly  level  surface  of  Cleveland,  Sharon  and  Tyrone  in  the  range  next  west. 

Elevations,  Minneapolis  &  Saint  Louis  railway. 
From  Robert  Angst,  assistant  engineer,  Minneapolis. 

Miles  from        Feet  above 
Minneapolis.          the  sea. 

New  Prague 42.6  975 

Montgomery .50.0          1063 

Mulford's  siding 54.6          1060 


LE  SUEUR  COUNTY.  (535 

Elevations.] 

Miles  from        Feet  above 
Minneapolis.          the  sea. 

Town-line  road  between  Montgomery  and  Kilkenny 54.9  1056 

Lake  Dora,  grade 55.8  1044 

Lake  Dora,  high  water 56.8  1040 

Cannon  river,  grade 56.9  1045 

Cannon  river,  water 56.9  1038 

Kilkenny 58.6  1056 

Little  Cannon  river,  grade 59.1  1037 

Little  Cannon  river,  water • 59.1  1019 

Summit,  grade 62.3  1070 

Summit,  highest  natural  surface 62.3  1089 

Summit,  highest  grade 63.0  1080 

Cannon  river,  bridge 65.0  1004 

Cannon  river,  water 65.0  994 

Waterville 65.4  1008 

County-line  road  between  Waterville  and  losco 67.0  1049 

Elevations,  Saint  Paul  &  Sioux  City  division,  Chicago,  Saint  Paul,  Minneapolis  &  Omaha  railway. 
From  profiles  in  _the  office  of  T.  P.  Gere,  superintendent,  Saint  Paul. 

Miles  from     Feet  above 
St.  Paul.  the  sea. 

East  Henderson 56.8  740 

Le  Sueur  creek,  bridge 60.1  745 

Le  Sueur  creek,  water 60.1  730 

Le  Sueur  61.5  759 

High  water  in  the  Minnesota  river  at  Le  Sueur 61.5  741 

Ottawa 67.6  796 

East  Saint  Peter 73.4  754 

Shanaska  creek,  grade 74.7  785 

Shanaska  creek,  water 74.7  747 

High  water  of  the  Minnesota  river  here 74.7  756 

Kasota  Junction 75.9  806 

Summit,  grade 77.8  843 

Elevations,  Winona  &  Saint  Peter  division,  Chicago  &  Northwestern  railway. 
From  John  E.  Blunt,  engineer,  Winona. 

Miles  from       Feet  above 
Winona.  the  sea. 

Kasota 133.8  804 

Minnesota  river  bridge 135.0  791 

Minnesota  river,  low  and  high  water 135.0  733-756 

Surveys  by  the  United  States  engineer  corps,  and  for  railroads,  have  supplied  the  following 
elevations  of  the 

Minnesota  river. 

Feet  above 
the  sea. 

At  East  Henderson,  low  and  high  water 711-727 

At  Le  Sueur,  low  and  high  water 717-741 

At  Ottawa,  low  water 723 

At  East  Saint  Peter,  low  water 730 

At  the  Winona  &  Saint  Peter  railroad  bridge,  low  and  high  water 733-756 

At  the  south  line  of  Le  Sueur  county,  low  water 743 

Estimates  of  the  average  bights  of  the  townships  of  Le  Sueur  county 
are  as  follows  :  Lanesburg,  1,020  feet  above  sea-level ;  Montgomery,  1,050; 
Kilkenny,  1,050 ;  Waterville,  1,040  ;  Derrynane,  975  ;  Lexington,  980 ;  Cor- 
dova, 1,020;  Elysian,  1,050;  Tyrone,  940;  Sharon,  940;  Cleveland,  975; 


636  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Soil  and  timber. 


Washington,  975;  Le  Sueur,  810;  Ottawa,  860;  and  Kasota,  880.  The  mean 
elevation  of  the  county  derived  from  these  figures  is  985  feet  above  the 
sea. 

Soil  and  Umber.  The  black  soil  of  this  region  has  generally  a  depth  of  about  two  feet.  It 
is  clay  with  some  admixture  of  sand  and  gravel  and  occasional  stones  and  boulders,  being  the 
upper  part  of  the  glacial  drift,  colored  by  vegetable  decay.  Below  this  black  stratum,  the  subsoil 
is  the  same  gravelly  clay,  yellowish  for  the  next  ten  or  twenty  feet,  and  then  darker  and  bluish  to 
a  great  depth  which  is  seldom  passed  through  by  wells. 

In  the  fertility  of  its  soil  and  its  agricultural  capability  Le  Sueur  county  is  the  peer  of  any 
in  Minnesota.  The  undulating  surface  causes  the  water  of  rains  and  of  snow-melting  to  be  soon 
drained  away,  excepting  the  portion  which  the  soil  absorbs  to  be  given  out  for  the  growth  of 
plants.  Perhaps  a  tenth  part  of  this  county  is  occupied  by  its  abundant  lakes,  its  equally  numer- 
ous but  smaller  marshes,  which  are  not  wooded  and  bear  excellent  wild  hay,  and  by  the  bluffs  and 
ravines  of  streams;  the  remaining  area  ( excepting  occasional  small  tracts  of  the  moraines,  more 
than  ordinarily  knolly  and  stony)  is  adapted  for  cultivation.  The  staple  crops  are  wheat,  oats, 
barley,  corn,  hay,  flax,  sorghum,  potatoes,  and  the  common  vegetables  and  small  fruits  of  the 
garden. 

This  county  lies  within  the  southeast  part  of  the  extensive  forest,  a  hundred  miles  long  from 
north  to  south  and  forty  to  fifty  miles  wide,  which  is  commonly  called  the  Big  Woods,  being  a 
southern  lobe  of  the  great  wooded  region  of  northern  Minnesota  and  British  America.  Heavy 
timber  originally  covered  the  whole  county,  except  small  tracts  of  marsh,  which  would  be  called 
sloughs  in  a  prairie  district,  and  certain  areas  in  the  Minnesota  valley,  as  the  Le  Sueur  prairie 
and  the  terrace  of  limestone  south  of  Kasota.  Since  the  first  immigration,  some  twenty-five  years 
ago,  much  of  this  timber  has  been  cleared  off  and  the  land  brought  under  cultivation,  the  stumps 
being  got  rid  of  within  ten  years  by  burning  and  pulling,  leaving  the  fields  smooth  for  the  plow 
and  the  reaper.  The  principal  kinds  of  trees  found  here  are  bass,  sugar  maple  and  soft  maple, 
box-elder,  wild  plum,  the  wild  red  cherry  and  black  cherry,  American  crab-apple,  Juneberry, 
white  and  black  ash,  white  or  American  elm  and  slippery  or  red  elm,  hackberry,  butternut,  black 
walnut,  bitternut,  black  and  bur  oaks,  ironwood,  water  beech,  paper  or  canoe  birch,  common 
poplar  or  aspen,  the  large-toothed  poplar,  cottonwood,  and  (rarely)  red  cedar.  The  last  two  occur 
mostly  beside  rivers  and  lakes.  Nearly  everywhere  through  this  forest,  its  two  largest  and  most 
plentiful  species  of  trees  are  the  bass  and  the  white  elm.  Its  shrubs  include  prickly  ash,  smooth 
sumach,  frost  grape,  Virginian  creeper,  climbing  bitter-sweet,  red  and  black  raspberries,  wild 
rose,  thorn,  choke-berry,  prickly  and  smooth  gooseberries,  black  currant,  two  or  three  species  of  cor- 
nel, wolfberry,  honeysuckle,  elder,  sweet  viburnum,  high-bush  cranberry,  hazel-nut,  and  willows. 

GEOLOGICAL   STRUCTURE. 

Jordan  sandstone  and  Shakopee  limestone.  The  only  exposures  of  the  bed- 
rocks of  this  county  consist  of  two  members  of  the  Lower  Magnesian  or 
Calciferous  series,  namely  the  Jordan  sandstone  and  the  overlying  Shako- 
pee  limestone,  which  form  terraces  about  75  feet  high  in  Kasota  and  Otta- 
wa, within  the  valley  of  the  Minnesota  river.  Fluvial  erosion,  since  the  ice 
age,  has  excavated  this  great  channel  through  the  sheet  of  till  which  forms 
bluffs  on  each  side  of  the  valley  150  feet  above  these  rock-formations;  but  a 
river  that  flowed  here  long  before  the  ice  age,  had  cut  deeply  into  the  rocks 
and  sculptured  them  nearly  as  they  are  now  seen.  Their  terraces  are  pro- 
duced by  the  persistence  of  the  hard  limestone  lying  above  the  soft  and 


LE  SUEUR  COUNTY.  (537 

Jordan  sandstone  and  Shakopee  limestone.] 

easily  eroded  sandstone.  These  formations  are  nearly  horizontal  in  strati- 
fication and  mainly  conformable  with  each  other;  as  if  in  the  same  sea, 
with  no  evidence  of  important  change  in  level  or  in  the  relations  of  land 
and  sea,  the  deposition  of  sandstone,  after  having  formed  a  stratum  fifty 
feet  or  more  in  thickness  over  a  large  area,  was  succeeded  by  the  formation 
of  an  equally  extensive  and  thicker  stratum  of  magnesiau  limestone. 

The  Jordan  sandstone  is  white  or  light  gray,  excepting  small  portions  where  it  is  stained 
by  infiltrating  ferruginous  waters.  In  texture  it  varies  from  a  fine-grained  to  a  coarse-grained 
deposit,  and  rarely  encloses  small  pebbles.  Nearly  all  its  material  is  quartz,  the  particles  of 
which  are  mostly  rounded  by  water- wearing.  When  exposed  to  the  air  in  dry  situations,  it  be- 
comes harder  and  more  firmly  cemented  than  in  its  natural  bed,  where  it  is  so  friable  that  it  can 
be  excavated  by  a  shovel  and  pick.  Its  name  is  from  Jordan  in  Scott  county,  where  this  forma- 
tion is  well  exhibited  and  has  been  considerably  used  as  a  building  stone. 

The  overlying  Shakokee  limestone,  so  named  from  the  town  where  it  is  best  exposed  in 
Scott  county,  is  a  hard,  buff-colored,  mostly  thick-bedded,  in  many  portions  siliceous  and  cherty, 
magnesian  limestone  or  dolomyte.  The  whole  thickness  of  this  formation  in  Le  Sueur  county 
was  apparently  from  50  to  75  feet  or  more,  but  only  its  lower  10  to  25  feet  remain  in  the  outcrops 
of  Le  Sueur  county. 

The  terrace  of  these  strata  in  Kasota  is  from  one  to  one  and  a  half  miles  wide.  It  is  about 
75  feet  above  the  river,  and  extends  eight  miles  from  Kasota  to  Mankato,  its  northern  half ,  four 
miles  long,  being  in  Le  Sueur  county.  On  its  surface  is  generally  spread  a  coarse,  water-worn 
gravel,  from  one  to  five  feet  thick,  holding  multitudes  of  rock-fragments  of  all  sizes  up  to  one 
foot  in  diameter,  chiefly  derived  from  the  limestone  which  forms  the  terrace.  In  some  places, 
also,  it  is  sprinkled  with  boulders,  mainly  of  granite,  gneiss,  and  schists,  of  all  sizes  up  to  five 
feet  in  diameter  and  rarely  larger.  The  railroad  well  at  Kasota  station  went  through  drift, 
mostly  limestone  gravel,  8  feet;  solid  limestone,  21  feet,  and  sandstone,  6  feet.  Here  and  gen- 
erally in  this  vicinity,  the  base  of  the  limestone  is  approximately  40  feet  above  the  river;  but  it 
sinks  to  about  half  this  hight  in  going  one  and  a  half  miles  northward  in  Saint  Peter,  from  the 
railroad  bridge  to  the  highway  bridge. 

Ottawa  is  situated  on  another  terrace,  one  and  a  half  miles  long  and  three-fourths  of  a  mile 
wide,  composed  of  the  same  formations  of  limestone  and  sandstone.  Their  junction  in  the  bluff 
near  Charles  Schwartz's  limekiln  is  about  45  feet  above  the  river.  The  terrace  generally  rises 
20  or  25  feet  higher,  which  is  about  the  average  depth  remaining  of  the  limestone. 

In  both  these  formations  fossils  are  usually  absent;  but  they  occur  numerously  in  some 
layers  of  each  at  a  few  localities.  Dr.  B.  F.  Shumard,  who  assisted  Owen,  reports  that  in  out- 
crops of  the  sandstone  a  mile  above  Traverse  des  Sioux,  in  the  bed  of  the  Minnesota  river  near 
its  most  eastern  bend  in  the  north  part  of  Kasota,  "one  of  the  layers  is  highly  charged  with  casts 
of  Euomphalus  Minnesotensis."  He  also  found  this  gasteropod  and  the  pygidium  of  a  small  trilo- 
bite  at  Kasota  in  this  sandstone  in  the  river-banks.  The  cliff  formed  by  these  strata  beside  the 
Minnesota  river  at  Ottawa  is  called  by  Dr.  Shumard  the  White  Bock  bluff.  Its  hight  is  stated 
to  be  72  feet,  the  base  being  concealed  by  a  talus  to  the  hight  of  30  to  40  feet,  above  which  are 
in  ascending  order,  "white  and  brown  sandstone,  composed  of  rounded,  rather  coarse,  semi- 
transparent  grains  of  quartz,  loosely  cemented,  20  feet;  green  siliceous  earth,  1  foot;  seam  of 
grayish  oolitic  chert,  with  a  thin  incrustation  of  whitish  decomposing  chert,  2  to  3  inches;  light 
salmon-colored  magnesian  limestone,  with  dendritic  markings,  and  cavities  lined  with  crystals  of 
calcareous  spar,  in  layers  from  a  few  inches  to  two  feet  in  thickness,  containing  Lingulce,  Orthis, 
and  trilobites,  1 1  feet.  The  magnesian  limestone  at  this  locality  ....  contains  two  kinds 
of  Lingulce;  one,  an  elegant  little  species,  of  an  ovate  shape,  with  fine  concentric  striae,  is  not 
distinguishable  from  Lingula  Dacotaensis,a.  form  which  characterizes  the  Lower  Magnesian  lime- 
stone, at  the  quarry  near  Stillwater,  and  other  localities  throughout  the  Chippewa  Land  District; 
the  other,  of  which  we  obtained  only  a  few  fragments,  is  much  larger,  but  the  specimens  are  so 
imperfect  that  the  characters  of  the  species  cannot  be  made  out.  Associated  with  these  Linyidce, 


638  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Joidan  sandstone  and  Shakopee  limestone. 

we  find  the  cast  of  a  small  Orthis,  with  fine  radiating  strise,  and  portions  of  the  cephalothorax  of  a 
trilobite,  related  to  the  family  Olenida."  Again,  in  this  limestone  at  Kasota,  Dr.  Shumard  de- 
tected "Lingula  Dacotaensis,  and  the  remains  of  a  species  of  trilobite,  apparently  identical  with 
that  occurring  at  White  Rock/' 

An  analysis  of  the  Shakopee  limestone  at  Ottawa,  given  in  Dr.  Shumard's  report,  is  as  fol- 
lows: 

Carbonate  of  lime 58.65 

Carbonate  of  magnesia 29.15 

Insoluble  matter 7.25 

Alumina,  oxide  of  iron,  and  manganese 1.55 

Water 2.65 

Loss 0.75 


100.00 

Analyses  of  this  limestone  in  Kasota,  made  by  Prof.  S.  F.  Peckham,  are  as  follows,  the  first 
being  the  stone  extensively  quarried  for  building,  and  the  second  that  burned  for  lime  by  Mr. 
Clapp  near  Caroline  station:* 

1.  2. 

Calcium  carbonate 47.904  52.22 

Magnesium  carbonate 35.227  36.04 

Calcium  sulphate 6.74 

Insoluble  matter,  chiefly  silica 13.85  2.82 

Aluminic  and  ferric  oxides 1.49  1.39 

Water  and  alkalies,  undetermined 1.529        

100.00        99.21 

In  the  southern  part  of  Kasota  the  upper  layer  exposed  of  this  limestone  has  been  used  for 
lime-burning.  Of  its  character  here  Prof.  Winchell  writes:!  "George  C.  Clapp 's  lime-kiln  and 
quarry  are  five  miles  below  Mankato,  on  section  17,  township  of  Kasota,  within  the  main  drift 
bluffs  of  the  Minnesota,  but  on  the  terrace  formed  by  the  Shakopee  limestone,  and  about  a  mile 
from  the  river.  His  quarry,  located  near  his  kiln,  exposes  a  fine  gray  limestone,  about  two  feet 
thick,  sometimes  less  or  more,  graduating  into  the  Shakopee  stone  which  underlies.  It  is  very 
firm,  little  porous,  and  contains  Orthis,  at  least,  and  affords  the  finest  and  purest  limestone  hith- 
erto seen  in  the  Shakopee  stone This  fine,  compact  texture,  and  gray  color,  are  not  con- 
tinuous in  the  same  horizon,  in  other  places  the  harsh  magnesian  grain  and  arenaceous  quality 
existing  in  the  same  beds.  Running  along  the  river  for  several  miles,  sometimes  touching  the 
river,  and  sometimes  exposed  back  of  islands  that  show  the  same,  this  limestone  forms  a  bluff  of 
solid  beds.  Although  there  is  usually  a  heavy  talus  covering  the  foot  of  this  bluff,  yet  at  several 
points  the  identity  of  this  horizon  with  that  at  St.  Peter,  and  hence  with  that  at  Shakopee,  is  fully 
established  by  the  exposure  of  the  underlying  sandstone.  It  is  seen  at  a  point  about  two  miles 
below  Mr.  Clapp's  farm.  This  bluff  shows  a  good  stone,  as  at  St.  Peter  and  Kasota,  but  is  not 
much  quarried.  Perhaps  it  is  more  arenaceous  in  patches'.  It  is  blotched  with  whiter  spots  and 
with  soft  chert." 

At  the  Kasota  quarries  the  section,  below  the  3  to  5  feet  of  alluvial  limestone  gravel  which 
forms  the  surface,  is  this  Shakopee  limestone,  thin-bedded  for  its  first  4  or  5  feet,  the  lower  part 
of  this  being  used  for  flagging;  then  thick-bedded,  in  level  layers^up  to  two  and  a  half  feet  thick, 
of  pinkish  buff  color,  supplying  the  best  quarry-stone,  4  feet;  next,  less  evenly  stratified,  in  layers 
only  one  foot  or  less  in  thickness,  and  light-colored,  3  feet;  beneath  which  it  lies  hi  irregularly 
curved  beds,  is  coarse-grained  and  contains  little  cavities,  as  at  Shakopee,  and  is  mottled,  in  the 
usual  manner  of  this  formation,  with  yellowish  and  pink  tints.  This  limestone  extends  here  some 
20  feet  in  depth,  being  underlain  by  the  Jordan  sandstone  about  40  feet  above  the  river. 

Opposite  to  the  city  of  Saint  Peter,  about  a  mile  south  of  the  highway  bridge,  and  a  similar 
distance  northeast  from  these  quarries  at  Kasota,  Prof.  Winchell  describes  "another  exposure  of 
the  limestone,  in  a  bluff  along  the  roadside.  It  seems  here  to  be  more  shattered  and  irregular, 
and  like  the  Shakopee  stone.  Lime  burned  here  cannot  be  distinguished  from  the  Shakopee  lime. 
About  eighteen  feet  are  seen,  the  lower  part  being  in  good  heavy  beds.  The  upper  surface  is 
water-worn,  and  in  the  openings  the  Cretaceous  has  been  deposited." 

'Seventh  annual  report,  p.  33;  eighth  report,  p.  151. 
tSecond  annual  report,  p.  144. 


LE  SUEUR  COUNTY.  630 

Cretaceous  clay.] 

Four  to  five  and  a  half  miles  farther  north  is  the  rock-terrace  on  which  Ottawa  is  built. 
The  section  of  this  terrace,  as  shown  by  a  well  55  feet  deep,  at  Levi  Case's  former  residence  in 
the  west  part  of  the  village,  about  a  sixth  of  a  mile  southeast  from  the  ferry,  is  as  follows:  soil  and 
gravel,  3  feet;  yellow  clay,  3  feet;  Shakopee  limestone,  of  the  usual  character,  hard,  yellowish-buff 
in  color,  partly  siliceous  and  cherty,  in  beds  from  a  few  inches  to  one  or  two  feet  thick,  25  feet; 
and  soft,  white  Jordan  sandstone,  24  feet  and  extending  lower,  containing  water,  which  fills  the 
well  to  a  depth  of  nine  feet.  At  Charles  Schwartz'  limekiln,  in  the  N.  W.  J  of  section  27,  Ottawa, 
a  mile  north  of  the  village,  the  bluff  composed  of  these  strata  rises  55  feet  above  the  Minnesota 
river,  which  flows  at  its  foot.  This  bluff  also  reaches  a  quarter  of  a  mile  or  more  southward  with 
nearly  the  same  hight.  Its  upper  10  to  15  feet  are  the  yellowish  Shakopee  limestone,  enclosing 
occasional  sandy  patches  and  layers,  levelly  stratified,  in  beds  from  two  or  three  inches  to  a  foot, 
or  rarely  more,  in  thickness.  The  sandstone,  as  usual,  is  friable,  partly  fine  and  partly  coarse, 
and  consists  almost  wholly  of  water-worn  quartz  grains.  It  is  level  in  stratification,  but  often  its 
horizontal  layers  show  an  oblique  lamination.  It  is  mainly  white,  but  in  some  parts  is  stained 
yellow  by  iron-rust;  and  it  is  streaked  with  green  and  pink  in  its  upper  one  or  two  feet,  next  to 
the  limestone.  By  the  recent  undermining  of  this  bluff,  the  sandstone  is  shown  to  extend  to  the 
level  of  the  river,  being  thus  at  least  45  feet  thick. 

An  outcrop  of  the  Jordan  sandstone  alone  is  found  at  William  Matheny's  house,  about 
twenty-five  rods  east  of  the  Ottawa  ferry,  having  an  extent  of  some  fifty  feet,  but  not  exposing 
more  than  five  feet  in  vertical  thickness.  Its  hight  is  about  35  feet  above  the  river.  The  upper 
layer,  eight  inches  thick,  is  more  cemented  and  harder  than  ordinary,  and  of  a  pink  color;  while 
the  lower  part  is  softer,  friable  and  white.  The  horizon  of  this  ledge  is  probably  the  top  of  the 
Jordan  formation;  for  Prof.  Winchell  states  that  a  little  ravine,  cutting  the  bluff  a  mile  farther 
north,  near  Schwartz'  kiln,  shows  the  upper  portion  of  the  sandstone  there  to  be  a  hard,  reddish 
bed,  one  foot  thick,  underlain  by  the  usual  white,  crumbling  sandrock. 

Cretaceous  clay.  Hollows  and  crevices  in  the  Shakopee  limestone  at 
Ottawa  have  been  filled  by  clay,  which  is  commonly  white  or,  before 
weathering,  light  bluish  or  green,  but  on  Cherry  creek  is  mostly  a  red 
ocher,  colored  by  the  anhydrous  sesquioxide  of  iron.  These  deposits  are 
believed  to  be  of  Cretaceous  age.  They  are  similarly  exhibited  in  water- 
worn  cavities  of  this  limestone  in  Kasota  and  Saint  Peter,  and  in  Mankato 
and  South  Bend,  Blue  Earth  county;  and  in  the  report  of  that  county  a 
more  full  notice  of  their  character  and  probable  origin  has  been  presented. 

At  John  R.  Clark's  quarry  in  Ottawa,  a  vertical  seam  or  crevice  in  the  limestone,  one  or 
two  feet  wide,  extending  six  feet  and  more  in  depth,  the  bottom  not  being  reached  in  this  quar- 
ry, and  exposed  along  a  distance  of  eight  rods  in  nearly  a  straight  course  from  east  to  west,  is 
filled  by  white  clay  of  this  kind.  Nearly  in  the  direction  of  this  crevice,  the  same  white  clay  was 
found  about  twenty-five  rods  farther  east,  in  Charles  Needham's  well,  filling  a  similar  crevice  or 
the  continuation  of  this,  in  the  limestone. 

A  half  mile  south  of  Ottawa,  Cherry  creek  has  cut  a  channel  or  valley  about  20  feet  deep  in 
this  terrace,  its  upper  ten  feet  being  the  Shakopee  limestone,  with  the  Jordan  sandstone  below. 
In  the  lower  part  of  this  limestone,  along  a  distance  of  an  eighth  of  a  mile,  are  frequent  water- 
worn,  pocket-like  cavities,  which  are  filled  with  this  clay,  partly  white,  but  in  more  places  brick- 
red  and  suitable  for  paint.  It  has  been  so  used,  and  is  said  to  work  well,  and  is  durable. 

Glacial  and  modified  drift. 

The  thickness  of  the  drift-sheet  which  covers  Le  Sueur  county,  except- 
ing the  Minnesota  valley,  where  it  has  been  eroded,  is  from  150  to  250  feet. 
It  is  mainly  till  or  the  unmodified  deposit  of  the  ice-sheet,  but  encloses  oc- 


640  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Claci.il  drift.     Terminal  moraines, 

casional  layers  of  stratified  gravel  and  sand,  commonly  only  a  few  inches 
or  at  most  a  few  feet  thick.  From  these  veins  or  beds  of  modified  drift, 
wells  often  obtain  a  large  supply  of  water  under  such  pressure  that  it  rises 

considerably  above  the  stratum  in  which  it  is  found. 

The  only  well  in  this  county  that  has  gone  deep  enough  to  strike  the  bed-rock  beneath  the 
drift  east  of  the  Minnesota  valley  is  at  Montgomery,  and  was  bored  to  supply  water  for  Miller  & 
Phelps'  flour  mill.  Its  depth  is  246  feet,  the  section  being  till,  yellow  near  the  surface  and  dark 
blue  below,  186  feet,  containing  a  layer  one  and  a  half  feet  thick  of  blue  sand  at  the  depth  of  130 
feet;  then  sand,  mostly  soft,  but  hard  in  occasional  layers  six  to  twelve  inches  thick,  55  feet,  to 
white  sandstone,  probably  the  Saint  Peter  formation,  into  which  the  well  was  bored  only  5  feet. 
Water,  coming  plentifully  from  this  porous  sandstone,  rose  130  feet.  No  fossils  were  observed. 

A  bed  of  cemented  gravel  and  sand,  made  a  hard  conglomerate  rock  by  the  deposition  of 
carbonate  of  lime  and  magnesia  from  infiltrating  water,  occurs  in  the  modified  drift  about  a  half 
mile  east  of  Le  Sueur,  being  in  the  east  side  of  a  ravine  near  the  center  of  section  36,  where  the 
Le  Sueur  prairie  descends  to  the  second  terrace.  The  thickness  of  this  stratum  is  about  10  feet. 
It  has  been  quarried  by  John  Bachmann  to  supply  the  stone  for  waling  his  cellar. 

About  one  and  a  half  miles  farther  east,  probably  in  the  N.  E.  }  of  section  31,  Tyrone,  the 
road  along  the  south  side  of  the  Little  Le  Sueur  creek,  in  ascending  to  the  surface  of  the  general 
drift-sheet,  has  made  several  cuts  in  till,  which  is  weathered  to  a  yellowish  color,  and  here  con- 
tains thin,  light-gray,  calcareous  veins  or  seams,  apparently  concretionary  in  their  origin,  varying 
from  an  eighth  to  a  half  of  an  inch  in  thickness,  and  extending  at  least  three  or  four  feet,  interlock- 
ing with  each  other  in  crookedly  vertical,  oblique  and  horizontal  directions.  The  only  observation 
similar  to  this,  which  I  can  refer  to,  was  near  Mankato  Junction,  and  is  described  and  figured  on 
page  442.  Finely  pulverized  magnesian  limestone  is  a  considerable  ingredient  in  the  drift  of  all 
southern  and  western  Minnesota. 

Terminal  moraines.  In  the  description  of  the  surface  features  of  this 
county,  the  contour  of  the  terminal  moraines  which  cover  its  east  edge 
and  cross  its  southern  part  has  been  already  described.  The  material  of 
these  rolling  and  hilly  belts  is  generally  till,  containing  more  numerous 
boulders  and  a  larger  proportion  of  small  stones  and  gravel  than  in  its 
smoother  tracts.  The  morainic  swells  and  hills  in  this  county  rarely  show 
any  uniformity  or  system  in  their  trends;  but  the  lakes  in  the  southern 
townships  are  quite  noticeably  elongated  from  east  to  west,  thus  trending 
in  parallelism  with  the  course  of  the  moraine  there.  Modified  drift  is  oc- 
casionally found  within  these  areas,  as  was  seen  at  the  southeast  edge  of 
the  village  of  Waterville,  where  a  cut  on  a  hill-side  to  the  depth  of 
twenty  feet,  having  its  top  forty  feet  above  lake  Sakata,  is  sand  and  fine 
gravel  obliquely  and  irregularly  stratified,  as  in  kames. 

The  broad  belt  of  morainic  drift  upon  the  east  side  of  this  county  and 
in  Rice  county  is  a  compound  formation,  consisting  of  the  eastern  marginal 
deposits  of  the  Minnesota  lobe  of  the  last  ice-sheet,  accumulated  while  this 
side  of  the  ice-lobe  remained  nearly  stationary  through  a  long  time,  during 
which  its  southern  and  western  border  had  formed  five  distinct  moraines 


LE  SUEUR  COUNTY.  (541 

Terminal  moraines.] 

and  had  retreated  great  distances  from  its  farthest  limit.  When  its  first 
or  Altamont  moraine  was  accumulated  at  the  extreme  boundary  of  the  ice 
in  this  epoch,  it  reached  south  to  Des  Moines;  when  the  second  or  Gary 
moraine  was  formed,  it  terminated  on  the  south  at  Mineral  ridge,  in  Boone 
county,  Iowa;  at  the  time  of  the  third  or  Antelope  moraine,  it  had  farther 
retreated  to  Forest  City  and  Pilot  mound  in  Hancock  county,  Iowa;  the 
fourth  or  Kiester  moraine  was  formed  when  the  southern  extremity  of  the 
ice-lobe  had  retreated  across  the  south  line  of  Minnesota  and  halted  a  few 
miles  from  it  in  Freeborn  and  Faribault  counties;  and  the  fifth  or  Elysian 
moraine,  crossing  southern  Le  Sueur  county,  marks  the  next  halting-place 
of  the  ice  in  its  recession  northward.  At  the  time  of  formation  of  this  fifth 
moraine  the  south  end  of  the  ice-lobe  had  been  melted  back  a  hundred  and 
eighty  miles  from  its  farthest  extent,  and  its  southwest  side  had  retired 
thirty  to  fifty  miles  from  the  crest  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies  to  the  east  side 
of  Big  Stone  lake  and  the  east  part  of  Yellow  Medicine  county;  but  while 
these  great  changes  in  the  area  of  the  ice-lobe  were  taking  place,  its  eastern 
boundary  in  Rice  and  Le  Sueur  counties  had  fluctuated  only  slightly,  so 
that  a  broad  compound  morainic  belt  there  represents  the  five  moraines 
which  were  formed  on  the  south  and  west.  During  the  next  recession  of 
this  ice-lobe,  it  was  melted  away  from  the  whole  of  Le  Sueur  county,  and 
its  southeast  extremity  was  withdrawn  to  Waconia  in  Carver  county, 
where  it  again  halted,  forming  its  sixth  or  Waconia  moraine.* 

It  is  evident  that  when  the  ice  began  to  retreat  its  increased  melting 
caused  the  prevailing  westerly  winds,  sweeping  over  the  western  side  of 
the  ice-sheet  upon  the  Coteau  des  Prairies  and  eastward,  to  become  more 
laden  with  moisture  than  in  the  earlier  part  of  this  epoch  when  there  was 
comparatively  little  melting  upon  the  surface  of  the  ice  in  this  latitude; 
and  that  the  increased  temperature  enabled  these  winds  to  carry  their 
moisture  farther  than  when. the  ice  had  its  greatest  extent.  As  a  result, 
the  snow-fall  became  greater  than  before  upon  the  east  portion  of  this  ice- 
lobe,  maintaining  and  even  in  part  enlarging  its  area  on  that  side  during 
the  early  stages  of  the  recession  from  its  farthest  limit  southwestward.f 

*Comparc  pages  406,  463,  478,  581 ,  605-6  and  621 . 

tThe  climatic  conditions  indicated  by  the  unequal  rates  in  the  final  melting  of  the  west  and  east  sides  of  this  ice- 
loin-.  \\crr  lirst  pointed  out  in  a  paper  entitled  "Changes  in  the  currents  of  the  ice  of  the  hist  glacial  epocli  in  eastern 
Minnesota.''  Proc.  Amcr.  Assoc.for  Adv.  of  Science.  18S3. 

41 


642  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Glacial  lake.    Modified  drift 

A  glacial  fake  covered  much  of  Le  Sueur  county  during  the  recession 
of  the  ice,  which  was  a  barrier  upon  the  lower  part  of  the  Minnesota  basin. 
The  outflow  from  this  lake  in  its  latest  stage  appears  to  have  been  by  the 
route  of  lakes  Tetonka  and  Sakata  and  the  Cannon  river.* 

Terraces  of  modified  drift.  The  valley  of  the  Minnesota  river  in  this 
county,  and  in  Nicollet  county  opposite,  contains  high  terraces  or  plains 
of  modified  drift,  elevated  about  150  feet  above  the  rive/  and  bordered  by 
bluffs  of  till  that  rise  50  to  75  feet  higher.  These  terraces  are  evidently 
remnants  of  an  ancient  flood-plain  of  the  Minnesota  river,  which  was  de- 
posited after  the  valley  had  been  excavated  through  the  sheet  of  till.  Their 
frequent  occurrence  along  a  distance  of  a  hundred  miles,  from  New  Ulm 
to  the  mouth  of  the  river,  shows  that  this  valley  was  here  filled  with  de- 
posits 75  to  150  feet  thick,  sloping  about  two  feet  per  mile,  through  which 
the  channel  has  been  cut  anew.  Extensive  portions,  however,  of  the  bluffs 
on  each  side  in  this  part  of  the  valley  are  destitute  of  any  traces  of  modi- 
fled  drift,  which  has  been  wholly  removed  by  the  river,  besides  perhaps 
some  encroachment  upon  the  bluff's  of  till. 

Remnants  of  the  valley  drift  in  Le  Sueur  county  are  a  terrace  east  and  south  of  Kasota,  and 
the  Le  Sueur  prairie.  The  first  reaches  from  the  S.  E.  J  of  section  28  to  the  S.  E.  i  of  section  8, 
Kasota,  being  three  and  a  half  miles  long.  Its  width  is  from  one-third  to  two-thirds  of  a  mile. 
In  hight  it  is  approximately  75  feet  below  the  plain  of  till  which  begins  at  the  lop  of  the  bluff  on 
its  east  side,  75  feet  above  the  railroad  and  plain  or  terrace  of  Shakopee  limestone  on  its  west  side, 
and  150  feet  above  the  river.  A  mile  from  its  north  end  it  is  crossed  by  Shanaska  creek,  in  the 
S.  E.  }  of  section  33.  Thence  through  one  and  a  half  miles  southwest  to  the  south  side  of  section  5, 
the  outer  part  of  this  bank  of  modified  drift  for  an  average  width  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile  is  20  to  25 
feet  below  its  main  portion,  thus  constituting  a  lower  terrace,  50  feet  above  the  limestone  plain. 
These  terraces,  below  the  soil,  are  composed  in  part  of  laminated  clay  or  silt,  but  are  mostly  fine 
gravel  and  sand,  extending  in  at  least  one  place  to  a  depth  of  60  feet,  as  shown  by  a  well.  They 
have  no  boulders,  excepting  upon  the  slope  at  their  west  side  and  in  its  short  ravines,  where  ordi- 
nary granitic  and  gneissic  boulders  up  to  five  feet  in  diameter  are  often  quite  abundant.  These 
probably  belong  to  a  ridge  of  till  underlying  the  west  border  of  the  stratified  drift. 

Le  Sueur  prairie  extends  five  miles,  from  the  middle  of  sections  25  and  26,  Ottawa,  north  to 
the  middle  of  section  36,  Le  Sueur.  In  width  it  varies  from  two  to  four  miles,  the  greatest  width 
being  from  the  east  part  of  section  17,  Sharon,  to  the  west  side  of  section  14,  Ottawa.  This  area 
is  mainly  a  plain  about  150  feet  above  the  river,  descending  ten  or  fifteen  feet  northward  in  its 
length  of  five  miles.  Its  material  is  sand  and  fine  gravel,  with  thin  layers  of  clay,  extending  from 
50  to  100  feet  in  depth,  as  shown  by  wells,  which  find  till  below.  A  few  miles  southwest,  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  river,  a  similar  extensive  plain  of  modified  drift,  at  about  the  same  hight,  lies 
northwest  of  Saint  Peter,  and  is  known  as  the  "  Sand  prairie".  Both  these  tracts  are  properly 
included  within  the  Minnesota  valley,  for  its  bluffs  of  till  rise  to  the  general  level,  50  to  75  feet 
above  them,  at  the  border  of  each  on  the  side  away  from  the  river.  The  south  branch  of  Le  Sueur 
creek  flows  through  the  east  part  of  Le  Sueur  prairie  in  Sharon,  from  the  church  in  the  S.  E.  \  of 
section  19  to  Glen  mills,  beyond  which  to  its  mouth  it  forms  the  northern  boundary  of  this  area  of 
modified  drift.  A  mile  farther  west  this  plain  is  crossed  from  south  to  north  by  a  channel  which 
the  Minnesota  river  excavated  during  the  process  of  removing  its  plain  of  valley  drift,  the  rem- 

*For  the  history  of  this  glacial  lake,  see  pages  461,  606  and  622. 


LE  SUEUR  COUNTY.  (543 

Alluvium.     Lake-ridges.] 

nants  of  which  we  have  here  and  in  the  Saint  Peter  "sand  prairie".  The  length  of  this  ancient 
channel  is  three  and  a  half  miles,  beginning  a  mile  northeast  from  Ottawa  and  extending  diagon- 
ally northeast  across  section  23,  and  along  the  east  side  of  sections  14,  11  and  2.  For  the  greater 
part  of  its  course  it  is  about  a  fourth  of  a  mile  wide,  but  at  its  southern  end  its  width  is  half  a 
mile  or  more.  Its  depth  is  40  feet  below  the  La  Sueur  prairie,  two  to  three  miles  wide  at  its  east 
side,  and  the  same  below  the  part  of  this  plain,  one-fourth  to  three-fourths  of  a  mile  wide,  which 
lies  west  of  this  channel,  constituting  a  plateau  that  reaches  from  a  point  one  and  a  half  miles 
northeast  of  Ottawa  to  a  cemetery  situated  on  its  north  end  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  south 
of  Le  Sueur. 

Two  other  terraces  of  valley  drift,  or  stratified  gravel,  sand  and  clay,  occur  at  Le  Sueur, 
intermediate  in  hight  between  the  Le  Sueur  prairie  and  the  bottomland.  That  next  to  the  up- 
per prairie  is  at  its  northwest  side,  and  forms  a  plain  a  quarter  to  a  half  of  a  mile  wide  and  two 
miles  long  from  southwest  to  northeast,  occupying  a  considerable  part  of  section  2,  Le  Sueur,  the 
southeast  part  of  section  35,  and  most  of  section  36,  except  its  southeast  quarter.  The  east  mar- 
gin of  the  town  of  Le  Sueur,  and  Wetter 's  brick-yard,  are  upon  this  terrace.  Its  hight  is  40 
feet  below  the  Le  Sueur  prairie  and  about  110  feet  above  the 'river,  being  on  a  level  with  the 
ancient  channel  which  intersects  the  higher  plain  and  opens  at  its  north  end  upon  this  terrace. 
The  next  lower  terrace,  on  which  the  main  street  of  Le  Sueur  lies,  is  from  twenty  to  forty  rods 
wide  and  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  long  from  south  to  north.  In  hight  it  is  60  to  70  feet 
below  the  terrace  last  described,  and  it  slopes  northward  from  about  50  to  40  feet  above  the  river. 

Alluvium.  The  bottomland  is  mostly  from  5  to  15  or  20  feet  above  the  river,  and  is  over- 
flowed by  the  high  water  in  the  spring  of  nearly  every  year.  The  river  winds  from  side  to  side 
through  this  tract  of  recent  alluvium,  and  in  some  places  directs  its  current  against  the  higher 
banks  on  its  border.  The  width  of  bottomland  on  each  side  of  the  river  thus  varies  from  nothing 
to  a  half  mile  or  rarely  a  mile.  Its  widest  tract  seen  at  any  place  along  the  course  of  the  Min- 
nesota river  is  in  this  county,  in  the  three  miles  northeast  from  Saint  Peter,  where  its  width  is 
about  one  and  a  half  miles. 

Boulders.  Lake-ridges.  Boulders  of  granite,  gneiss,  schists,  and  limestone,  in  size  seldom 
exceeding  five  feet,  occur  sparingly  in  the  till  of  this  region  on  its  smooth  and  gently  undulating 
areas,  but  are  more  numerous  and  in  some  spots  abundant  on  the  hilly  and  knolly  morainic  belts. 
On  the  shores  of  lakes  they  are  often  seen  in  unusual  numbers,  because  the  waves  have  washed 
away  the  line  material  of  the  till,  leaving  its  stones  at  the  base  of  the  eroded  bank.  Elsewhere, 
against  low  shores,  these  shallow  bodies  of  water  have  been  frozen  in  winter  to  their  bottom;  and' 
the  ice,  by  the  slight  expansion  of  freezing,  has  in  the  process  of  centuries  slowly  pushed  many 
boulders  outward  from  the  lake-bed  to  its  border.  In  this  manner,  at  the  head  of  lake  Elysian, 
near  Okaman,  blocks  of  stone  of  all  sizes  up  to  six  feet  in  diameter  have  been  accumulated  in  a 
wall-like  ridge  four  to  six  feet  high  and  twenty  rods  or  more  in  length. 

More  frequently  the  ice  of  the  lakes  has  pushed  out  and  heaped  up  at  their  edge  a  rather 
broad  ridge  of  gravel  and  sand,  with  few  or  no  boulders,  having  a  hight  of  about  five  feet  above 
the  average  level  of  the  lake  and  often  an  equal  or  but  little  less  elevation  above  the  adjoining 
marsh  or  lowland,  and  varying  in  width  from  two  to  six  rods.  Such  ridges  were  noted  at  the  nortli 
side  of  Clear  lake  in  Lexington,  and  the  northwest  side  of  lake  Volney  in  the  southeast  corner  of 
the  same  township,  the  latter  extending  an  eighth  of  a  mile. 

Apiece  of  copper,  weighing  about  one  pound,  is  reported  to  have  been  found  in  the  drift  at 
Ottawa.  It  was  probably  brought  from  the  region  of  lake  Superior  in  the  early  glacial  epoch 
when  the  ice  covered  its  greatest  area;  for  the  current  of  the  last  ice-sheet  which  overspread  this 
region,  forming  the  terminal  moraines,  was  from  the  northwest,  bringing,  as  ingredients  of  its 
drift,  limestone  pebbles  and  boulders,  probably  many  of  them  from  the  vicinity  of  Winnipeg,  and 
rare  fragments  of  lignite  and  silicified  wood,  of  which  the  last  must  be  from  Dakota. 

Wells  in  Le  Sueur  county. 

Examples  of  the  sections  of  wells  in  the  glacial  and  modified  drift  are  as  follows: 
Lanesburg.  The  well  at  the  elevator  at  New  Prague,  situated  close  east  of  the  railroad  and 
south  of  the  main  street,  which  runs  on  the  county  line,  was  bored  to  a  depth  of  192  feet.  The 
section  was  soil  and  clayey  loam,  6;  gravel,  4;  dark  bluish  till,  75;  fine  gravel  and  quicksand,  4;  and 
again  blue  till,  103  feet,  and  extending  below.  Water,  not  in  large  enough  amount,  was  found  at 
10  feet  and  again  in  the  quicksand  at  85  feet,  but  none  below  this,  and  the  well  is  not  used. 


(544  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Wells. 

Frederick  Gosewiscli;  sec.  7:  well,  24  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  spaded,  10;  harder  blue  till, 
picked,  12;  water  seeps  from  the  lower  part  of  the  yellow  till,  not  a  large  supply. 

At  Heidelberg,  in  the  S.  E.  J  of  sec.  19,  Frank  Maertz  lias  made  two  wells:  one,  76  feet 
deep,  was  yellowish  till,  so  hard  that  it  had  to  be  picked,  12;  and  blue  till,  similarly  hard,  64;  no 
sand;  water  came  from  the  bottom,  very  dark-colored,  so  offensive  that  horses  would  not  drink 
it.  The  other  well,  77  feet  deep,  a  few  rods  from  the  last,  went  through  the  same  material,  find- 
ing the  till  softer  and  moist  in  the  last  ten  feet,  but  yielding  no  water  there.  All  the  water  of 
this  well  came  from  a  small  sand  vein  at  one  side  of  the  well  35  feet  from  the  surface;  it  issues 
very  slowly,  filling  the  well  to  this  hight. 

Montgomery.  The  deep  well  at  Montgomery  station,  penetrating  to  the  Saint  Peter  sand- 
stone, has  been  described  on  page  640. 

3.  Brockway  ;  sec.  31 :  well,  60  feet ;  soil,  2  ;  yellow  till,  28  ;  harder  blue  till,  30  ;  no  water. 

Kilkenny.  County  Poor-farm;  sec.  6  :  well,  30  feet ;  soil,  2;  yellowish  till,  20;  harder  blue 
till,  8;  water  rose  six  feet  from  the  bottom. 

J.  M.  Babcock's  steam-mill  on  the  west  side  of  Saber  lake;  sec.  30:  well,  58  feet;  soil,  2;  yel- 
low till,  6;  much  harder  blue  till,  "50.  Water  rose  thirty-two  feet  from  the  bottom,  but  is  not  a 
large  supply  and  is  drained  by  use  for  the  engine. 

Waterville.  The  well  at  L.  Z.  Itogers'  elevator,  at  the  same  level  with  the  railway  station, 
is  92  feet  deep,  finding  the  upper  yellowish  till,  15  feet;  then  a  small  vein  of  gravel,  with  scanty 
water;  succeeded  by  dry,  blue  till,  77  feet  and  extending  lower.  This  well  becomes  filled  with 
surface  water,  but  not  in  sufficient  supply  for  an  engine.  The  well  for  the  railroad  water-tank, 
about  twenty-five  rods  farther  south,  though  only  15  feet  deep,  is  ample  for  all  demands.  The 
common  wells  at  Waterville  are  15  to  25  feet  deep,  finding  a  good  supply  of  water,  which  usually 
rises  from  the  bottom  a  few  feet. 

Charles  Slechta;  sec.  34:  well,  35  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  hard  and  picked,  31;  still  harder 
blue  till,  2;  with  quicksand  at  the  bottom,  from  which  water  rose  two  and  a  half  feet. 

Derrynane.  Dennis  Conway;  S.  E.  J  of  20:  well,  95  feet;  soil,  2;  yellowish  till,  mostly 
picked,  33;  sand  and  very  coarse  gravel,  containing  rounded  stones  up  to  one  foot  in  diameter,  2; 
blue  till,  harder  than  the  upper  till,  3;  lighter  gray  till,  very  hard,  55  feet,  containing  no  sandy 
layers,  and  continuing  lower.  No  water  was  obtained.  Pieces  of  lignite  up  to  four  inches  in 
diameter  were  found  in  the  dark  blue  till  at  37  feet. 

James  Kilduff;  N.  W.  J  of  sec.  28:  well,  30  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  23;  much  harder  blue  till, 
picked,  5;  water  seeps,  mostly  at  twelve  feet  below  the  top.  Wells  in  Derrynane  mostly  are  15  to 
40  feet  deep,  with  water  sometimes  rising  quickly  several  feet  from  the  bottom,  but  more  com- 
monly seeping,  needing  a  reservoir  to  be  dug  below  it. 

Lexington.  Michael  Leary;  sec.  9:  well,  45  feet;  yellow  till,  15;  much  harder  blue  till,  30; 
no  water.  Several  pieces  of  lignite  were  found,  up  to  three  inches  in  diameter. 

Cordova.  The  well  at  Adam  Lucas'  steam-mill,  in  the  village  and  near  the  shore  of  lake 
Gorman,  was  bored  to  the  depth  of  85  feet.  Its  section  was  soil,  2  feet;  yellow  till,  1 1  feet;  gravel,  6 
inches;  blue  till,  very  hard,  72  feet,  to  sand,  from  which  water  rose  to  six  feet  below  the  top  in 
two  hours.  The  next  day  it  had  risen  to  only  six  inches  below  the  top,  which  is  estimated  to  be 
two  feet  above  lake  Gorman.  Other  wells  in  Cordova  strike  water  at  30  to  40  feet,  which  rises 
ten  to  twenty  feet. 

James  Brady's  well,  in  the  northwest  part  of  this  township,  80  feet  deep,  was  soil,  2;  yel- 
lowish till,  13 ;  bluish  till,  45  ;  and  dry,  whitish  sand,  20  feet,  not  passed  through;  no  water  ;  no 
fossils  were  observed. 

Mysian.  In  the  village,  Edward  Shave's  well,  62  feet  deep,  found  the  following  section: 
soil,  2;  yellow  till,  18;  yellow  gravel,  1;  bluish  till,  harder  than  that  above,  li;  again  yellowish 
till,  7;  bluish  till,  1;  gray  till,  27;  and  quicksand,  straw-colored,  5  feet,  containing  water  which 
rises  only  about  one  foot  above  this  quicksand. 

Samuel  Clark;  sec.  34  :  well,  40  feet:  soil,  2;  yellowish  till,  38;  water  at  bottom,  not  rising. 

Tyrone.  Cesar  Diagniu ;  sec.  34:  well,  19  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  picked,  17;  water  rose 
from  the  bottom  twelve  feet  in  a  half  day. 

Sharon.  A  well  seen  in  sec.  1  of  this  township,  on  an  extensive  level  area,  was  finely  lam- 
inated, horizontal  yellow  clay  for  at  least  ten  feet,  to  the  water.  This  well  was  said  to  be  25  feet 
deep,  being  all  the  way  yellow  clay,  easily  dug;  but  it  contains  small  stones,  and  is  probably  till, 


LE  SUEUB  COUNTY.  645 

Wells.     Springs.] 

in  its  lower  part.  Such  stratified  clay  is  not  common,  the  surface  being  usually  till.  Wells  in 
this  region  are  generally  only  10  to  30  feet  deep,  obtaining  a  good  supply  of  water,  which  often 
rises  several  feet.  They  seldom  reach  the  blue  till,  which  has  a  well-known  reputation  of  being 
harder  than  the  yellow  till  of  the  surface. 

John  Kuenkel;  sec.  18  (on  the  Le  Sueur  prairie):  well,  64  feet;  soil,  2;  sand,  15;  sand  and 
gravel,  coarsest  below,  47;  water  at  the  bottom  two  feet  deep,  an  abundant  supply. 

Cleveland.  Wells  in  this  township  are  mostly  10  to  25  feet  deep  in  till,  with  water  rising 
several  feet  from  the  bottom. 

F.  S.  Wilson  ;  Cleveland  village :  well,  18  feet;  soil,  2 ;  yellow  till,  12 ;  sand  and  gravel,  6 
inches ;  blue  till,  4  feet.  Water  came  slowly  from  the  sand  and  gravel  between  the  upper  and 
lower  till,  filling  the  well  to  two  feet  below  its  top  in  two  days. 

Washington.  John  Kendall;  sec.  6:  well,  36  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  picked,  28;  blue  till, 
much  harder,  6;  water  seeps  from  the  lowest  eight  feet  of  the  yeHow  till,  filling  the  well  ten  feet 
deep  in  the  dry  season. 

John  Plant;  S.  W.  1  of  sec.  9:  well,  40  feet;  soil,  2;  yellow  till,  so  hard  that  it  must  be  picked, 
33  ;  harder  blue  till,  5 ;  water  seeps,  coming  mostly  from  a  vein  of  sand  seen  on  the  southwest 
side  of  the  well  at  30  feet,  being  scanty  in  a  dry  season. 

Le  Sueur.  Reinhardt  Wagner;  southwest  corner  of  sec.  1 :  well,  58  feet;  sand  and  gravel, 
56  feet;  blue  clay,  1  foot;  greenish  sand,  1  foot,  with  water  rising  from  it  three  or  four  feet. 

Ottawa.  The  wells  described  in  this  township,  like  the  last  preceding,  are  within  the  area 
of  modified  drift  called  the  Le  Sueur  prairie. 

E.  T.  Jones;  N.  E.  J  of  sec.  23:  well,  110  feet;  sand  and  gravel,  100,  including  a  thin  clayey 
layer  at  about  75  feet;  gray  till,  10  feet  and  extending  below. 

C.  N.  Pmney;  southwest  comer  of  sec.  24:  well,  90  feet;  consisting  wholly  of  stratified  drift, 
being  mostly  sand  and  gravel,  the  coarsest  beds  containing  pebbles  up  to  six  inches  in  diameter, 
and  also  including  occasional  layers  of  clay,  two  to  six  inches  in  thickness.  The  lowest  stratum 
dug  through  was  quicksand,  with  water,  which  lasted  several  years,  afterward  failing.  This  lies 
on  very  hard  bluish  till. 

J.  G.  Miller;  N.  E.  i  of  sec.  26,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  west  from  the  last:  well,  60  feet;  sand 
and  gravel,  57 ;  blue  till,  very  hard,  3.  Another  well  a  hundred  feet  southwest  from  this,  at 
nearly  the  same  hight,  both  being  in  a  narrow  valley  fifteen  feet  or  more  below  the  general  level 
was  58  feet  deep;  being  sand  and  gravel,  7;  then  blue  brick-clay,  14  (no  corresponding  layer  was 
found  in  the  other  well);  sand  and  gravel,  «4;  and  yellowish  till,  3  feet,  much  easier  to  dig  than 
the  blue  till  at  the  bottom  of  the  other  well. 

II.  F.  Von  Lehe;  southeast  corner  of  sec.  13:  well,  55  feet;  soil,  2;  clayey  loam, 5;  sand,  30; 
gravel,  fine  above,  growing  coarse  below,  holding  pebbles  up  to  six  inches  in  diameter,  18  feet; 
with  an  abundance  of  water  at  the  bottom,  three  feet  deep. 

Kasota.  S.  D.  Payne;  S.  E.  J  of  sec.  28,  on  the  northern  part  of  a  terrace  of  modified  drift 
which  reaches  thence  three  miles  south:  well,  60  feet  deep,  all  the  way  in  fine  gravel  and  sand, 
finding  no  water. 

Springs.  Wells  often  encounter,  within  a  moderate  depth,  copious  veins  of  water  which 
show  that  there  is  a  subterranean  as  well  as  a  superficial  drainage.  The  former  becomes  tribu- 
tary to  the  latter  by  the  springs  that  occur  frequently  along  ravines  and  water-courses,  where 
these  have  been  excavated  so  deeply  as  to  intercept  the  underground  currents.  In  many  cases 
these  waters  are  irony,  and  deposit  a  rusty  sediment.  The  only  spring  noted  as  deserving  special 
mention  in  this  county  is  one  of  very  large  size,  which  issues  from  the  foot  of  the  bluff  of  limestone 
and  sandstone  in  Ottawa,  at  a  point  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  south  of  Mr.  Schwartz'  limekiln. 

MATERIAL   RESOURCES. 

The  resources  of  this  county  in  its  fertile  soil  and  abundance  of  wood- 
land have  been  noticed  on  page  636.  Water-powers,  valuable  quarries  of 
building  stone,  manufactures  of  lime  and  bricks,  and  deposits  of  peat,  re- 
main to  be  described  here. 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Water-powers .    Stone.    Lime. 

Water-powers.  Four  water-powers  are  used,  for  manufacturing  Hour,  in  Le  Sueur  county; 
two  being  on  Shanaska  creek  within  a  mile  east  of  Kasota,  namely,  the  Kasota  mill,  near  the 
center  of  section  33,  having  a  head  of  twenty-nine  feet,  and  John  Heimiker's  mill,  at  the  east 
line  of  this  section,  with  a  head  of  nineteen  feet.  The  two  other  powers  are  afforded  by  Le 
Sueur  creek,  being  the  Glen  mills,  near  the  center  of  section  6,  Sharon,  with  head  of  eighteen 
feet,  and  William  Schlietter's  mill,  a  half  mile  south  of  the  last,  also  having  eighteen  feet  head, 
each  of  these  powers  being  obtained  by  carrying  the  water  nearly  a  half  mile  in  a  canal  or  flume. 
These  streams,  and  also  Cherry  creek,  run  very  low  in  dry  seasons,  and  in  the  gravelly  and  sandy 
lower  part  of  their  course,  for  their  one  or  two  miles  in  the  Minnesota  valley  next  to  their  mouths, 
were  quite  dry,  but  doubtless  had  some  underground  drainage,  at  the  time  of  this  examination,  in 
November,  1879. 

Building  stone.  Kasota  has  the  best  quarries  found  in  the  Shakopee  limestone  in  this  state. 
They  are  situated  beside  the  railroad  close  west  of  Kasota  village,  about  a  mile  south  of  Saint  Peter. 
This  stone  is  in  beds  from  six  inches  to  two  and  a  half  feet  thick,  pinkish  buff  in  color,  uniform  in  its 
texture,  easily  cut  into  any  desired  form,  and  durable  under  exposure  to  the  weather.  The  most 
extensive  business  here  is  that  of  Breen  &  Young,  who  lease  from  Brackenridge,  Stewart  &  But- 
tars.  They  employ  thirty- five  men  and  three  teams  at  quarrying  and  loading  upon  the  cars,  the 
product  in  1879  being  worth  $15,000  as  rough  stone;  it  is  dressed  after  reaching  their  shops  in  Saint 
Paul,  which  brings  their  sales  per  year  to  about  $30,000.  The  largest  stone  ever  shipped  by  them 
weighed  ten  tons,  its  dimensions  in  feet  being  14  by  8  by  1 .  Their  quarry  can  supply  blocks  of  large 
size  and  2  or  2J  feet  thick;  slabs  as  for  cemetery  borders,  20  feet  long;  and  Hag-stones  10  or  12  feet 
square  and  eight  inches  thick.  Examples  of  the  stone  from  this  quarry  are  the  residence  of  H.  J. 
Willing,  of  the  firm  of  Field,  Leiter  &  Co.,  in  Chicago;  the  First  Baptist  church  in  Saint  Paul ;  trim- 
mings of  the  High  school  building  in  Minneapolis;  and  trimmings  of  the  State  prison  in  Stillwater. 

The  quarry  of  next  importance,  adjoining  the  foregoing,  is  owned  by  J.  W.  Babcock,  by 
whom  it  has  been  worked  fifteen  years,  his  annual  sales  being  from  $5,000  to  $10,000.  He  has 
used  stone  to  cut  up  which  formed  an  unbroken  sheet  sixty  feet  long.  Examples  from  this  quar- 
ry are  the  trimmings  of  Odd  Fellows'  hall  in  Saint  Paul,  and  of  Plymouth  church  in  Minneapolis. 

Between  these  quarries  and  the  railroad  bridge  crossing  the  Minnesota  river,  another  is 
owned  by  Malgren,  Roseen  &  Downs,  by  whom  it  was  worked  from  1872  to  1876. 

At  Ottawa  quarries  are  owned  by  Levi  Case,  John  R.  Clark,  Robert  Todd,  John  S.  Randall, 
Robert  Winegar  and  Casper  Mader.  Some  of  these  quarries  have  been  operated  twenty-five 
years.  The  annual  product  is  from  50  to  300  cords  from  each,  sold  at  $1  to  $2.50  per  cord.  The 
stone  here  is  in  layers  from  a  few  inches  to  one  foot  thick.  It  is  sold  mostly  for  use  within  ten 
or  fifteen  miles  to  wall  cellars  and  wells,  little  being  sent  away  on  the  cars. 

Lime.  At  Caroline  station,  near  the  center  of  section  17,  Kasota,  Conrad  Smith  since  1876 
has  burned  about  6,000  barrels  of  lime  yearly,  selling  at  55  cents  per  barrel.  Bass  and  elm  wood 
costs  $1.75  per  cord. 

A  third  of  a  mile  southeast  from  Caroline  station,  George  C.  Clapp  has  burned  lime  twenty 
years,  averaging  2,000  barrels  yearly,  but  has  done  nothing  in  this  business  during  the  last  few 
years. 

Lime-burning  was  formerly  carried  on  beside  the  railroad  about  a  mile  south  of  East  Saint 
Peter,  where  the  kiln  yet  remains. 

In  Ottawa,  a  mile  north  of  the  village,  Charles  Schwartz  burns  about  400  barrels  of  lime 
yearly  for  the  demand  in  this  vicinity,  selling  at  60  cents  per  barrel. 

These  lime-burners  use  the  upper  two  to  five  feet  of  the  terraces  of  Shakopee  limestone  in 
these  townships,  its  lower  portion  being  too  arenaceous  for  this  purpose.  It  yields  excellent 
magnesian  lime,  of  dark  or  yellowish  brown  color. 

Limestone  boulders,  gathered  from  the  drift,  are  burned  for  lime  in  a  kiln  owned  by  James 
Timpane,  at  the  southeast  edge  of  Waterville  village,  producing  one  or  two  hundred  barrels  year- 
ly, worth  f  1  per  barrel.  This  is  also  mostly  a  yellowish  or  brown  lime,  the  greater  part  of  the 
boulders  being  from  the  Shakopee  formation.  Lime  is  also  occasionally  made  from  boulders  at 
several  places  in  Elysian,  the  kilns,  holding  40  to  100  barrels,  being  filled  once  or  twice  in  a  year. 

Bricks.  At  Le  Sueur,  on  the  bottomland  close  southwest  of  the  village,  Henry  Kruse  has 
made  bricks  eighteen  years,  using  the  recent  alluvium  of  the  Minnesota  river.  His  annual  pro- 
duct is  about  300,000,  selling  at  $5  per  thousand.  He  mixes  one  part  of  saud  with  two  of  the  allu- 


LE  SUEUIt  COUNTY.  647 

Bricks.    Peat.    Mounds. J 

vial  clay.  These  bricks  in  the  outer  part  of  the  kiln  are  red,  and  gradually  change  to  cream- 
colored  in  the  central  part  of  the  kiln,  where  they  were  subjected  to  greater  heat,  while  next  to 
the  fires  they  are  greenish  yellow. 

Close  northeast  of  Le  Sueur,  on  the  terrace  of  modified  drift  next  below  the  Le  Sueur 
prairie,  J.  Wetter  has  made  bricks  ten  years,  averaging  100,000  per  year.  His  clay  has  a  thick- 
ness of  five  feet,  and  is  underlain  by  sand,  the  two  forming  a  terrace  about  110  feet  above  the 
river.  The  sand  is  mixed  with  the  clay  for  tempering,  in  the  proportion  of  one  to  three.  The 
color  of  these  bricks  is  deep  red. 

One  mile  south  of  Waterville,  on  land  of  Thomas  Slechta  in  section  35,  a  kiln  of  red  bricks 
of  good  quality  was  made  in  1878,  at  the  east  side  of  the  railroad.  The  clay  was  partly  taken 
from  a  railroad  cut,  and  has  a  thickness  of  six  feet  free  from  gravel.  The  cost  of  manufacture 
was  too  great  for  competition  with  the  brick-makers  of  Mankato  and  Chaska.  About  a  mile  far- 
ther south,  in  the  north  edge  of  Waseca  county,  this  business  has  been  carried  on  several  years  by 
David  Wood,  averaging  about  250,000  yearly.  These  are  excllent,  red  bricks,  here  worth  $7  to  $8 
per  thousand. 

Peat.  Professor  Winchell's  description  of  the  peat  deposits  of  southern  Minnesota,  in  the 
second  annual  report  of  this  survey,  mentions  two  localities  in  Le  Sueur  county.  A  marsh  crossed 
by  the  Saint  Paul  &  Sioux  City  railroad  in  Kasota  showed  on  the  east  side  of  the  railroad,  six 
rods  from  the  drift  bluff,  good  peat,  8  inches,  underlain  by  black,  sandy  clay,  2  feet,  with  frequent 
shells  in  each  of  these  beds.  In  the  same  marsh,  west  of  the  railroad  and  fifteen  rods  from  the 
drift  bank,  the  section  is: 

"1 .  Roots  and  stems  of  grass,  with  some  peaty,  vegetable  decomposition 8  in. 

2.  Black,  peaty  mud,  with  a  few  fragments  of  shells  and  some  sand 1  ft.  4  in. 

3.  Black  or  brown  mud,  with  sand  and  fragments  of  shells 4  ft." 

At  the  head  of  lake  Emily,  in  the  same  township,  on  M.  L.  French's  land,  is  the  following 
section: 

"1.  Roots  and  soft,  fibrous  lake  sediment 1  ft. 

2.  Peaty  lake  sediment,  with  little  or  no  sand 1  f t.  6  iii. 

3.  Peaty  mud,  with  a  little  sand 1  ft. 

4.  Black  lake  mud,  sandy 2  ft." 

An  analysis  by  Dr.  P.  15.  Rose  of  the  peaty  deposit  at  lake  Emily  gave  hygroscopic  water, 
9.83  per  cent;  ash,  mostly  silica,  67.17;  and  organic  matter,  23.00.  A  hundred  pounds  of  this 
peat,  air-dried,  is  estimated  to  have  the  same  heating  power  as  34  pounds  of  oak  wood. 

ABORIGINAL  EARTHWORKS. 

Mr.  J.  Blackiston  of  Saint  Peter  describes  an  interesting  group  of  several  aboriginal  mounds, 
nearly  round,  twenty  to  forty  feet  in  diameter  at  the  base  and  five  to  ten  feet  high,  which  were 
situated  on  the  bottomland  of  the  Minnesota  valley  in  the  north  part  of  section  4,  Kasota,  about 
four  miles  north  of  St.  Peter.  .It  is  reported  that  in  1847  the  river's  channel  was  nearly  a  mile 
west  of  these  mounds,  but  since  then  it  has  gradually  worked  eastward,  until  in  the  freshet  of 
April,  1881,  the  portion  of  the  bottomland  where  they  stood  was  washed  away.  A  partial  exca- 
vation of  some  of  them  had  disclosed  numerous  relics,  which  Mr.  Blackiston  has  deposited  in  the 
state  museum,  including  human  bones,  a  silver  wristlet  with  "Montreal"  stamped  upon  it,  tubu- 
lar copper  ear-pendants  (one  having  hair  in  it),  a  string  of  thirty  white  china  beads,  a  large  brown 
glass  bead,  four  common  pins,  a  needle,  a  small  pearl  ornament,  and  a  quartz  arrow-point.* 

About  a  mile  farther  east,  in  the  N.  E.  \  of  section  3,  Kasota,  the  top  of  the  bluff  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  north  of  the  railroad  water-tank  bears  three  mounds,  which  are  respectively  two  and  a 
half,  three,  and  five  feet  in  hight.  The  first  and  second  have  the  usual  circular,  dome-like  form; 
but  the  third,  which  is  south  of  the  others,  has  a  truncated  top,  with  a  level,  circular,  narrow  rim. 
and  inside  this,  instead  of  being  flat,  as  one  expects  from  seems;  it  at  a  distance,  there  is  a  bowl- 
like  hollow  two  feet  deep.  The  mound  appears  to  remain  in  an  undisturbed  condition,  retaining 
the  same  form  in  which  it  was  left  by  the  builders.  If  it  had  been  completed  in  the  usual  manner, 
its  hight  would  be  about  eight  feet.  The  bluff  on  whose  verge  these  mounds  are  situated  has  an 
elevation  of  about  225  feet  above  the  Minnesota  river,  and  commands  a  very  beautiful  prospect, 
looking  up  the  valley. 

*Ninth  annual  report,  pp.  163-4. 


CHAPTER  XXII I. 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  RICE  COUNTY.* 


BY    N.    H.    WINCHELL. 

Hit  nation  and  area.  Rice  county  is  situated  in  the  triangle  between  the 
Mississippi  and  that  part  of  the  Minnesota  which  flows  northeastward,  and 
nearly  in  the  center.  Northfield,  near  the  northern  boundary,  is  thirty-eight 
miles  from  St.  Paul,  and  the  eastern  boundary  of  the  county  is  about  the 
same  distance  from  lake  Pepin.  Faribault,  at  the  forks  of  the  Cannon 
river,  the  county  seat,  is  about  fifty  miles  south  from  St.  Paul.  The  area  of 
the  county,  which  includes  twelve  sections  more  than  fourteen  government 
townships,  amounts  to  322,560.70  acres,  of  which  11,054.83  acres  consist  of 
water.  The  county  is  represented  by  plate  31. 

SURFACE     FEATURES. 

Natural  drainage.  The  main  artery 'of  surface  drainage  is  the  Cannon 
river,  which  flows  nearly  northeasterly  through  the  central  portions  of  the 
county.  This  stream,  which  moves  with  a  smooth  current,  receives  the 
Straight  river  from  the  south  at  Faribault,  thus  nearly  doubling  its  volume. 
The  Cannon  river  rises  in  the  lakes  at  Shieldsville,  a  few  miles  northwest 
of  Faribault,  at  an  elevation  of  about  1090  feet  above  the  sea,  and  after  a 
circuitous  route  through  Le  Sueur  county,  enters  the  county  again  at  a 
point  about  seven  miles  from  the  point  at  which  it  left  it.  Throughout  its 
course  it  passes  through  numerous  lakes,  and  its  main  channel  in  Rice 
county,  before  its  union  with  the  Straight  river,  is  widened  out  in  the  form 
of  lakes  at  four  places.  It  has  the  aspect  in  this  part  of  its  course  of  hav- 
ing once  been  occupied  by  a  larger  stream  than  the  present  Cannon  river. 
Thus  the  Cannon  river  carries  off  the  surplus  v/aters  from  most  of  the  lakes 


*Prof.  L.  B.  Sperry,  late  of  Carleton  college,  made  a  preliminary  report  on  Rice  county  in  1877,  but  in  the  further 
working  out  of  the  geology  ol  the  county  it  became  necea-uiry  w  add  so  much  to  his  report  that  he  could  not  fairly  be 
held  responsible  for  it.  His  report  has  been  used  as  a  basis  lor  this. 


PLATK  •  '!! 


GEOLOGICAL     AND   NATURAL    HISTORY 
STRVKY     OK     M  I  \.VKSOTA  . 

RICK     ('•()  I    X  T  V  . 

BY     N.    H.WINCHELL. 
Explanation. 

ft 


C       O        U        N        T       Y 


SCOTT 


_^     Gravr! 

*-±: 

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/•'//,  r,itlitt,(   <»•  l'il!\.    'f'n-i,,  i  n 'i  / 


DAKOTA 


COUNTY 


COUNTY 


f'ontour  I.niCS     f//v    rhtiwtt    ftp/>rr>.fUiuitrly  fr-r  t'ur/i    •>>'   ///•/    nh/n-r   f/i 


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W  A    S  E    C  A    "    » 


,  Bi^n  *  Co  lith 


1UCE  COUNTY  649 

Natural  drainage.] 

that  are  scattered  throughout  the  western  half  of  the  county,  though  some 
of  these  waters  seem  to  reach  that  valley  by  underground  drainage,  the 
lakes  having  no  visible  outlets.  In  the  southeastern  part  of  the  county 
the  north  branch  of  the  Zumbro  rises  in  a  long  marsh  which  extends  unin- 
terruptedly to  within  a  mile  and  a  half  of  the  Straight  river.  Prom  that 
point  another  similar  marsh  extends  westwardly  and  is  drained  by  a  creek 
into  the  Straight  river.  These  marshes,  and  several  others  in  the  county, 
are  caused  by  the  impervious  nature  of  the  underlying  Hudson  River  and 
Trenton  shales,  and  mark  the  channels  of  glacial  drainage.  In  a  similar 
manner  the  valley  of  Prairie  creek,  which  once  was  one  of  voluminous  dis- 
charge, extends  nearly  as  far  southwest  as  to  the  valley  of  the  Cannon  river 
west  of  Cannon  City.  It  is  there  partially  filled  up  with  drift. 

To  the  most  casual  observer  Rice  county  presents  remarkable  contrasts 
in  its  drainage  features.  That  portion  which  lies  east  and  southeast  of  the 
Cannon  river  is  different  from  that  portion  lying  to  the  west  and  northwest 
of  that  valley.  The  former  is  undulating,  in  long  and  gentle  swells,  with 
slow-flowing  streams  that  are  fringed  with  wide  often  marshy  and  quaking 
low-lands.  The  streams  are  insignificant  in  comparison  to  the  valleys 
which  they  occupy;  and  they  have  a  direct  and  well-established  direction 
of  flow,  without  much  tortuosity.  Where  they  leave  Rice  county  their 
channels  are  sunk  from  one  to  two  hundred  feet  below  the  general  upland 
level.  The  country  here  drained  is  alike  without  lakes  and  timber.  The 
latter  is  rolling  in  short  and  often  steep  and  frequent  hills  that  rise  from 
fifty  to  a  hundred  feet  above  the  surrounding  country.  Among  these  hills 
the  crooked  streams  wander  with  every  conceivable  curve  and  change  of 
direction,  often  encountering  small  lakes,  and  receiving  small  tributaries 
that  drain  others.  They  have  no  deeply  eroded  valleys,  but  run  near  the 
average  lowland  level  of  the  country  where  the  present  contours  of  surface 
will  permit.  While  there  are  frequent  marshes  here,  they  are  isolated  like 
the  lakelets,  and  have  a  similar  relation  to  the  drainage.  In  this  part  of 
the  county  the  precipitated  moisture  is  retained  by  the  more  slow  course 
of  surface  drainage  as  well  as  by  the  more  gravelly  and  sandy  nature 
of  the  surface  drift  materials.  This  part  of  the  county  also  is  heavily 
timbered,  a  circumstance  that  not  only  produces,  but  also  is  favored  by,  a 
greater  amount  of  natural  moisture  within  the  drift-materials  and  on  the 


650  TIIE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Water-powers. 

exposed  surface.  This  last  has  also  retarded  the  former  devastations  by 
prairie  fires.  This  wooded  portion  is  on  the  eastern  edge  of  the  "big 
woods"  of  Minnesota,  or  bois  fort,  well  and  long  known  as  one  of  the  great 
physical  features  of  the  surface  of  the  state.  The  underlying  causes  for 
this  difference  of  surface  and  drainage  features  will  appear  in  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  drift  and  geological  structure. 

Water-powers.  Several  valuable  water-powers  have  been  improved  in  Bice  county.  These 
are  chiefly  in  the  valley  of  the  Cannon  river,  viz: 

Northfield  mills.  Jesse  Ames'  sons,  Northfleld;  in  the  oldmill  the  present  capacity  is  80  bar- 
rels per  day;  3  run  of  stone  (two  for  feed) ,  nine  feet  head;  one  45-inch  and  one  35-inch  Leffel  wheel, 
two  27-inch  Huston  wheels  and  one  34-inch  Huston  wheel  (one  is  fora  machine  shop);  the  35-inch 
Leffel  wheel  has  20.7  horse-power,  and  the  34-inch  Huston  has  21  horse-power.  The  new  mill  has 
a  capacity  of  400  barrels;  9  feet  head;  two  54-inch  Victor  wheels,  each  having  a  rated  capacity  of 
80  horse-power;  one  35-inch  Leffel  wheel  with  21  horse-power;  twenty  double  rollers;  three  single 
rollers;  Gray  patent  of  Allis'  roll;  three  flour  buhrs. 

Dundas  mills.  E.  T.  Archibald  &  Co.;  Dundas,  on  the  Cannon  river;  partly  run  by  steam; 
full  capacity  600  barrels  per  day;  10  feet  head;  two  48-inch  Leffel  wheels;  four  buhrs;  37  single 
rollers  of  Gray's  Allis'  patent.  This  mill  is  about  half  built  of  Trenton  limestone,  and  the  old 
Archibald  mill,  on  an  island  in  the  river,  now  dismantled,  is  wholly  of  this  stone.  Another  mill 
at  Dundas  is  run  wholly  by  steam. 

Cannon  Valley  roller  mill.  S.  E.  i  sec.  8,  Cannon  City,  on  the  east  side  of  the  Cannon  river; 
owned  by  R.  II.  Scott  and  sons;  seven  feet  head,  four  Leffel  wheels,  all  48-inch,  and  one  La  Croix 
wheel  of  40  inches;  three  sets  of  double,  smooth  Allis  rollers,  and  five  sets  of  double,  corrugated 
Allis  rollers;  one  of  Stevens  single,  smooth  rollers;  three  buhrs  (one  for  feed,  run  by  the  La  Croix 
wheel);  full  capacity  130  barrels  in  twenty-four  hours. 

There  is  a  fine  water-power  at  Faribault  in  the  Cannon  river,  between  the  railroads,  owned 
by  Mr.  Mattison,  where  the  mill  was  lately  burned.  The  fall  here  is  about  six  feet  and  will  fur- 
nish several  hundred  horse-power. 

Tlie  Polar  Star  mills,  Faribault,  owned  by  F.  A.  and  S.  L.  Bean,  on  the  south  side  of  the 
Cannon  river;  run  partly  by  steam;  head  eight  to  eleven  feet,  according  to  the  season;  one  Amer- 
ican, or  Dayton,  75-inch  turbine  wheel,  two  Leffel  wheels,  one  flfty-six  and  the  other  forty-eight 
inches;  at  eleven  feet  head  these  Leffel  wheels  produce,  one,  ninety  and  the  other  fifty-three  horse 
power,  and  the  American  wheel  one  hundred  and  forty  horse-power;  in  summer,  however,  steam 
is  necessary  to  run  the  mill;  rollers  are  made  by  Allis  (Gray's),  Cosgrove,  Noye,  and  Dalton;  three 
double  smooth  rollers,  and  five  single  smooth,  seven  sets  of  corrugated  single  rollers;  full  capacity 
375  barrels  in  twenty-four  hours. 

The  water-power  mill  at  Morristown  is  owned  by  C.  H.  Hershey;  head  of  water  seven  feet; 
Case  turbine  wheel,  fifty-four  inches,  twenty-seven  horse-power.  Two  buhrs  (one  for  feed);  full 
capacity  thirty-eight  barrels  in  twenty-four  hours. 

The  mill  at  the  outlet  of  Eoberd's  lake,  N.  W.  J  sec.  22,  Wells,  owned  by  T.  G.  Scott,  is 
known  as  the  Roberd's  Lake  mill.  In  high  water  it  has  a  head  of  sixteen  feet,  but  in  ordinary 
stage  of  water  only  twelve  feet;  one  Small's  turbine  wheel  of  forty-eight  inches  and  sixty  horse- 
power (under  twelve  feet  head);  one  double  set  of  Allis'  make  of  Wegmann's  patent  rollers;  three 
buhrs  (one  for  feed);  capacity  for  wheat  fifty  barrels  each  twenty-four  hours. 
The  following  mills  are  on  the  Straight  river  : 

The  Kendall  mill  is  at  Faribault,  N.  W.  }  sec.  29,  Cannon  City  township,  on  the  east  side  of 
the  river,  and  is  owned  by  Green  and  Gold;  eight  feet  head  of  water;  one  40-inch  Leffel  wheel, 
with  thirty-five  horse-power,  and  one  30-inch  wheel,  not  used,  maker  unknown;  seven  sets  of 
Stevens  single  rollers,  two  smooth  and  five  corrugated;  one  porcelain  roller  {Wegmamfs),  and 
one  smooth,  small,  old  roller  (maker  unknown);  two  flour  buhrs;  full  capacity  140  barrels  in 


KICK  COUNTY.  651 

Topography.] 

twenty-four  hours.  This  mill  never  has  water  enough  to  run  its  full  machinery,  but  is  aided  by 
steam. 

Straight  River  mills,  Faribault,  owned  by  J.  D.  Green  and  Co.;  head  twelve  feet;  oneLeffel 
40-inch  wheel;  one  double  roller,  sixteen 'sets  of  single  rollers,  Stevens'  break  roller  (Noye  make) 
and  two  wheat  buhrs;  capacity  350  barrels  per  day;  partly  run  by  steam. 

Walcott  mills,  owned  by  M.  B.  Sheffield,  S.  W.  i  sec.  16,  Walcott,  on  the  west  side  of  the  river; 
head  twelve  feet;  one48-inch  new  American  wheel,  and  one  40-inch  old  American;  two  smooth  and 
two  corrugated  sets  (double)  of  Stevens  rollers,  one  single  set  of  Stevens  corrugated  rollers,  one 
double  set  of  Gray's  smooth  rollers,  one  double  set  of  Rickerson's  smooth  rollers,  one  Wilmington 
(Del.)  single  smooth  roller;  four  run  of  stone  (one  for  feed);  capacity  of  the  mill,  using  water  alone, 
225  barrels  per  day,  and  when  aided  by  steam  280  barrels  per  day.* 

Topography.  The  eastern  and  southern  portions  of  the  county  are 
broadly  undulating  or  smoothly  rolling,  with  long  swells  running  so  as  to 
operate  as  the  primary  divides  between  the  drainage  valleys.  The  north- 
eastern corner  of  the  county,  east  of  the  Cannon  river,  is  characterized  by 
considerable  differences  of  level,  separated  by  plains  that  extend  like  ter- 
races along  the  river  courses.  The  Prairie  creek  valley  is  thus  a  wide, 
nearly  level,  expanse  bounded  by  an  abrupt  ascent  of  about  a  hundred  feet 
to  a  higher  flat  which  extends,  with  an  undulating  surface,  right  and  left. 
The  Cannon  valley  is  the  great  topographic  feature  of  the  county.  Its  outer 
bluffs  rise  about  a  hundred  feet  above  the  water,  at  Northfield,  about  two 
hundred  and  fifty  at  Dundas  and  two  hundred  feet  at  Faribault.  The  water 
surface  of  Straight  river  descends  northward,  within  the  county,  from  the 
level  of  about  1050  feet  above  the  sea  to  about  950  feet.  The  Cannon  river 
in  like  manner,  descends,  in  crossing  the  county  from  about  1000  to  890  feet, 
its  source  in  the  lakes  at  Shieldsville  being  about  1090.  The  high  prairies  in 
towns  of  Wheeling  and  Richland  are  1150  to  1250  feet  above  the  sea.  The 
high  plateau  east  and  southeast  of  Cannon  City  is  in  general  about  flat,  but 
has  numerous  deep  valleys  that  penetrate  within  the  St.  Peter  sandstone. 
The  head  of  Prairie  creek  runs  thus  south  and  southwest  far  enough  to 
unite  with  the  Cannon  valley. 

In  the  western,  wooded  portion  of  the  county  there  is  a  greater  diver- 
sity of  the  immediate  surface  contour,  but  the  average  elevation  is  not  so 
great  as  in  the  eastern,  no  known  elevations  being  above  1125  feet.  The 
lakes  that  dot  the  surface  here  add  much  to  the  variety  of  topographic 
scenery.  Some  of  these  cover  an  area  each  of  two  to  three  square  miles, 
and  have  a  depth  of  ten  to  fifty  feet. 

*Tlic  mill  at  Mcclford,  Sleclc  county,  partly  run  by  steam,  was  burned  about  the  year  1880.     It  had  no  rollers. 


652  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Elevations. 


Ehrationx  on  tin-  loira  and  Miimc--otn  liirixinn  of  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  St  Paul  railn-ni/. 
From  profiles  in  the  office  of  George  II.  White,  engineer,  Minneapolis. 

Miles  from        Feot  above 
St   I'aul,  tlie  sea. 

Summit  near  line  of  Dakota  and  Rice  counties,  cutting  12  ft.:  grade  ____  36.7  909 

North  field  ..........................................................  38.1  915 

Heath  creek,  water,  905;  grade  .....................................  39.2  921 

Dundas  .......................     ....................................  41.0  955 

Wolf  creek,  water,  947;  grade  ........................................  42.3  974 

Summit,  cutting  9  ft.;  grade  ..........................................  45.9  1037 

Depression,  grade  ................................................  46.7  971 

Summit,  cutting  30  ft;  grade  ......................................  49.5  1017 

Cannon  river,  water,  959;  grade  on  bridge  .............................  50.9  975 

Faribault  ...........................................................  51.7  1002 

Summit,  cutting  4  ft.  ;  grade  .........................................  54.3  1084 

Summit,  cutting  14  ft.;  grade  .......................................  56.8  1140 

Straight  river,  water,  1069;  grade  ...................................  60.2  1090 

Medford  ..................  '  ..........................................  60.4  l(i!)8 

Elevations,  Wisconsin,  Minnesota  and  Pacific  (or  Cannon  Valley)  railway. 
From  profiles  in  the  office  of  Kobert  Angst,  engineer,  Minneapolis. 

Miles  from        Feet  above 
Wiiti-rvillc.          the  sea. 

Waterville,  junction  with  M.  &  St.  L.  railway  ..........................     0.0  1008 

Line  of  Le  Sueur  and  Rice  counties,  grade  .............................     2.5  1030 

Summit,  natural  surface,  1067;  grade  .................................    3.8  1056 

Cannon  river,  water,  997;  grade  .......................................     6.0  1008 

Morristown  .........................................................     6.3  1008 

Cannon  river,  water,  975;  grade  ........................................     8.4  984 

Warsaw  .......  .........................................  ...........     9.3  1007 

Junction  of  spur  track  to  Polar  Star  mills  ..............................  15.3  11711 

Fair  ground  .........................................................  15.6  976 

Crossing  C.,  M.  &  St.  P.  railway  .......................................   16.3  981 

Faribault  ............................................................   16.8  971 

Cannon  river,  low  water,  954;  high  water,  960;  grade  ....................   17.3  966 

Wolf  creek,  water,  925;  grade  .........................................  25.6  942 

Dundas  .........................................  ...................  27.0  926 

Cannon  river,  low  water,  900;  high  water  ..............................  29.4  906 

Northfleld  ......................    ...................................  29.9  910 

Line  of  Bice  and  Dakota  counties,  grade  .............................  31.0  897 

Waterford  ..................................  .......................  32.0  903 

The  average  elevation  of  the  county  may  be  estimated  as  follows,  based 
on  the  contour  lines  shown  on  the  county  plate:  Northfield,  990  feet  above 
the  sea;  Wheeling,  1110;  Richland,  1175;  Bridge  water,  1010;  Cannon  City, 
1085;  Walcott,  1100;  Webster,  1060;  Forest,  1025;  Wells,  1025;  Warsaw, 
1070;  Wheatland,  1075;  Erin,  1090;  Shields  ville,  1075;  Morristown,  1045. 
From  these  figures  the  average  elevation  of  the  county  becomes  1065  feet. 

Soil  and  timber.  The  soil  of  the  upland  prairies  in  the  southeastern  part  of  the  county, 
including  the  towns  of  Richland,  Wheeling,  Cannon  City,  and  much  of  Northfleld,  is  a  black 
loam  underlain  by  clay.  In  the  low  grounds  along  the  valleys  this  black  loam  is  increased  in 
thickness,  and  on  some  exposed  knolls  the  underlying  clay  becomes  the  surface  soil.  In  the  low 
prairies  of  Northfield  the  subsoil  is  gravelly,  and  the  soil  itself,  while  rich  and  dark,  is  apt  to  be- 


KICE  COUNTY. 

boil  and  timber.] 

come  sandy,  particularly  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  bluffs  where  the  St.  Peter  sand- 
stone has  opportunity  to  mingle  with  it.  In  the  western  part  of  the  county,  while  the  soil  is  a 
dark  loam  and  equally,  fertile,;  generally,  as  that  in  the  eastern,  it  has  not  yet  been  wrought  so 
extensively,  and  is' less  highly  prized.  It  has  a  subsoil,  mainly,  of  stony  blue  clay,  or  a  yellow 
pebbly  loam,  but  on  the  gravelly  hills,  and  on  some  of  the  lower  ridges,  in  Morristown  and  Shields- 
ville,  and  particularly  in  Webster,  the  subsoil  is  gravel  and  sand.  This  is  the  case  also  in  the 
terrace-flats  that  skirt  the  Cannon  river.  The  soils  in  the  western  half  of  the  county  are  much 
more  stony  than  in  the  eastern. 

The  following  trees  and  shrubs  are  native  to  this  county.  In  ascending  the  Cannon  valley 
from  Northiield  there  is  a  marked  change  in  the  character  of  the  forest  growth  at  the  point  where 
the  blue  clay,  pertaining  to  the  drift  sheet  extending  northwestwardly,  approaches  the  river. 
About  Northfield,  and  northwardly  through  Dakota  county,  the  trees  are  mainly  of  oak  and  aspen, 
this  region  being  occupied  by  the  red  drift  derived  from  the  northeastward.  But  here  these  trees 
give  place  to  sugar  maple,  butternut,  ironwood,  bass,  ash,  &c.  The  shrubs  are  also  affected  by 
the  same  change.  Different  species  of  Lonicera,  Spiraea,  and  Cornus  make  their  appearance  as 
undergrowth,  sharing  the  shade  with  little  aspens  and  wolfberries.  The  trees  are  arranged  in  the 
estimated  order  of  frequency. 

Tilia  Americana,  L.  Basswood.  Common  throughout  the  county,  and  especially  throughout 
the  heavy  timber  in  the  flat  or  undulating  tracts  of  Bridgewater,  Forest,  Erin  and  Shieldsville. 
At  Morristown  it  is  extensively  wrought  into  barrel-heads  and  common  lumber. 

Ulmus  Americana,  L.  (PI.  Clayt.),  Willd.  American  or  white  elm,  also  known  as  water  elm. 
At  Morristown  this  tree  is  extensively  used  by  J.  B.  Hopkins,  and  by  II.  II  Osterhout  and  com- 
pany, for  the  manufacture  of  "head  lining"  for  flour  barrels,  this  being  the  only  place  in  the  state 
where  this  industry  is  carried  on.  It  is  also  wrought  ihto  common  lumber. 

Quercus  coccinea,  Wang.,  var.  tinctoria,  Gray.  Black  oak.  This  is  the  usual  oak.  It  is 
most  abundant  as  small  trees  and  shrubs;  and  in  the  high  and  rolling  parts  of  Webster  and 
Wheatland  it  is  only  found  in  this  condition.  Very  large  trees,  however,  are  scattered  numer- 
ously through  the  heavy  timber  everywhere.  In  Morristown  and  Warsaw  townships  it  is  consid- 
erably used  for  lumber. 

Quercus  macrocarpa,  Michx.  Bur  oak.  In  exposed  places,  and  particularly  on  the  edges  of 
the  timber  bordering  the  prairie,  this  is  very  abundant.  It  seems  to  endure  fire  better  than  the 
black  oak,  perhaps  due  to  its  more  corky  bark,  but  it  does  not  succeed  so  well  as  the  black  oak  on 
exposed  and  bleak  hills  or  on  poor  soils.  It  occasionally  furnishes  a  log  for  lumber  and  is  apt  to 
be  confounded  witli  the  white  oak,  which  is  a  much  less  common  tree  in  the  county. 

Acer  dasycarpum,  Ehr.  Silver  maple.  A  common  tree,  sometimes  growing  very  large  and 
furnishing  lumber,  but  generally  not  more  than  ten  inches  in  diameter  so  far  as  now  seen  in  the 
county.  It  is  common  as  second  growth  after  the  cutting  of  the  original  forest. 

Populus  tremuloides,  Michx.  American  aspen.  Common  on  the  outskirts  of  the  timber,  on 
exposed  hillsides,  as  in  Webster,  and  as  second  growth  in  all  parts  of  the  county;  generally  not 
exceeding  ten  inches  in  diameter. 

Acer  saccharinum,  Wang.  Sugar  maple.  This  tree  exhibits  magnificent  proportions  in  some 
heavily  wooded  tracts,  as  in  western  Shieldsville  and  Erin,  where  the  old  forests  have  not  been 
cut.  It  also  sometimes  starts  up  more  numerous  than  any  other  tree  as  a  second  growth.  It  is 
common  throughout  the  timbered  portions  of  the  county,  and  has  been  set  for  ornamental  pur- 
poses in  most  of  the  prairie  portions.  It  furnishes  considerable  quantities  of  syrup  and  sugar  in 
llice  county,  and  is  sometimes  found  among  the  saw-logs  at  the  mills  at  Morristowu. 

Ulmus  fulva,  Michx.  Slippery  elm,  or  red  elm.  This  makes  better  lumber  than  the  white 
elm,  but  it  does  not  grow  so  large  nor  so  stiaight. 

Fraxinus  sanibucifolia,  Lam.  Black  or  water  ash.  Some  very  large  trees  are  found  in 
western  Shieldsville. 

Juglanscinerea,  L.    Butternut. 
Ostrya  Virginica,  Willd.    Ironwood. 
Prunus  Americana,  Marshall.    Wild  plum. 

Negundo  aceroides,  Moench.  Box-elder.  Not  found  in  the  heavy  timber,  but  along  streams 
and  lakes.  This  makes  a  low-branched,  rather  small,  irregular  tree,  and  if  it  lives  long  it  sustains 


654  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Trees  and  shrubs. 

"a  broad  light-green  mass  of  foliage  supported  generally  by  two  or  three,  or  more  trunks  from  one 
root.  It  grows  rapidly,  has  a  dense  wood,  but  is  not  durable. 

Carya  amara,  Nutt.    Bitternut  or  hickory. 

Quercus  alba,  L.  White  oak.  Furnishes  a  valuable  and  tough  timber,  and  is  occasionally 
cut  for  that  purpose  at  Morristown. 

Populus  monilifera,  Ait.  Cottonwood.  Along  the  river  bottoms,  but  not  generally  through 
the  county. 

Carpinus  Americana,  Michx.    Water  beech. 

Fraxinus  Americana,  L.  White  ash.  Used  for  lumber.  Some  large  straight  trees  were 
seen  in  Shieldsviile. 

Prunus  serotina,  Ehr.    Black  cherry.    Scattered  through  the  heavy  timber. 

Quercus  rubra,  L.    Red  oak. 

Acer  rubrum,  L.    Red  or  swamp  maple. 

Juglans  nigra,  L.    Black  walnut. 

Populus  grandidentata,  Michx.    Large-toothed  aspen. 

Celtis  occidentals,  L.    Ilackberry. 

Pirus  eoronaria,  L.    American  crab-apple. 

Larix  Americana,  Michx.    Tamarack.    Shieldsviile  and  Cedar  lake. 

Betula  papyracea,  Ait.    Paper  or  canoe  birch. 

Amelanchier  Canadensis,  Ton-,  and  Gray.    Juneberry. 

Populus  balsamifera,  L.,  var.  eandicans,  Ait.    Balm  of  Gilead. 

Pinus  Strobus,  L.    White  pine. 

Cornus  paniculata,  L'Her.    Dogwood. 

Cornus'circinata,  LSHer.    Dogwood.  • 

Coiylus  Americana,  Walt.    Hazelnut. 

Rhus  glabra,  L.    Smooth  sumac. 

Prunus  Pennsylvanica,  L.    Wild  red  cherry. 

Cratsegus  Crus-galli,  L.    Thorn. 

Juniperus  Sabina,  -L.,  var.  procumbens,  Pursh.    Savin. 

Lonicera  grata,  Ait.     American  woodbine. 

Vitis  cordifolia,  Michx.    Grape. 

Ampelopsis  quinquefolia,  Michx.    Virginia  creeper. 

Alnus  incaua,  Willd.    Speckled  alder. 

Spiraea  opulifolia,  L.    Nine-bark. 

Cornus  stolonifera,  Michx.    Red-osier  dogwood. 

Celastrus  scandens,  L.    Climbing  bitter-sweet. 

Rosa  blanda,  Ait.    Rose. 

Rosa  lucida,  Ehr.    Dwarf  wild  rose. 

Symphoricarpus  occidentalis,  R.  Br.    Wolfberry. 

Rubus  villosus,  Ait.    High  blackberry. 

Rubus  strigosus,  Michx.    Red  raspberry. 

Ceanothus  Americanus,  L.    New  Jersey  tea. 

Amorpha  f ruticosa,  L.    False  indigo. 

THE   GEOLOGICAL   STRUCTURE. 

The  rocks  of  the  county  range  from  the  Shakopee  limestone  to  the 
upper  portion  of  the  Trenton  period,  probably  including  the  actual  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Hudson  River  group,  though  the  latter  cannot  be  subdi- 
vided, nor  more  exactly  parallelized  with  any  of  the  formations  of  the 
New  York  nomenclature.  They  will  be  considered  in  descending  order,  as 
follows:  1.  Trenton  rocks,  2.  St.  Peter  sandstone,  3.  Shakopee  limestone. 


RICE  COUNTY.  (555 

Trenton  rocks.] 

The  rocks  of  the  Trenton  period  possess  some  characters  that  have  been 
ascribed  to  the  Hudson  River  and  Galena  formations,  where  they  appear 
in  southwestern  Goodhue  county,  and  these  undoubtedly  extend  northwest- 
wardly in  Rice  county,  at  least  as  far  as  to  Cannon  City,  since  the  thickness 
of  rock,  referable  to  the  Trenton  period,  at  the  latter  place  amounts  to 
about  a  hundred  and  thirty  feet.  This  is  ascertained  by  aneroid  measure- 
ments from  the  top  of  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  in  the  Cannon  river  valley 
west  of  Cannon  City,  combined  with  data  learned  from  common  wells  at 
Cannon  City  which  encounter  limestone  at  the  depth  of  about  thirty  feet. 
Nothing  can  be  said  of  the  lithology  of  these  beds  in  Rice  county,  but  the 
elevated  prairie  under  which  they  lie  includes  Richland,  Cannon  City  and 
Wheeling.  These  beds  also  probably  extend  with  feathery  edges  into  the 
elevated  tracts  in  eastern  Bridgewater  and  southwestern  Northfield.  The 
existence  of  a  little  lake  at  Cannon  City  is  probably  owing  largely  to  the 
impervious  shales  of  this  formation;  and  the  long  bogs  which  accompany 
valleys  of  this  part  of  the  county  are  due  to  the  same  cause. 

The  limestones  of  the  Lower  Trenton  are  well  displayed  in  Rice  county.  They  are  abun- 
dantly exposed  along  the  valley  of  the  Cannon  river,  and  along  Prairie  creek,  where  they  are 
somewhat  quarried.  The  thickness  of  these  beds  is  about  fifteen  feet.  They  are  overlain  by  a 
heavy  stratum  of  green  shale,  as  in  counties  farther  southeast,  and  there  is  a  thickness  of  from 
six  to  ten  feet  between  them  and  the  St.  Peter  sandstone.  They  embrace,  along  Prairie  creek 
valley,  a  carbonaceous  layer  of  a  few  inches  which,  without  previous  drying,  will  ignite  from  a 
common  match  and  burn  with  a  flame.*  The  Trenton  also  underlies  the  southern  part  of  Warsaw, 
extending  probably  into  the  southeastern  part  of  Morristown. 

In  general  the  Lower  Trenton  limestone  is  but  little  affected  with  magnesia  or  alumina  as 
impurities,  in  Rice  county.  It  is  compact,  generally  blue,  and  breaks  sharply  and  somewhat 
conchoidally.  Its  bedding  is  in  sheets  convenient  for  quarrying,  being  about  six  or  eight  inches 
thick,  and  it  is  tolerably  free  from  pyrites,  though  crystalline  clusters  of  this  are  sometimes  so 
frequent  as  to  cause  a  rusty  stain  on  the  surface  of  the  blocks  prepared  for  building.  As  quarried 
at  many  places  it  is  not  blue,  but  has  a  faded  ashen  color,  becoming  also  yellowish,  but  free  from 
pyrites,  due  to  long  weathering  and  submergence  by  the  waters  of  the  glacial  period. 

Rice  county  affords  the  usual  fossils  that  characterize  this  geological  horizon,  viz:  large 
orthoceratites,  such  as  Endoccras  magniventrum,  II.,  several  species  of  Strophomena,  Orthis,  and 
of  Rhynchonella,  as  well  as  specimens  of  a  large  coiled  cephalopod  like  Lituites  undatux,  Con.  t 

At  Faribault  the  strike  of  the  Lower  Trenton,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Straight  river,  passes 
through  the  southern  part  of  the  city,  producing  its  characteristic  plateau.  A  Similar  wide  plateau 
is  conspicuously  brought  out  on  the  east  side  of  the  same  river.  On  this  stand  the  state  asylums 
for  the  blind  and  for  the  imbecile.  Its  higlit  above  the  sea  is  from  1080  to  1090  feet.  At  Mr. 
Doyle's  quarry  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  the  top  of  the  limerock  is  about  1080  feet.  The  rock 
here  is  all  faded  to  an  ashen  or  drab  color,  both  by  the  oxidation  of  the  contained  pyrite,  and  by 
the  further  oxidation  and  hydration  of  the  iron-protoxide  of  the  original  blue  color.  Thus  the 
aluminous  portions  become  more  finely  cemented  than  in  the  blue  rock  as  seen  at  Mr.  Cromer's 
quarry,  though  the  bedding  is  split  and  broken  more  by  the  weathering.  This  faded  rock  is  more 

*This  carbonaceous  l:iyer  extends  eastward  into  Goodhue  comity. 

|Of  the  last  a  .specimen  is  to  he  seen  in  the  collections  of  Carleton  college,  and  through  the  favor  of  Prof.  L.  B. 
Sperry  a  photographic  copy  has  been  furnished  the  survey.  It  will  be  described  in  the  volume  devoted  to  the  paheon- 
tology  of  the  state. 


(;:,(-,  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[St.  Peter  sandstone. 

durable  than  the  blue,  but  is  not  so  advantageously  quarried  in  blocks  of  uniform  thickness  and 
size. 

Farther  southwest  from  Faribault,  across  the  creek  that  enters  the  Cannon  river  from  the 
south  near  the  fair  ground,  the  Trenton  evidently  exists.  This  is  evinced  by  the  contour  and 
abruptness  of  the  bluffs.  The  southern  part  of  Warsaw  and  probably  of  Morristown,  are  thus 
underlain  by  the  Trenton. 

The  Trenton  has  been  quarried  in  the  bank  of  the  river  below  the  Walcott  mill,  from  six  to 
ten  feet  above  the  water.  Above  the  dam  this  limerock  formerly  appeared  in  the  bed  of  the  river, 
but  it  is  now  covered  by  the  water  of  the  dam,  the  water-power  being  due  to  the  passing  of  the 
river  over  this  rock-horizon,  the  same  as  at  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony.  Stone  from  below  the  dam 
was  used  in  the  bridge  piers,  and  in  the  building  of  the  dam.  Quarries  are  owned  by  Henry  Hall 
and  Gale  Sexton.  There  is  a  small  area  of  the  Lower  Trenton  on  the  west  side  of  the  Cannon 
river  in  sees.  33  .and  34,  Bridgewater;  and  also  in  sec.  35,  immediately  west  of  St.  Olaf 's  college, 
near  Northfield. 

The  St.  Peter  sandstone  begins  to  be  seen  in  the  banks  of  the  Straight 
river  about  four  miles  north  of  the  Steele  county  line,  and  at  Faribault  it 
reaches  a  hight  above  the  river  of  eighty  feet  according  to  the  following 

Section  at  Faribaull  in  the  right  bank  of  the  Cannon  river. 

1.  Drift  (water  deposited)  covering  occasional  exposures  of  the  Trenton  lime- 

stone, and  one  or  more  beds  of  green  shale 26  ft,  4  in. 

2.  Shaly  bedded  St.  Peter  sandstone 3ft.  6J  in. 

3.  Massive  St.  Peter  sandstone 76  ft.  7J  in. 


Total 106  ft.  6  in. 

The  St.  Peter  sandstone,  having  a  thickness  altogether  of  about  115 
feet,  rises  about  110  feet  above  the  river,  west  of  Cannon  City.  It  is  ex- 
posed at  the  Cannon  Valley  roller  mill,  S.  E.  J  sec.  8,  Cannon  City,  in  a  per- 
pendicular wall,  in  the  west  bluff  of  a  conical  isolated  hill,  and  affords  there 
a  good  opportunity  to  measure  its  thickness,  since  the  river  must  be  run- 
ning very  near  the  top  of  the  Shakopee  limestone.  The  top  of  this  hill, 
though  covered  sparsely  with  a  pebbly  loam,  is  strown  with  bits  of  limerock 
due  to  the  demolition  of  the  Trenton  in  situ. 

Fossils  in  the  St.  Ptter.  The  sandrock  here  is  pitted  with  circular  holes,  such  as  have  been 
seen  in  a  number  of  places  in  the  state.*  They  are  brought  to  view  distinctly  in  the  weathered 
and  hardened  surfaces,  since  the  homogeneous  sand  on  fresh  fractures  seems  to  constitute  the 
entire  rock,  and  no  trace  of  these  fossils  is  visible  to  the  eye.  They  appear  at  this  place  on  a  lower 
bench,  where  the  rock  is  hardened  and  reddened.  They  always  run  perpendicular,  and  can  be 
traced  to  the  deptli  of  two  and- a  half  feet  by  the  little  furrows  they  cause  on  the  face  of  the  rock 
after  the  breaking  and  sliding  down  of  masses  of  the  bluff.  This  structure  was  first  seen  in  this 
sandrock  at  the  base  of  Dayton's  bluff  at  St.  Paul,  and  was  ascribed  to  Cretaceous  lithodomous 
shells,  but  it  is  more  likely  to  be  due  to  some  marine  vegetable,  or  to  worm-burrowing,  of  Cam- 
brian age.  By  examining  areas  that  have  suffered  different  degrees  of  exposure,  there  can  be 
traced  a  connection  from  the  actually  empty  porous  openings,  through  different  degrees  of  ex- 
posure and  induration,  including  a  simple  annular  spottedness,  to  an  innate  internal  structure  in 
the  mass  of  the  rock  itself.  It  would  be  the  same  as  if  a  multitude  of  horse-tail  rushes,  or  others, 
were  growing  in  the  bottom  of  the  sea  when  the  sand  was  accumulating,  and  became  gradually 
buried  under  the  sand,  and  then  were  imprisoned  and  fossilized,  their  presence  only  being  evinced 


'They  are  conspicuous  at  Castle  Rock,  in  Dakota  county. 


KICK  COUNTY. 

Shnkopce  limestone.] 

nr>w  by  the  cementation  of  the  sand-grains  about  their  exterior,  or  by  a  looseness  of  the  same  in 
their  interior,  thus  not  only  forming  a  rude  cast  of  each  stem  within  the  rock  but  also  providing 
for  the  more  rapid  erosion  and  removal  of  the  grains  that  may  have  reached  within  their  cases. 
The  spots  are  only  seen  on  upper  surfaces,  and  if  they  be  not  due  to  imprisoned  rushes  or  stems 
of  some  sort,  or  to  worm- burro  wing,  they  are  at  present  inexplicable.  They  are  generally  from  an 
eighth  to  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  dialneter. 

The  Cannon  river  enters  on  the  Shakopee,  having  cut  through  the  St.  Peter,  in  sec.  4,  Cannon 
City.  This  sandstone  is  also  abundantly  exposed  in  the  valley  of  Prairie  creek,  in  a  great  many 
places.  In  the  eastern  part  of  Northlield  it  constitutes  the  isolated  mound-like  hills  that  rise 
above  the  lower  prairie  to  the  upland,  marking  the  limit  of  the  overlying  Trenton  limestone.  The 
outrunning  edge  of  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  is  not  visible  in  the  drift-covered  westef  n  portion  of 
the  county,  its  most  westerly  exposures  being  a  perpendicular  bluff  in  the  west  bank  of  Heath  creek, 
S.  E.  }  sec.  34,  P.ridgewater,  and  an  isolated  mound  facing  the  river  on  the  S.  E.  }  sec.  26,  Wells. 
This  sandstone  undoubtedly  exists  in  considerable  areas  in  that  portion  of  Rice  county,  extending 
through  Le  Sueur  county  to  the  Minnesota  valley,  but  with  these  exceptions  not  a  single  exposure 
of  it  has  been  recorded.  In  Wheatland  and  Webster  it  is  also  highly  probable  that  the  Trenton 
limestone  caps  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  in  some  of  the  hills  that  diversify  those  townships,  since  it 
is  known  to  occur  in  such  hills  a  few  miles  farther  north  in  Dakota  county,  but  as  this  is  wholly 
conjectural,  the  plate  of  the  county  represents  only  drift  in  those  townships. 

The  Shakopee,  limestone.  This  formation  is  exhibited  at  Northfielcl.  It 
affords  a  thickness  of  about  thirty-five  feet  in  Rice  county,  its  chief  outcrops 
being  in  the  Cannon  valley  between  Dundas  and  the  Dakota  county  line. 
At  Dundas  the  depot  of  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul  railway  is 
twenty-two  feet  above  the  top  of  the  Shakopee,  and  the  Cannon  Valley 
depot  is  about  level  with  its  upper  surface.  At  the  north  county  line  the 
Iowa  and  Minnesota  division  of  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul  rail- 
way is  ten  feet  above  the  top  of  the  Shakopee,  and  at  Northfield  it  is  fifteen 
feet  lower  than  its  upper  surface.  A  the  county  line  the  Cannon  Valley 
railway  is  twenty-five  feet  below  the  top  of  the  Shakopee  and  at  Northfield 
it  is  about  twenty  feet.  This  formation  is  that  which  underlies  immedi- 
ately the  drift  in  most  of  that  part  of  the  county  west  of  the  Cannon  valley, 
but  no  outcrops  of  it  are  known  there.  At  Northfield  it  is  seen  in  the 
streets  of  the  city,  and  is  excavated  for  cellars  and  foundations  for  buildings. 
It  is  frequently  seen  along  the  "river  road"  below  Northfield  on  the  west 
side  of  the  river,  where  it  has  been  wrought  for  quicklime. 

The  lithology  of  the  Shakopee  at  Northfield  is  variable,  resembling  that  seen  at  its  typical 
and  original  locality.  The  limestone  is  impure,  and  passes  to  a  shaly  magnesian  rock.  Some  of 
it  is  in  beds  of  three  or  of  two  inches,  and  some  is  coarse  and  vesicular,  and  in  heavy  beds.  In 
the  midst  of  the  limestone  are  layers  of  white  sand  from  three  to  six  inches  in  thickness,  two  of 
them  embraced  in  the  interval  of  fifteen  feet.  One  of  these  pinches  out  entirely  in  a  distance  of 
twenty  feet,  letting  the  limerock  above  lie  on  that  below,  and  the  other  becomes  mingled  with 
lumps  and  lenticular  masses  of  green  shale.  In  other  places,  as  at  Tramm's  limekiln,  some  of  the 
limestone  layers  embrace,  along  with  rounded  grains  of  quartz  sand,  some  pieces  of,  apparently, 
weathered  chert,  and  indistinct  remains  of  molluscs,  probably  of  the  same  species  as  seen  in  the 
Shakopee  at  Cannon  Falls,  in  Goodhue  county. 

42 


658  TIIE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

["Red  till. 

The  drift.  Till.  In  the  eastern  part  of  the  county,  particularly  in  the 
northeastern,  the  unmodified  drift  is  red  or  copper-colored,  and  in  the  rest 
of  the  county  it  is  gray  or  bluish.  In  the  eastern  part  of  the  county  the  un- 
modified drift,  or  till,  is  not  abundantly  exposed,  but  is  covered  by  a  loam 
of  later  date,  and  its  character  seems  to  blend  rather  more  readily  with  the 
loam  than  does  that  of  the  gray  till.  There  is  also  an  abundant  dissemina- 
tion of  gravel  derived  from  the  gray  till  throughout  the  valleys  in  the  north- 
eastern part  of  the  county.  This  gravel  occupies  the  immediate  surface  in 
some  instances,  only  covered  by  a  soil,  but  in  others  it  is  covered  by  a  copi- 
ous loam  which  often  is  rather  sandy.  This  loam  is  sometimes  ten  or  more 
feet  in  thickness,  and  frequently  is  seen  to  be  somewhat  pebbly  and  appa- 
rently to  become  mingled  gradually  with  the  upper  portion  of  the  under- 
lying till,  without  the  distinct  intervention  of  the  gray  gravel.  The  most 
westerly  point  at  which  this  red  till  has  been  recognized  is  at  the  roadside 
along  the  west  side  of  section  9  in  Cannon  City,  where  it  has  been  found  to 
contain  pieces  of  native  copper.  It  here  presents  its  usual  facies,  viz.,  red- 
dish color,  rather  sandy  composition,  numerous  red  and  green  pebbles  and 
stones  of  igneous  origin  and  some  red  quartz-porphyry,  referable  to  the 
copper-bearing  series  of  the  northeastern  part  of  the  state,  with  rarely  a 
boulder  or  stone  of  gray  granite,  and  more  rarely  still  a  piece  of  the  foreign 
drift-limestone.  At  this  place  the  red  till  lies  directly  on  the  St.  Peter 
sandstone,  but  it  is  not  everywhere  present.  It  occupies,  rather,  the  depres- 
sions in  the  eroded  upper  surface  of  the  St.  Peter,  and  is  covered  by  a  gray 
gravel  which  in  numerous  instances  is  itself  deposited  directly  on  the  sand- 
stone. Along  the  northwest  quarter  of  sec.  9,  Cannon  City,  the  red  till 
rises  higher  and  constitutes  an  upper  timbered  flat,  rising  about  1075  feet 
above  the  sea.  Here  it  lies  on  the  Trenton  limestone,  and  the  bench  which 
it  apparently  produces,  in  passing  westward  to  the  river,  is  sixty  feet  in 
hight.  About  half  a  mile  still  further  west,  lying  on  the  St.  Peter  sand- 
stone, is  the  great  kame,  or  horse-back,  as  it  is  popularly  known,  running 
through  the  bottoms  of  the  Cannon  river,  and  consisting  wholly  of  gray 
gravel.  This  red  till  seems  to  be  the  oldest  part  of  the  drift,  and  it  is  quite 
probable  that  remnants  of  it  will  be  found  still  farther  west  in  sheltered 
depressions  in  the  St.  Peter  sandstone.  Indeed,  in  the  northeast  part  of 
sec.  5,  the  road  that  ascends  the  hill  northward  from  Carr's  crossing,  passes 


RICE   COUNTY.  659 

Blue  till.] 

over  red  till  which  here  lies  on  the  St.  Peter  and  constitutes  a  flat  exposure 
on  which  the  kune  runs,  at  considerable  elevation  above  the  rest  of  its 
course  in  sees.  8  and  5.  Toward  the  west  this  quickly  changes  to  blue  till, 
and  toward  the  east  it  seems  to  be  overlain  by  blue  till. 

The  gray,  or  blue,  till  which  covers  the  most  of  the  county,  is  easily 
distinguished,  in  general,  from  the  foregoing.  It  has  uniformly  bits  of 
Cretaceous  shale,  often  known  as  slate,  disseminated  through  it.  It  has 
fewer  stones  and  pebbles  thsin  the  red  till,  and  is  more  impervious  to  water. 
Its  contained  stones  are  predominatingly  granitoid,  but  sometimes  dark 
with  hornblende.  Among  the  boulders,  as  gathered  and  piled  by  the  farm- 
ers by  the  roadsides,  on  areas  of  the  blue  till,  will  often  be  seen  masses  of 
foreign,  nearly  white,  limestone.  These  are  generally  rounded,  and  weath- 
ered from  long  exposure  on  the  surface  so  as  not  to  show  any  glacial  mark- 
ings. This  gray  till  also  is  covered,  in  the  southeastern  and  southern 
portions  of  the  county  by  a  loam,  sometimes  pebbly,  the  exact  origin  and 
relations  of  which  to  the  rest  of  the  drift  cannot  be  stated.  There  are  also 
tracts  in  the  timbered  district,  north  and  west  of  the  Cannon  river,  where 
this  blue  till  is  covered  by  a  thickness  of  six  to  ten  feet  of  pebbly  loam, 
though  in  most  of  that  portion  of  the  county  the  only  covering  the  blue  till 
has  seems  to  be  the  soil,  formed  by  a  change  in  the  till  itself.  This  yellow- 
ish loam  in  the  valley  of  Straight  river,  between  Faribault  and  the  mouth  of 
Fall  creek,  is  enormously  developed.  It  there  has  exposed  sections  that 
measure  thirty  feet  perpendicular,  and  it  is  apparently  as  much  thicker  in 
most  of  section  33,  Cannon  City.  In  some  places  here  this  clay  is  without 
pebbles,  and  might  be  compared  to  the  "joint  clay",  so  called,  of  Rock 
county.*  In  nearly  all  exposures  it  holds  a  variety  of  pebbles,  with  occa- 
sional stones,  and  it  seems  to  pass  into  the  stony  till  by  gradual  changes. 
The  blue  till  lies  under  the  soil,  except  when  the  yellowish  loam  inter- 
venes, in  the  southeastern  and  southern  parts  of  the  county,  on  both  sides 
of  the  Straight  river.  The  thickness  of  the  gray  till  has  been  found  at 
several  places  to  exceed  one  hundred  feet,  but  as  these  cases  were  in  the 
digging  of  wells  and  the  work  ceased  because  of  finding  water,  it  is  prob- 
able that  the  bottoms  of  these  wells  were  near  the  bottom  of  the  blue  till, 
where  water  is  generally  obtained.  The  average  thickness  of  the  till  for 
Rice  would  probably  amount  to  about  one  hundred  feet.  In  the  high  prai- 

*See  pastes  544  and  SSI. 


(',(',()  THE  GEOLOGY  OP  MINNESOTA. 

I  [lh:c  till  and  moraim-s. 

ries  of  Richland  and  Wheeling  the  elevation  is  due  mainly  to  the  under- 
lying Hudson  River  and  Trenton  rocks  which  probably  exist  in  their  full 
thickness,  although  there  is  still  a  great  thickness  of  blue  till  in  these 
townships,  the  surface  being  smooth  or  broadly  undulating. 

Moraines  and  morainic  belt*. 

The  chief  morainic  accumulation  in  the  county  appears  in  the  town- 
ship of  Webster  and  in  the  northwestern  part  of  Forest.  The  surface  here 
is  very  rough,  generally  exhibiting  conspicuous  ridges  that  have  an  approxi- 
mate north  and  south  direction,  rising  from  75  to  125  feet  above  the  valleys, 
one  of  the  highest  points  observed  being  in  sec.  16,  which  is  approximately 
1150  feet  above  the  sea.  These  ridges,  and  all  the  drift  in  the  township, 
consist  essentially  of  blue  till,  with  disseminated  Cretaceous  debris.  Yet, 
east  of  the  hilly  region,  in  some  places  on  the  Dodd  road,  considerable 
gravel  deposits  are  seen,  the  result  of  drainage  from  the  ice  at  the  same 
time  that  it  was  bringing  forward  the  drift  itself.  Toward  the  west  further 
while  the  surface  is  rolling  and  perhaps  is  to  be  considered  as  included  in 
the  same  general  moraine,  extending  across  the  township  of  Wheatland, 
the  hills  rise  only  from  fifty  to  seventy-five  feet  above  the  numerous  lakes 
and  long  peat  marshes. 

The  general  direction  of  this  very  rough  portion  of  the  county  is  a 
little  south  of  southwest,  occupying  the  eastern  part  of  Erin,  the  whole  of 
Shieldsville,  and  the  western  two-thirds  of  Morristown,  leaving  the  county 
on  the  south  side  of  lake  Sakata.  In  Shieldsville,  and  in  western  Erin, 
where  this  high  rolling  surface  attains  apparently  its  greatest  avenigo 
elevation,  the  highest  hills  become,  rather,  elevated  plateaux,  and  the 
roughness  of  the  surface  pertains  to  their  margins  and  lies  somewhat  lower 
than  these  higher  flats.  This  flatness  is  due  either  to  the  existence  of  the 
Trenton  formation,  or  to  the  lack  of  copious  drainage  at  the  time  of  depo- 
sition of  the  original  till  sheet.  The  southwest  part  of  Morristown  is  very 
rough,  with  75-80  feet  between  the  hills  and  valleys,  the  higher  points 
being  1150  to  1175  feet  above  the  sea. 

Both  toward  the  east  and  west  from  this  rolling  tract  the  contour  of  the  immediate  surface 
is  less  rolling  or  becomes  simply  undulating,  and  in  some  places  might  be  denominated  flat.  Such 
flat  tracts  are  found  in  the  northeastern  part  of  Forest,  including  the  western  part  of  Uridgewater. 
The  northern  and  central  parts  of  Wells  are  undulating,  but  the  northeastern  is  broken  again  with 
other  moraiuic  surfaces. 


RICE  COUNTY.  (;(51 

Moraines.] 

There  is  a  second  morainic  belt,  less  distinctly  continuous,  lying  east 
of  that  just  described.  Toward  the  north  it  begins  imperceptibly,  at  least 
it  is  now  impossible  to  define  it.  It  does  not  appear  distinctly  in  north- 
western Bridgewater,  although  in  northwestern  Greenvale,  Dakota  county 
it  is  more  plainly  marked.  There  is  a  tract  of  country,  in  sees.  5,  6  and  8, 
Bridgewater,  that  rises  about  fifty  feet  in  an  undulating  manner,  above  the 
average  hight  surrounding  it,  which  perhaps  should  be  placed  in  this 
moraine.  But  in  the  southern  part  of  Bridgewater,  especially  on  the  west 
side  of  the  Cannon  river,  there  is  a  notable  accumulation  of  hilly  blue  till 
rising  1120  feet  above  the  sea  about  the  center  of  sec.  33.  This  range 
extends  toward  the  southwest  through  the  west  part  of  Cannon  City  and 
the  east  part  of  Wells,  where  it  lies  between  the  present  Cannon  river  and 
an  older  channel  lying  further  west.  Just  north  of  the  junction  of  the 
Cannon  and  Straight  rivers  this  moraine  passes  to  the  east  side  of  the  Can- 
non and  covers  a  belt  about  two  miles  wide  on  the  east  side  of  that  river. 
But  at  the  great  bend  of  the  Straight  river  in  sec.  5,  Walcott,  it  crosses 
again  to  the  west  side,  and  thence  continues  S.  S.  W.  to  the  southern 
boundary  of  the  county.  This  morainic  belt  also  consists  of  blue  till,  but 
its  changes  of  outline  are  less  abrupt  than  in  the  more  westerly  belt.  It  is 
also  less  broad,  being  generally  about  two  miles  in  width.  Its  highest 
points  are  1150  and  1200  feet  above  the  sea,  and  from  these  elevations  the 
surface  slopes  rather  smoothly  to  1050  and  1100  feet  above  the  sea.  Where 
this  moraine  comes  in  contact  with  the  river,  as  in  the  valley  of  Fall  creek, 
the  drift  consists  very  largely  of  a  yelloAV  loam,  which,  containing  some 
stones  and  many  pebbles,  may  be  a  modified  condition  of  the  till,  as  acted 
on  by  the  waters  of  the  river  at  the  time  of  its  deposition.  This  loam  or 
yellow  clay  seems  to  be  the  same  as  that  which  spreads  wider  and  covers 
more  thinly  the  general  sheet  of  till  both  east  and  west  of  the  river,  and  in 
both  cases  it  seems  to  graduate  into  the  till  itself. 

There  is  another  conspicuously  rolling  tract,  entering  the  county  from  the  south  on  the  east 
side  of  Straight  river,  extending  east  from  the  river  four  miles.  This  continues  along  the  east 
side  of  the  Straight  river  through  Walcott  township.  In  Cannon  City  township  it  unites  with  the 
moraine  already  described,  and  further  north  its  identity,  separate  from  that  moraine,  can  not  be 
traced,  it  consists  of  gravelly,  gray  till,  bearing  granitic  boulders  and  drift  limestone.  In  north- 
eastern Walcott  some  of  the  knolls  of  this  rolling  belt  are  from  75  to  100  feet  high,  above  the.  val- 
leys, and  where  it  apparently  blends  with  the  moraine  already  described,  in  Cannon  City,  north- 
east of  Faribault,  the  elevations  are  from  100  to  150  feet  above  the  valleys.  This  rolling  tract,  in 
that  portion  of  Walcott  east  of  the  river,  does  not  produce  any  elevation  above  the  adjacent  prai- 


662  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Moraines  and  gravel. 

tie  country  lying  next  east.  It  is.  on  the  contrary,  rather  lower  than  the  prairie  upland,  and  on 
approaching  it  from  the  east  the  country  seems  simply  to  be  affected  by  a  generally  undulating 
and  rolling  timbered  descent  to  the  river  valley. 

In  delineating  the  morainic  belts  through  Steele  county,  the  outer  one  is  shown  to  be  sud- 
denly deflected  toward  the  east  at  a  point  about  two  miles  south  of  Aurora  station,  and  to  extend 
in  a  broad  curve  through  the  eastern  portion  of  that  county,  becoming  continuous  with  this  rolling 
tract  in  southeastern  Walcott,  in  Rice  county.  If,  instead  of  this  sudden  deflection  toward  the 
east,  the  outer  moraine  could  have  been  traced  through  Somerset  and,  by  way  of  Owatonna,  into 
the  northeastern  part  of  Deerfleld,  it  would  then  have  maintained  more  nearly  its  normal  course, 
and  would  also  have  articulated  perhaps  more  completely,  upon  the  outer  morainic  belt  that  crosses 
Rice  county.  It  would  also  afford  the  usual  explanation  for  the  gravel  terrace  that  accompanies 
the  Straight  river  in  Steele  county,  as  seen  at  Medford.  But  it  seems  very  reasonable  and  very 
probable  that  the  line  of  accumulation  should,  at  favorable  places,  be  double,  even  during  the  same 
general  period  of  accumulation ;  and  that  the  action  of  the  waters  of  the  upper  portion  of  the 
Straight  river  was  such  as  to  aid  such  apparent  duplication.  The  effect  of  this  moraine  on  the 
Straight  river,  where  it  crosses  it  in  the  northern  part  of  Walcott  township,  was  to  dam  it  up, 
during  the  existence  of  the  ice,  producing  a  lake  covering  those  portions  of  Walcott  and  Medford 
townships  that  lie  below  about  1150  feet.  This  lake  had  its  outlet  through  Walcott  township  into 
the  north  branch  of  the  Zumbro  river.  This  fact  requires  the  moraine  at  this  time  in  Walcott,  on 
the  west  side  of  the  Straight  river  instead  of  on  the  east ;  and  yet  it  is  probable  that  at  a  slightly 
earlier  period  of  time,  it  was  heaped  up  farther  east  as  represented  on  the  map  of  Steele  county. 

Gravel  and  gravel  terraces.  The  Cannon  valley,  through  its  whole  course 
in  Kice  county,  after  entering  it  from  Le  Sueur  county,  is  accompanied  by 
abundant  gravel  deposits.  The  Prairie  creek  valley,  in  Northfield  town- 
ship, is  also  accompanied  with  abundant  gravel.  The  same  is  true,  but  to 
much  less  extent,  of  the  Straight  river  south  of  Faribault,  and  of  the  north 
branch  of  the  Zumbro.  Everywhere  this  gravel  is  of  a  gray  color,  and  was 
derived  from  the  blue  till  by  drainage  and  wash  from  the  ice-fields  that 
spread  over  the  most  of  the  county  in  some  portion  of  the  glacial  epoch. 
At  the  east  end  of  Cannon  lake  the  gravel  of  the  beach  is  about  one  half 
limestone.  In  no  place  in  the  county  has  a  red  gravel  been  seen,  such  as 
appears  in  some  places  in  Dakota  county,  referable  to  the  red  till. 

Straight  river  terraces,  it  these  gravel  deposits  be  described  in  the  order  of  their  age,  prob- 
ably those  of  the  Straight  valley  would  come  first.  They  lie  highest  and  farthest  south.  They 
were  deposited  at  the  time  of  the  last  glacial  epoch  when  the  Straight  river  was  dammed  up  by 
glacier  ice  and  morainic  accumulations  a  few  miles  south  of  Faribault,  and  north  of  Walcott 's 
mill,  so  as  to  find  an  outlet  to  the  Mississippi  at  a  much  higher  level  than  it  now  has.  In  the 
still  earlier  part  of  the  same  period  these  waters,  still  closer  confined  by  a  greater  extension  of  the 
ice,  probably  had  a  feeble,  interrupted  discharge  southward  through  the  old  channels,  though  nar- 
row and  shallow,  that  cross  the  divide  in  Steele  and  Freeborn  counties,  reaching  the  Cedar  or  the 
Shell  Rock  river.  But  at  the  time  of  the  most  rapid  accumulation  of  the  gravel  as  it  appears  in 
Rice  county  along  the  Straight  river,  the  water  of  that  valley  had  its  discharge  through  the  north 
branch  of  the  Zumbro  eastward,  through  the  broad  valley  that  crosses  Hichland,  now  mainly  occu- 
pied by  a  conspicuous  grassy  marsh  that  gives  rise  to  the  north  branch  of  the  Zumbro.  These 
gravel  deposits  are  found  southward  from  the  northeast  quarter  of  sec.  17,  Walcott,  on  the  west 
side  of  the  river,  to  the  south  county  line,  and  to  Medford,  at  least,  in  Steele  county,  where  the  flat 
terrace  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  on  which  the  village  is  built,  consists  of  gravel,  having  an 
elevation  of  1008  feet  above  the  sea.  This  terrace,  which  begins  first  distinctly  near  Walcott's 
mill,  seems  to  be  only  an  alluvial  flat  subject  to  overflow  by  the  present  river,  bounded  on  the  west 


RICE  COUNTY.  6(53 

River  terraces.] 

by  a  line  of  abrupt  drift  bluffs  that  rise  at  once  about  60  feet.  It  is  here  plainly  underlain  by  the 
Lower  Trenton  limestone,  six  to  ten  feet  above  the  river,  but  toward  the  south  it  slowly  ascends 
and  exhibits  its  gravelly  composition.  At  Mud  creek,  which  enters  the  river  from  the  west  in 
sec.  21,  the  same  plain  occupies  a  broad  sweep  up  that  valley,  and  is  about  25  feet  above 
the  Straight  river.  The  underlying  Trenton  and  green  shales,  which  at  first  make  this  terrace 
very  wet,  sustaining  a  copious  flow  of  water  in  Mud  creek,  are  covered  with  only  a  few  feet  of 
gravel  and  soil.  Sometimes  also  the  gray  till  is  found  to  extend  under  the  gravel  of  the  terrace. 
At  Medford  the  immediate  drift  bluffs  are  from  fifty  to  seventy-five  feet  higher  than  the  terrace, 
and  the  terrace  is  thirty  feet  above  the  river.  On  the  east  side  of  the  river  the  terrace  extends 
from  Medford  at  least  to  the  county  line  northward,  and  probably  about  a  mile  into  llice  county. 
The  connection  which  is  presumed  to  exist  between  this  gravel-terrace  and  the  gravel  seen  in  sec- 
tions 23,  14  and  1 1 ,  Walcott,  where  the  old  outlet  of  the  Straight  river  begins,  has  not  been  traced. 
The  outlet  itself,  now,  in  section  14,  probably  somewhat  silted  up,  is  about  1150  feet  above  the 
sea,  the  old  river  banks  rising  abruptly  on  either  side  about  fifty  feet,  and  the  country  farther 
back  from  twenty-five  to  fifty  feet  more.  The  bluffs  are  continuous  from  the  west-drained  marsh 
to  the  east-drained,  the  actual  divide  being  imperceptible  and  in  the  marsh  in  sec.  23,  which  is 
drained  in  both  directions.  The  narrowest  place  in  the  marsh  is  where  the  road  crosses,  between 
sections  13  and  14,  and  it  is  here  about  a  third  of  a  mile  across,  the  flow  of  water  here  being 
toward  the  east.  There  is  a  rough  and  rolling  high,  timbered,  surface  toward  the  west  and  north, 
but  smooth  and  treeless  toward  the  east  and  south.  There  is  a  general  low  tract  through  sections 
10  and  11.  Wells  are  shallow  and  enter  gravel  and  quicksand.  The  low  knolls  have  a  remarkable 
amount  of  northern  limestone. 

There  is  a  lower  terrace,  abutting  on  the  St.  Peter  sandstone,  running  from  Faribault  south 
along  the  west  side  of  Straight  river.  This  terrace  consists  of  yellow,  pebbly  clay,  sometimes 
containing  boulders,  and  rises  from  25  to  30  feet  above  the  Faribault  plain  when  it  first  com- 
mences, but  seems  to  rather  fade  and  mingle,  upwardly,  with  the  Trenton  flat  above,  over  which 
is  also  spread  a  yellow,  pebbly  clay.  This  appears  in  ascending  the  river.  This  terrace  is  also 
visible  in  the  Cannon  valley,  where  the  two  streams  combine,  and  its  outline  is  visible  in  the  val- 
ley of  the  creek  that  joins  the  Cannon  near  the  fair-ground.  Its  line  of  strike  passes  through  the 
Maple-Lawn  cemetery,  while  the  Catholic  cemetery  is  higher,  and  on  the  undulating  ascent  over 
the  St.  Peter  sandstone. 

Cannon  river  terraces.  As  already  noted,  the  Cannon  valley  is  a  remark- 
able one.  Some  of  its  remarkable  features  are  exhibited  in  Rice  county, 
and  some  of  them  only  in  Dakota  county.  It  once  conveyed  the  waters  of 
the  Minnesota  river  across  Rice  and  Dakota  counties  to  the  Mississippi 
valley.*  The  lake  that  at  first  was  formed  by  the  damming  up  of  the 
Minnesota  by  the  ice  of  the  glacial  epoch  has  been  described  by  Mr.  Upham 
in  the  report  on  Faribault  county.  At  a  certain  time  during  the  period  of 
its  existence  that  lake  had  its  discharge  through  the  Cannon  valley.  Those 
waters  must  have  entered  the  county,  judging  from  the  hight  of  the  upper 
terrace-flat,  at  an  elevation  of  about  1075  feet  above  the  ocean.  As  the  ice 
withdrew  the  lake  was  lowered  by  finding  lower  and  lower  avenues  of  dis- 
charge, some  of  which  will  be  described  in  the  report  on  Dakota  county, 
till  by  the  retreat  of  the  ice-margin  from  the  valley  entirely,  it  was  wholly 
drained,  and  the  river  assumed  its  present  course  to  the  Mississippi. 

*8cc  page  461,  foot-note  ;  also  page  642. 


|;C,4  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


The  river  from  its  source  passes  through  a  morainic  tract  extending  over  the  eastern  part  of 
Le  Sueur  county  and  into  Rice  county,  ou  both  sides,  as  far  as  the  center  of  Morristowu  town- 
ship, and  in  this  portion  of  its  course  its  terraces  are  less  distinct.  The  highest  terrace  is  not  well 
deiined  continuously,  even  after  passing  Morristown,  but  the  lower  is  very  marked  and  persistent. 
The  following  are  the  only  points  in  Rice  county  at  which  the  upper  terrace  deposits  of  gravel, 
probably  pertaining  to  the  earlier  portion  of  the  time  of  the  eastward  outflow  of  the  Minnesota 
river,  have  been  noticed.  On  sec.  24,  Morristown,  and  thence  extending  toward  Warsaw,  this 
upper  terrace  exhibits  an  undulating  upper  outline,  consisting  of  gravel,  and  reaches  a  higlit  of 
about  sixty  feet  above  Cannon  lake.  This  terrace-like  outline  blends  upward  with  the  till,  at 
least  superficially,  which  at  once  ascends  forty  feet  still  higher  and  stretches  off  southward  indefi- 
nitely as  a  smooth  prairie.  This  till  is  covered  with  a  copious  yellow  loam  (or  clay).  West  of 
Morristown,  in  sees.  20  and  21,  the  railroad  enters  an  old  valley  apparently  cut  through  the  depos- 
its of  this  upper  terrace,'  leaving  between  it  and  the  river  (which  lies  farther  north)  an  island 
which  rises  now  about  105  feet.  It  is  undulating,  and  apparently  contains  much  till  as  well  as 
gravel.  The  highest  point  on  the  railroad  is  in  the  south  part  of  sec.  l!0,  where  the  grade  is  1056 
feet  above  the  sea,  and  the  natural  surface  is  1067.  The  hill  north  of  the  Polar  Star  mill,  S.  E.  J 
of  sec.  26,  Wells,  near  the  Cannon  river,  rises  to  1095  feet,  but  consists  mostly  of  St.  Peter  sand- 
stone, capped  with  about  twenty  feet  of  yellow  loam,  semi-stratified.  The  top  of  the  limerock  at 
Doyle's  quarry,  on  the  west  side  of  Straight  river,  sec.  81,  Faribault,  is  1080  feet  above  the  sea. 
This  quarry  is  covered  by  fifteen  feet  of  fine  mortar-sand,  overlain  by  four  or  five  feet  of  stony 
and  pebbly  loam.  The  rock  is  changed  in  color  and  water-worn.  There  is  a  terraced  projection 
of  high  land  jutting  northward  in  section  27,  Bridgewater,  lying  between  the  present  valley  of  the 
Cannon  and  the  old  valley  passing  through  sec.  28.  The  uppermost  flat,  which  is  approximately 
1060  feet  above  the  sea,  is  probably  due  to  the  action  of  the  Cannon  river  when  its  waters  flowed 
nearly  at  that  hight.  At  Northfield  the  highest  gravel  deposits  seem  to  be  about  980  feet  above 
the  sea,  but  the  site  of  the  city  is  an  undulating,  ascending,  terrace-like  plateau,  in  which  the 
strike  of  the  Shakopee  limestone,  as  cut  by  the  Cannon  river,  remnants  of  the  St.  Peter  sandstone, 
and  the  gravel  deposits  of  the  ice-period,  though  elsewhere  exhibiting  two  distinct  terraces,  are 
all  concerned  as  causes.  The  highest  part  of  this  plain,  in  the  southeastern  suburbs,  rises  fifty 
feet  above  the  Milwaukee  depot.  The  west  side  of  the  valley  is  similar  to  the  east,  rising  by  an 
undulating  plain  to  sixty  feet  above  the  Milwaukee  depot,  where  there  is  a  rather  more  flat  and 
terrace-like  expanse.  This  is  975  feet  above  the  sea,  and  wells  here  enter  gravel.  Beyond  this, 
toward  St.  Olaf  college,  there  is  a  further  abrupt  ascent  to  125  feet  above  the  same  depot,  or 
1040  feet  above  the  sea,  passing  over  the  St.  Peter  saudrock.  Back  of  St.  Olaf  college,  on  the  rein- 
nunt  of  the  Trenton  limestone  there  quarried,  at  1063  feet  above  the  sea,  the  rock  is  simply  over- 
lain by  a  yellow  loam  four  feet  thick.  This  isolated  area  of  the  Trenton  limestone  is  remarkable 
for  having  no  signs  of  foreign  drift  strewn  over  it.  The  Trenton  is  simply  covered  with  a  spread 
ing  of  yellow  loam,  varying  to  black,  making  a  red  brick.  The  rock  itself  is  rotted  and  yellow 
with  age  and  exposure,  and  only  five  feet  thick,  'and  water-worn  on  the  upper  surface.  There  is 
some  drift  visible  on  the  St.  Peter  slope  surrounding  this  plateau,  appearing  mainly  as  boulders 
of  granite,  but  the  great  blue  moraine  must  have  passed  to  the  west  of  this  point.  The  water- 
worn  condition  of  this  Trenton  limestone,  which  rises  higher  than  the  surrounding  country  toward 
the  north  and  northwest,  indicates  that  at  some  time  during  the  flood-stage  of  the  Cannon  river, 
its  waters  spread  widely  over  Bridgewater  and  Greenvale  in  Dakota  county,  and  eastward  over 
much  of  Northfield,  forming  rather  a  lake  than  a  river;  but  a  lake  which  though  slowly  flowing 
eastward,  was  annually  frozen  over  in  the  winter.  Ice  thus  annually  formed  would  easily  remove 
any  boulders  that  may  have  once  lain  on  the  St.. Olaf  plateau,  since  the  waters  probably  did  not 
rise  much  above  that  level,  and  would  have  congealed  about  them.  On  the  movement  of  the  ice 
in  the  spring  they  would  be  carried  away,  and  be  dropped  at  lower  levels. 

These  highest  water-signs  in  the  Cannon  valley  are  doubtless  much  more  numerous  than 
here  enumerated,  but  as  these  are  the  only  definite  field-observations  that  have  been  made  respect- 
ing them,  the  outline  of  this  terrace  is  not  attempted  on  the  plate  representing  Rice  county. 
These  gravel  deposits  and  terraced  forms  in  the  bluffs  of  the  river,  between  Morristown  and 
Northfield  require  an  elevation  of  at  least  1066  feet  for  the  surface  of  the  river  at  Northfield.  As 
there  would  ba  some  slope  northward,  the  same  water  surface  would  necessarily  be  at  least  1070 
feet  at  the  Le  Sueur  county  line.  The  gravel  which  is  spread  over  the  Trenton  plateau  at  Doyle's 


RICE  COUNTY.  (;(J5 

Cannon  river  terraces.] 

quarry,  and  southwestward  from  there,  having  an  elevation  of  1090  feet  above  the  sea,  may  have 
been  deposited  by  the  Straight  river,  as  already  mentioned,  or  by  direct  drainage  from  the  wast- 
ing surface  of  the  ice  at  the  time  of  accumulation  of  the  moraine  in  Walcott  township. 

The  luircr  terrace,  that  on  which  the  city  of  Faribault  stands,  is  much 
more  constant  and  conspicuous.  At  Faribault  its  elevation  is  1002  feet, 
and  forty-three  feet  above  the  river.  At  Warsaw  it  is  1007,  and  thirty-four 
feet  above  the  river.  At  Morristown  it  is  1008,  and  about  fourteen  feet 
above  the  river.  Below  Faribault  there  are  conspicuous  morainic  accumu- 
lations of  gray  till  accompanied  with  considerable  gray  gravel  that  rise  in 
the  midst  of  this  gravel  terrace  on  the  west  side  of  the  river;  and  on  the 
east  side  it  is  quite  narrow  or  entirely  wanting.  Through  a  valley  in  this 
rolling  till  area  the  Milwaukee  road  passes  northward,  after  leaving  the 
gravel  plain  at  Faribault,  the  highest  part  of  which  valley  has  a  natural 
surface  1047  feet  above  the  sea,  though  the  till  itself  rises  in  many  places 
above  1  100  feet.  The  Cannon  valley  railroad  also  follows  a  low  spot  through 
this  moraine.  Both  roads  re-appear  on  the  gravel  terrace,  the  former  in 
sec.  13,  Wells,  and  the  latter  in  sec.  8,  Cannon  City,  where  it  is  approxi- 
mately 975  feet  above  the  sea.  Again  on  sees.  33  and  27,  Bridgewater,  this 
plain  is  separated  from  the  present  river  channel  by  extensive  accumula- 
tions of  till,  whose  hight,  however,  is  not  wholly  due  to  an  increase  of  the 
drift,  but  partly  to  the  preservation  of  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  and  the 
Trenton  limestone.  At  a  mile  above  the  mouth  of  Wolf  creek  the  river 
re-enters  its  old  valley,  and  is  skirted  by  the  deposits  of  this  terrace  espe- 
cially on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  between  Dundas  and  Northn'eld.  The 
strike  of  the  Shakopee,  with  its  boggy  bench,  is  introduced  conspicuously 
at  and  below  Dundas,  disturbing  the  course  of  this  gravel  terrace,  and 
introducing  a  lower  terrace  on  each  side,  between  which  latter  the  river 
continues  to  the  county  line.  At  Dundas  the  real  valley  is  about  two  miles 
wide,  with  gravel  flats  on  both  sides. 

Gravel  is  spread  over  the  lower  prairies,  at  about  an  elevation  of  950  feet,  in  the  northeastern 
part  of  Xorthfleld,  tributary  to  this  same  terrace  in  Dakota  county,  and  especially  over  the  "Stan- 
ton  flat"  in  northwestern  Goodhue  county.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  some  part  of  this  gravel 
reached  the  Cannon  valley  by  way  of  the  Prairie  creek,  at  the  time  of  the  morainic  accumulation 
between  Faribault  and  'Jannon  City. 


The  Bridijcirah-r  kunii'.  The  most  important  phenomenon  of  the  drift 
in  Rice  county  is  the  kame  in  Bridgewater  and  Cannon  City  townships.  It 
can  be  traced,  with  unimportant  interruptions,  from  the  N.  W.  $  of  the 


666 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


I  Bridgewater  kame. 


N.  W.  i  of  sec.  21,  Bridgewater,  to  the  N.  W. 
J  of  sec.  17,  Cannon  City,  on  the  west  side 
of  the  river,  a  distance  of  five  and  a  half 
miles.  It  crosses  the  river  twice,  once  in 
the  N.  W.  ^  of  sec.  4,  and  once  in  the  E.  A 
of  sec.  8.  It  consists  of  gray  gravel,  with 
some  larger  stones,  piled  in  a  sharp  ridge, 
about  as  steeply  as  such  materials  will  lie. 
It  is  popularly  known  as  a  "horse-back."' 
It  shows  where  the  river  ran  during  some 
portion  of  the  ice-age,  while  the  ice  itself 
was  present  as  a  glacier,  and  extended 
westward  and  northwestward  indefinitely. 

This  ridge  rises  conspicuously,  first,  on  sec.  21, 
Bridgewater,  not  far  from  Wolf  creek,  on  John  Cow- 
den's  farm;  crossing  the  land  of  Benj.  Tupper,  in  the 
direction  S.  25°  W.  (mag.),  it  is  interrupted  for  about 
twenty  rods.  The  country  through  which  it  passes  is 
flat  or  slightly  undulating.  It  rises  again  on  the  farm 
of  Marshall  Gates,  and  has  about  the  same  direction. 
It  crosses  the  railroad  near  the  southeast  corner  of 
section  20,  and  the  north  and  south  highway  east  of 
the  railroad,  and  the  east  and  west  high  way  [within  a  few 
rods  of  that.  It  has  several  short  gaps  then,  but  can  be 
traced  nearly  to  the  Cannon  river  a  little  below  Carr's  crossing,  on  the  N.  W.  J  of  sec.  4,  Cannon  City, 
where  it  is  very  prominent.  It  re-appears  in  the  S.  E.  J  of  sec.  5,  in  the  bottomlands  of  the  river,  but 
on  the  opposite  side.  This  flat  is  seventy-live  feet  lower  than  the  fiat  on  which  it  lies  in  section  33. 
It  is  here  lying  on  the  Shakopee  limestone,  with  occasional  knobs  of  the  St.  1'eter  rising  so  as  to  be 
visible  (one  of  them  being  visible  under  the  gravel  at  the  end  of  the  kame  where  it  is  cut  by  the  river 
in  section  8),  but  in  section  33,  at  its  most  eastern  turn ,  it  lies  on  a  red  till,  though  afterward,  where  it 
enters  section  32.  it  lies  apparently  on  a  gray  till,  if  not  directly  on  the  underlying  Shakopee.  On  the 
N.  J  of  N.  E.  J  of  sec.  8,  Cannon  City,  where  it  crosses  the  land  of  Mr.  Peter  LeClaire  Hall,  its  upper 
outline  is  broken  by  rather  abrupt  changes.  It  continues  in  the  bottomlands  (or  flood-plain),  the 
strike  of  the  St.  Peter  passing  under  it  just  where  it  reaches  the  river  and  considerably  increasing  its 
elevation.  It  here  measures,  by  aneroid,  92  feet  in  hight.  The  flood-plain  is  about  940  feet  above  the 
sea  (8  feet  above  the  river),  and  the  kame  rises  to  1032.  The  red  till,  and  loam,  about  one  eighth  mile 
farther  east,  here  rise  in  a  timbered  bluff  in  which  the  lower  Trenton  limestone  is  probably  included, 
to  1075  feet.  Where  the  kame  ceases,  on  the  west  side  of  the  river  in  section  8,  the  descent  is  as 
steep,  to  the  very  water,  as  on  either  side  of  the  kame  itself.  The  direction  of  the  kame  at  this  point 
would  cause  it  to  be  expected  on  the  west  side  of  the  river  in  the  lowest  part  of  the  old  channel  in 
the  northwest  part  of  section  17.  Here  are  found,  actually,  two  ridges,  but  of  less  definite 
characters,  and  neither  of  them  can  be  affirmed  to  be  the  extension  of  the  kame,  since  they 
seem  to  blend  with  the  generally  bluffy  till  area  which  here  lies  between  the  Milwaukee  railroad 
and  the  river.  One  of  these  lies  on  each  side  of  the  north  and  south  highway  (likewise  of 
the  Cannon  valley  railroad).  That  on  the  east  side,  though  capped  and  flanked  with  gravel,  at 
a  hight  above  the  lower  gravel  terrace,  yet  has  a  basis  of  St.  Peter  sandrock  and  red  till  with 
northeastern  boulders.  Its  length  is  about  an  eighth  of  a  mile.  Further  east  and  south  the  land 
soon  rises  into  a  rough  moraine.  Toward  the  west  the  surface  also  rises  irregularly. though  some 
what  in  the  semblance  of  a  ridge  at  first,  on  the  west  side  of  which  runs  a  little  creek  northward 


Fie;.  52.    THE  BIUDGEWATEK  KAME. 


MCE  COUNTY. 

BridgewaUr  kame.] 

This  kame,  the  course  of  which  has  been  described,  consists  entirely  of 
gray  gravel.  It  generally  has  not  a  sudden  depression  immediately  along- 
side, in  the  average  level  of  the  country,  but  the  kame  rises  abruptly  from* 
the  general  flat,  the  angle  being  from  25°  to  35°  from  the  horizon.  Yet, 
although  there  is  not  a  sudden  depression  where  it  lies,  there  is  perceptible, 
in  some  cases,  a  broad,  basin-shaped  valley  through  the  lowest  parts  of 
which  it  passes.  This  broad,  smooth  valley  is  from  a  hundred  to  a  hundred 
and  twenty  rods  in  width.  Such  can  be  seen  in  sec.  21,  Bridgewater.  The 
hight  of  the  ridge  is  usually  from  thirty  to  forty  feet,  with  a  smooth  exterior; 
but  near  the  school-house,  in  the  west  part  of  sec.  33,  Bridgewater,  its  hight 
is  from  seventy-five  to  eighty  feet,  and  in  other  places  it  has  an  average 
hight  of  fifty  feet.  The  accompanying  sketch-map  of  its  course,  fig.  52, 
was  prepared  with  the  assistance  of  Mr.  W.  H.  Emery. 

Conclusions  respecting  the  Bridgewater  kame.     Some  important  and  neces- 
sary conclusions  result  from  the  existence  and  nature  of  this  kame. 

1.  As  it  contains  only  gray  gravel  it  must  have  been  derived  from  the 
gray,  or  northwestern  till  sheet. 

2.  Its  composition  being  gravel,  water-worn,  it  must  have  been  de- 
posited by  water. 

3.  As  it  rises  and  falls,  both  on  its  upper  and  its  lower  surface,  accord- 
ing to  the  surface  on  which  it  lies,  it  cannot  have  been  caused  by  beach- 
action,  and  no  other  natural  agent  can  be  appealed  to  than  a  river  in  rapid 
flow. 

4.  The  supply  of  the  material  of  which  it  consists  must  have  been 
rapid  and  long-continued;  hence  the  glacier  ice  must  have  been  present. 

5.  As  a  line  of  rolling  morainic  accumulations,  the  outer  morainic  belt 
of  the  county,  here  occupies  in  general  the  valley  of  the  Cannon  river  from 
Faribault  to  sec.  33,  Bridgewater,  the  kame  must  have  been  accumulated 
during  that  prolonged  stationary  stage  of  the  ice. 

6.  As  the  ice  would  at  that  time  have  covered  and  enclosed  the  Cannon 
valley  above  Bridgewater,  and  also  the  Minnesota  valley,  the  water  con- 
cerned in  its  formation  must  have  been  that  of  the  Straight  river  only. 
Again, 

7.  As  the  first  outflow  of  the  Minnesota  through  the  Cannon  valley 
was  at  an  elevation  of  about  1075  feet,  forming  at  Northfield  rather  a  broad, 


60S  THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Bridge water  kame. 

lake-like  river,  than  a  narrow  rapid  river  required  for  this  kame,  it  could 
not  have  been  produced  at  the  date  when  the  Cannon  first  received  the 
Minnesota;  and  again, 

8.  It  could  not  have  been  produced  by  the  Cannon  when  the  Minne- 
sota acquired  its  lower  passage  to  the  Cannon,  forming  its  lower  gravel 
terrace,  since  at  that  time  the  ice  would  have  been  withdrawn  from  the 
region  in  which  it  lies. 

9.  It  must,  hence,  have  been  produced  by  the  waters  of  the  Straight 
river  alone. 

10.  As  there  is  evidence  of  the  obstruction  of  the  Straight  river  by 
the  glacier  south  of  Faribault,  causing  the  discharge  of  the  Straight  river 
through  the  north  branch  of  the  Zumbro,  it  must  have  been  produced  at  a 
later  date,  when  the  ice  had  shrunken  so  as  to  allow  of  the  drainage  of  the 
Straight  river  toward  the  north. 

11.  Hence  the  lake  that  covered  the  upper  portions  of  the  Straight 
river  valley  was  lowered  to  the  level  of  the  top  of  the  ice. 

12.  The  river  flowed  over  the  margin  of  the  glacier,  and  presumably 
at  first  on  its  very  surface. 

13.  As  the  river  received  the  gravel  from  the  glacier,  the  gravel  must 
have  been  at  the  same  level,  or  above  it. 

14.  As  the  gravel  is  the  result  of  washing  of  the  till  and  the  removal 
of  the  clay,  the  till  itself  must  have  been  as  high  or  higher  than  the  surface 
of  the  river. 

15.  The  till  was  therefore  on  the  surface  of  the  ice. 

16.  The  kame  was  not  formed  by  a  sub-glacial  stream  butjjy  an  epi- 
glacial  stream.     This  results  from  the  foregoing  conclusions,  and  also  from 
the  fact  that  the  bottom  of  the  kame  actually  rises  about  75  feet  at  the 
point  where  it  leaves  the  flood-plain  on  sec.  5,  and  ascends  to  the  S.W.  |  of 
sec.  33,  where  it  lies  on  red  till,  the  latter  point  being  about  three-quarters 
of  a  mile  north  of  the  former. 

17.  The  ice  bearing  the  gray  till  was  projected  eastward  over  the  pre- 
existing sheet  of  red  till,  without  entirely  disrupting  and  removing  the  red 
till,  at  least  where  the  red  till  lies  on  the  St.  Peter  sandstone.    At  higher 
levels,  over  the  Trenton  limestone  in  sec.  33,  Bridgewater,  the  red  till  is  not 
found  between  the  gray  till  and  the  rock. 


RICE  COUNTY.  (;(-,<, 

Kame.     Minerals  from  the  drift.] 

18.  The  Straight  river  continued  to  flow  about  where  the  kame  lies, 
after  the  withdrawal  of  the  ice. 

19.  When  the  upper  Cannon  valley  was  freed  from  the  glacier,  and  it 
received  also  the  waters  of  the  Minnesota,  the  volume  of  the  river  was  so 
great  that  it  not  only  covered  the  kame  itself  but  spread  eastward  over  the 
St.  Peter  sandstone. 

20.  As  the  stony  till  lately  deposited  by  the  glacier  was  less  easily 
excavated  than  the  St.  Peter  sandrock,  gradually  the  greater  volume  of  the 
river  ran  over  the  strike  of  that  sandrock;  and  this  may  have  taken  place 
while  only  the  Straight  river  occupied  the  valley,  and  perhaps  when  the 
ice  still  existed  in  the  interval  between  the  old  valley  and  the  new  one. 

21.  Thus  the  river  on  the  shrinkage  again  of  the  Cannon  to  its  present 
size,  or  on  the  withdrawal  of  the  ice,  was  permanently  diverted  from  its 
course  through  or  over  the  till  deposits,  marked  by  the  present  position  of 
the  kame  in  sees.  33,  32,  29  and  21,  and  remained  in  the  narrower,  but 
deeper,  newly  excavated  gorge  through  which  it  flows  from  Carr's  crossing 
to  where  it  returns  to  its  old  valley  in  the  north  part  of  sec.  27. 

22.  A  similar  encroachment  of  the  river  on  the  St.  Peter  sandrock  is 
witnessed  in  sec.  19,  in  the  north  part  of  Paribault,  where  also  the  river  has 
abandoned  its  old  valley,  abundantly  strewn  with  gravel,  extending  through 
sees.  23, 13,  and  the  west  half  of  sec.  7,  and  has  followed  a  recently  excavated 
narrow  gorge  through  the  St.  Peter  sandrock,  a  distance  of  about  two  miles, 
uniting  again  with  the  gravel-strewn  wide  valley  just  below  the  Cannon 
valley  roller  mill,  S.  E.  cor.  of  sec.  8. 

23.  After  the  formation  of  this  kame  there  was  no  re-advance  of  the 
ice  over  the  same  area. 

Minerals  from  the  drift.  Several  pieces  of  native  copper  were  found  near  the  Cannon  Valley 
roller  mill.  S.  E.  }  of  sec.  8,  Cannon  City,  some  in  excavating  for  the  foundation  of  the  mill,  and 
others  along  the  road  between  sees.  8  and  0.  They  are  from  the  red  till  which  generally  is  there 
found  lying  in  the  eroded  depressions  of  the  St.  Peter  sandstone. 

Several  pieces  of  silicifled  wood  have  been  found  at  Northfleld.  These  evidently  are  refer- 
able to  the  gravel  and  till  of  the  gray  drift  derived  from  the  northwestward. 

Among  the  specimens  obtained  from  the  drift,  now  in  the  collections  of  Carleton  college, 
Prof.  Sperry  has  preserved  a  boulder  of  very  coarse  porphyry.  The  crystals  are  apparently  of 
albite,  in  a  compact  greenish  diabase.  They  are  about  1  \  inches  in  length,  the  corners  and  edges 
somewhat  rounded  off,  making  the  rock  resemble  a  conglomerate. 

In  the  same  collection  of  drift-stones  are  several  pieces,  about  six  inches  long,  of  the  felsite 
of  the  Great  Palisades,  at  lake  Superior,  with  the  disseminated  crystals  of  quartz  and  translucent 
feldspar. 

Small  specimens  of  asbestus  have  been  brought  twice  to  Carleton  college,  once  said  to  have 


THK  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Wells. 

come  from  near  Shieldsville,  and  once  from  near  Faribault.  It  is  in  silky  threads,  that  are  fine 
and  from  a  vein  in  some  rock.  This  vein  is  2J  inches  wide,  the  threads  running  transverse  to  the 
direction  of  the  vein,  and  presenting  a  faulted  structure  near  the  middle  of  the  vein.  None  of  the 
rock  is  preserved  in  the  samples  seen,  but  as  both  specimens  have  the  same  faulted  structure  they 
probably  came  from  the  same  vein,  if  not  from  the  same  boulder.  The  grain  of  the  mineral,  and 
its  color,  also  indicate  the  same. 

Mastodon  remains.  Concerning  the  mastodon  tusk  found  at  Northfield,  Prof.  Sperry  writes 
as  follows: 

CARLETON  COLLEGE,  NORTHFIKLD,  MINN., 

April  8th,  1882. 
PROF.  N.  H.  WINCHEI.L,  MINNEAPOLIS,  MINN. 

DEAR  SIR:  In  reply  to  yours  of  3rd  instant  making  inquiries  concerning  some  remains  of 
a  mastodon  found  in  this  city  in  1879,  and  now  in  the  cabinet  of  Carleton  college,  I  would  respect- 
fully state  that  the  remains  found  here  consist  only  of  a  part  of  one  tusk.  This  was  exposed  by 
some  workmen,  while  digging  in  a  deposit  of  drift,  about  ten  feet  below  the  surface. 

The  portion  of  the  tusk  found  measured  eight  and  one-half  (8j)  feet  in  length,  and  twenty- 
two  1 22)  inches  in  circumference,  at  the  base.  When  restored,  by  continuing  its  general  line  of 
taper  to  a  point,  it  measures  nearly  twelve  (12)  feet. 

The  broken  extremity  of  the  part  found  was  so  eroded  and  rounded  as  to  render  it  evident 
that  it  had  been  broken  and  separated  from  the  terminal  portion  before  being  deposited  where  it 
was  found.  Its  whole  appearance  indicates  that  it  had  shared  the  rough-and-tumble  experience 
of  its  associated  drift  material. 

Subsequent  removal  of  much  of  the  surrounding  bank  has  not  revealed  the  separated  ex- 
tremity. Exposure  to  the  light  and  air  has  resulted  in  checking  and  slacking  the  discovered 
specimen,  so  that  protection,  by  the  use  of  glue,  sizing  and  varnish,  became  necessary. 

Yours  cordially, 

L.  B.  SPERRY. 

Wells  in  Rice  county. 

Wlieatland.  Wells  in  Wheatland  township  are  generally  in  blue  clay  after  passing  through 
two  to  four  feet  of  yellow  clay.  The  latter  contains  pebbles  and  bits  of  Cretaceous  shale,  and  if 
not  a  weathered  condition  of  the  blue  till,  is  closely  connected  with  it  in  origin.  William  Sherack, 
S.  W.  J  sec.  16;  well,  33  ft.;  yellow  clay,  then  blue  clay. 

Webster.  Edward  McFadden,  S.  E.  J  sec.  17;  well,  38  feet;  all  yellow  and  blue  clay  except  at 
the  bottom  where  water  was  found  in  gravel.  Pieces  of  Cretaceous  shale  and  lignite  were  found 
in  this  well.  Thomas  Reynolds,  sec.  14;  well,  42  ft.;  yellowish-red  clay,  18  ft;  the  rest  was  blue 
clay.  Martin  Duffy,  S.  E.  J  sec.  16;  well,  54  feet.;  said  to  be  all  in  gravel,  finding  no  water.  This 
is  on  land  about  twenty  feet  higher  than  McFadden's  well.  -  Burke,  on  the  south  half  of 

sec.  8;  well,  68  ft.,  yellow  and  blue  clay.  John  Malloy,  S.  E.  J  sec.  10;  well,  30  ft.;  yellow  loam, 
8-10  feet,  then  blue  clay,  and  water  in  gravel.  Mrs.  Ann  Kinsella,  N.  E.  J  sec.  14;  well,  25  ft., 
only  yellow  loam  and  blue  clay. 

Forest.  Simon  Taylor,  N.  W.  J  sec.  13;  well,  73  feet;  dug  all  the  way,  yellow  clay,  blue 
clay,  quicksand,  the  blue  clay  making  up  the  greater  part  of  the  depth,  and  the  quicksand 
and  gravel  at  the  bottom  furnishing  water.  The  blue  clay  had  considerable  slate,  and  occasionally 
other  stones  as  large  as  six  inches.  John  Beckley,  S.  W.  J  sec.  12;  well,  24  feet;  yellow  and  blr.e 
clay;  water  in  sand.  Leonard  Balleyett's  well,  east  side  of  sec.  22,  is  25  feet  deep,  mostly  in  yel- 
low clay.  James  Strange,  N.  E.  J  sec.  15;  well,  18  feet,  all  in  yellow  and  blue  clay,  with  pieces  of 
Cretaceous  shale.  Wm.  F.  Sloan,  N.  E.  cor.  sec.  10;  well  90  feet;  in  clay  all  the  way  to  the  bot- 
tom, where  qujcksand  was  struck,  furnishing  water.  This  well  was  bored  18  inches  in  diameter, 
and  planked  with  pine,  thus  rendering  the  water  foul.  George  Parker,  sec.  35;  well,  110  feet;  a 
bored  well,  formerly  good  water. 

Bridyewater.  At  St.  Olaf  school,  sec.  3(5,  Bridgewater,  near  Northfield,  the  well  is  in 
sand  6-10  feet,  sandrock,  80-90  feet,  Shakopee,  about  50  feet;  water  is  raised  by  a  windmill.  I.  I. 
Ilsley,  N.  E.  J  sec.  33;  four  wells,  all  in  blue  clay;  45  feet  in  blue  clay,  then  limerock,  then  soap- 
stone,  there  finding  water,  at  least  stopping  there;  probably  seep  water;  no  red  clay  under  the  blue 


RICE  COUNTY.  67] 

Well?.     Building-stone.] 

clay.  Mr.  Ilsley  found  a  log  thirty- five  feet  under  the  surface  in  blue  clay.  Levi  Strader,  sec.  17; 
well,  27  feet;  soil  and  yellow  pebbly  clay,  25  feet;  sand,  1  foot;  cemented  yellow  clay  (hard pan), 
1  foot;  water  rose  about  8  feet. 

Shicldsrille.  Pat.  McKenna,  N.  E.  }  sec.  1;  well,  20  feet;  yellow  clay,  10  feet;  blue  clay,  10 
feet;  both  with  small  stones;  water  from  the  clay.  Another  well  near  was  the  same,  though  8  feet 
higher  at  the  surface.  The  lakes  at  Shieldsville  do  not  supply  the  wells  sunk  near  them,  being  in 
superficial  basins  in  the  impervious  till.  Some  wells  are  sunk  seventy  feet,  or  more,  near  these 
lakes,  without  getting  a  permanent  supply  of  water. 

Wells.  Edward  LaCroix,  N.  E.  |  sec.  12;  well,  47  feet;  yellow  clay,  20  feet;  sand,  2  feet; 
yellow,  hard  clay,  1  foot;  blue  clay,  25  feet;  this  well  is  about  on  the  contour-line  of  1000,  the  west 
limit  of  the  gravelly,  terrace-like  expanse  that  accompanies  the  Cannon  valley.  C.  J.  Winans,  S.  E. 
}  sec.  6;  well,  33  feet;  yellow  and  blue  clay,  with  gravel  at  the  bottom.  J.  G.  Scott,  sec.  21 ;  well,  45 
feet;  yellow  loam,  12  feet;  blue  clay,  28  feet;  gravel,  5  feet;  water.  Tinus  Rand,  sec.  21;  well,  on 
thebrir.k  of  Roberd's  lake;  28  feet  in  blue  clay;  though  situated  but  ten  feet  above  the  lake,  this 
well  had  no  water.  Dennis  Scott,  N.  W.  i  sec.  6;  well,  six  or  eight  feet  deep  in  gravel;  near  the 
lake,  but  about  25  feet  above  the  lake. 

Cannon  City.  Well  of  John  Gordon,  at  Cannon  City  village,  passed  through  soil  and  clay, 
30  feet,  and  into  limerock,  3  feet.  Wm.  Eigers.  south  part  of  sec.  18  (west  of  the  river);  well,  38 
feet;  yellow  loam  and  clay,  4  feet;  blue  clay,  30  feet;  sand,  4  feet;  no  water;  small  pieces  of  lignite. 

Morristown.  At  Morristown  village  wells  are  from  12  to  15  feet  in  depth,  in  gravel.  Joseph 
Goar,  N.  E.  }  sec.  33;  well,  70  feet  deep;  only  in  drift  deposits.  When  the  wind  is  west  air  comes 
into  this  well  through  the  gravel  near  the  bottom,  and  when  it  is  east  air  passes  in  the  opposite 
direction  through  the  gravel.  The  well  becomes  so  cold  by  this  circulation  that  in  winter,  at  the 
depth  of  seventy  feet,  the  bucket  freezes  fast  if  left  in  the  water.  This  well  is  in  the  prairie 
country,  about  1100  or  1125  feet  above  the  sea,  with  a  westward  slope  toward  a  marsh  about  a 
hundred  rods  from  the  well. 

Warsaw.  John  O'Connor,  S.  E.  J  sec.  34;  well,  13  feet;  all  in  yellow  clay;  water  in  a  thin 
gravel  bed.  John  Davis,  N.  W.  }  sec.  34;  well,  90  feet;  yellow  and  blue  clay;  no  water.  Another 
well  ten  or  twelve  feet  west  of  the  last,  50  feet  deep,  had  a  little  water,  but  not  enough. 

Walcott.  Widow  Hannah  Myers,  S.  W.  ]  sec.  21;  well,  6  feet;  soil  and  sand,  5£  feet;  then 
blue  clay;  water  rises  and  falls  with  Mud  creek,  but  is  unfailing.  This  well  is  situated  on  the 
terrace-flat  that  accompanies  the  Straight  river,  and  is  about  25  feet  above  the  river.  Wells  in 
sees.  14  and  11  are  shallow,  and  often  in  gravel. 

MATERIAL  RESOURCES: 

Besides  its  fertile  soil,  and'the  large  supply  of  timber  that  covers  most  of  the  western  half  of 
the  county,  Rice  county  has  natural  means  of  wealth  derivable  directly  from  the  bedded  rocks, 
viz.,  building-stone,  and  lime.  Bricks  also  are  made  in  a  number  of  places. 

Building-stone.  Numerous  stone-quarries  occur  in  the  eastern  half  of  the  county.  The 
bluffs  throughout  this  region  are  capped  by  a  layer  of  the  Trenton  limestone  varying  from  two  or 
three  feet  to  twenty  feet  in  thickness,  and  the  same  stratum  outcrops  favorably  at  many  points 
along  the  Straight  and  Cannon  valleys.  This  rock  furnishes  a  useful  stone  for  nearly  all  purposes 
in  common  building,  and  is  relied  on  throughout  the  country  for  all  walls  and  foundations.  It 
has  also,  till  very  recently,  supplied  all  the  stone  used  in  the  principal  buildings  in  Northfield 
and  Faribault;  but  within  a  couple  of  years  several  varieties  of  stone  from  abroad  have  been 
sparingly  imported  into  those  cities  for  some  of  the  larger  structures.* 

Prairie  creek  valley  has  scores  of  small  quarries  opened  along  its  bluff -i,  and  the  valley  of  the 
Cannon  looks  up  to  as  many  more.  Some  of  the  latter  are  as  follows:  east  of  Dundas  quarries 
are  owned  by  Messrs.  Lemont,  Larkins,  Mills,  Kuntz,  and  by  others.  The  quarries  of  Peter 
Oleson  and  Archie  Stetson  are  on  the  east  side  of  sec.  25,  Bridgewater.  Porter  Gray 'sand  C.  A. 
Reed's  quarries  are  on  the  N.  W.  j  sec.  34,  west  side  of  the  river.  Charles  Sanford's  and  William 
Clelland's  quarries,  on  the  same  quarter  section,  are  run  summer  and  winter.  The  stone  obtained 
here  is  not  blue,  but  ashen  gray,  similar  to  that  at  Doyle's  quarry  at  Faribault.  Stone  of  the 
best  quality  is  furnished  at  Northfield  at  about  six  dollars  per  cord. 

*  I'onipare  the  chapter  on  the  building-stones  of  the  state,  p.  171. 


TIIK  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 

[Building  stow*    Lime.    Uriel' 

There  are  several  quarries  in  the  bluffs  at  Faribault, -but  the  most  of  the  stone  used  at  Fari- 
bauit  is  derived  from  the  extensive  quarry  of  Mr.  Philip  Cromer,  situated  about  three  miles  east 
of  Faribault,  in  the  valley  of  Fall  creek.  The  principal  mass  of  rock  here  is  about  ten  feet  thick, 
and  is  nearly  f r.  e  from  the  objectionable  shaly  impurities  seen  at  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis.  It 
is  compact  and  uniform  in  structure,  though  slightly  clouded  in  color  by  fossiliferous  bands  and 
by  a  slight  dissemination  of  shale.  The  layers  are  thick  and  persistent,  but  can  be  split  into 
blocks  from  six  to  ten  inches  thick.  The  lowest  layer  is  very  similar  to  the  lowest  layer  at  Min- 
neapolis, being  somewhat  vesicular,  and  darker  colored.  In  the  midst  of  the  quarry  also  is  a 
thickness  of  about  a  foot  of  very  dark  limestone,  containing  much  carbonaceous  sediment.  The 
marble,  so-called,  which  was  once  used  somewhat  in  making  table-tops  and  mantels,  is  the  top 
layer,  and  really  is  embraced  under  and  over  shale,  the  upper  shale  being  seen  to  be  at  least  six 
feet  thick,  and  containing  thin  bands  of  impure  limerock,  but  non-fossiliferous.  This  marble 
layer  is  a  little  less  than  a  foot  thick.  It  is  susceptible  of  a  flue  polish,  and  has  a  gray  color.  On 
a  polished  surface  are  shown  numerous  sections  of  fossils  peculiar  to  the  rock.  This  layer  is  not 
now  quarried  for  its  peculiar  product,  but  is  involved  with  the  general  quarry.  Beneath  the 
whole  quarry  are  three  or  four  feet  of  shale  which  separate  it  from  the  St.  Peter  sandstone.  Mr. 
Cromer  sells  undressed  stone  for  prices  ranging  from  $2.50  to  $5 .00  per  cord.  The  greater  part  of 
his  business  however  is  in  the  best  varieties  which  he  sells  by  the  cubic  fool  at  prices  ranging 
from  25  cents  to  75  cents.  Cut  stone  is  sold  from  20  to  30  cents  per  surface  foot.  The  quarry  is 
overlain  by  2J-4  feet  of  loose  stone  mingled  with  loam.  It  was  opened  first  about  the  year  1805. 
but  was  not  continuously  wrought  till  1867,  since  which  time  it  has  furnished  a  very  large  amount 
of  stone,  which  may  be  seen  in  Faribault  in  such  buildings  as  the  asylum  for  deaf  and  mute,  the 
Shattuck  school  and  the  surrounding  buildings,  the  public  schools,  Episcopal  church  and  many 
of  the  business  blocks.  Willis  Hall,  at  NorthQeld,  is  also  partly  constructed  of  stone  from  this 
quarry. 

Other  quarries  are  owned  by  Michael  Doyle  and  Frank  Berry,  the  latter  tjwo  miles  south  of 
Faribault  on  the  west  side  of  the  river.  Mr.  Doyle's  quarry  is  in  the  bank  of  the  Straight  river 
near  the  center  of  section  31,  Faribault,  on  the  west  side,  and  was  opened  in  1856.  The  stone 
here  is  all  changed  in  color  to  yellowish  drab.  It  is  a  durable  stone,  superior  in  that  respect  to 
Cramer's.  Common  stone  here  sells  for  $3.50  per  cord  of  128  feet.  Mr.  Doyle  states  that  about 
10  feet  of  shale  underlies  the  limerock. 

In  the  vicinity  of  Northfleld,  quarries  are  owned,  near  St.  Olaf  college,  by  H.  II.  White, 
John  Lanpher,  and  Saul  Stewart.  This  stone  is  hauled  fifteen  and  even  twenty  miles  further 
west.  Other  quarrymen  are  J.  Leonhart,  A.  Revere  and  D.  Ferguson.  In  Wheeling  township, 
in  the  valley  of  Prairie  creek,  quarries  are  owned  by  J.  Thompson,  A.  Knapp,  and  S.  Aslagson. 
In  Richland  township,  bordering  on  Goodhue  county,  are  quarries  owned  by  Ilalver  Johnson,  and 
Peter  Halverson. 

Lime.  The  upper  four  strata  of  the  Lower  Trenton  formation,  as  exposed  in  this  county. 
furnish  tolerably  good  material  for  quicklime,  though  in  some  places  they  are  too  siliceous  and 
aluminous.  Lime  has  been  made  from  this  formation  in  every  township  of  the  county  east  of 
Cannon  river,  but  this  is  not  now  a  regular  and  paying  business  except  at  Philip  Cramer's  kiln, 
near  Faribault.  Mr.  Cromer  uses  a  patent  kiln  and  burns  from  3.000  to  3,500  barrels  per  year. 
Other  kilns  near  Faribault  produce  in  the  aggregate  about  1,000  barrels  per  year.  There  is  a 
kiln  one  mile  north  of  Northfield,  which  burns  lime  from  the  Shakopee  formation,  and  supplies 
Northlield  and  vicinity.  It  is  owned  by  Michael  Tram  no.  He  burns  30  barrels  in  2t  hours. 
when  running,  and  sells  for  seventy  cents  per  barrel  delivered  in  Northfleld. 

Brick  have  been  made  at  numerous  places  in  Rice  county,  and  they  are  uniformly  of  a  red 
color.  They  sell  from  six  to  eight  dollars  per  thousand.  One  yard  at  Faribault  has  produced 
sometimes  a  million  brick  per  year. 

Sorghum.  Among  the  important  industries  of  the  county  should  be  mentioned  the  sugar 
and  sorghum  establishment  of  Mr.  Seth  II.  Kenney,  situated  in  the  N.  W.  2  of  sec.  6,  Morristown. 
This  is  the  pioneer  establishment  of  the  state,  and  it  is  equipped  with  the  latest  improved  methods 
and  machinery  for  the  manufacture  of  sugar. 

Lumber.  The  steam  saw-mills  at  Morristown  cut  five  or  six  hundred  thousand  feet  of  lum- 
ber, or  its  equivalent  in  "head-lining",  annually.  The  head-lining,  which  is  the  narrow  stripping 
placed  round  the  heads  of  flour  barrels  to  secure  the  heads  of  the  barrels,  is  made  of  "water  elm" 


RICE  COUNTY.  £73 

Artificial  mounds. J 

but  several  varieties  of  logs  are  cut  into  common  lumber  of  all  dimensions.  Other  steam  lumber 
mills,  less  extensive,  are  found  in  the  same  part  of  the  county. 

Artificial  mounds.  At  one  half  mile  north  of  the  old  Wheatland  post-office,  S.  W. .',  sec.  16, 
Wheatland,  several  artificial  mounds  appear.  They  lie  along  a  small  lake  which  is  on  the  west 
side  of  the  north -and -south  road.  They  are  rather  small,  not  exceeding  two  feet  in  hight.  Five 
or  six  are  visible  from  the  road.  There  are  probably  others. 

In  Webster  township,  sec.  17,  an  eighth  of  a  mile  north  of  Edward  McFadden's,  on  the 
highest  land,  but  yet  surrounding  a  marsh,  may  be  seen  a  number  of  mounds  rising  two  and  a 
half  or  three  feet. 

There  was  an  "  Indian  mound"  on  sec.  2,  Shieldsville,  on  the  south  side  of  the  outlet  of  the 
middle  lake.  According  to  Mr.  1'atrick  McKenna,  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Shieldsville,  the 
Sioux  Indians  used  to  fix  their  camp  at  this  place.  They  had  a  scaffolding  upon  it  where  they 
placed  their  dead,  and  afterward  buried  the  bones  in  the  mound.  This  mound  was  from  ten  to 
twelve  feet  high.  It  was  removed  by  the  owner  of  the  land  that  the  surface  might  be  tilled. 
Flint  arrow-points  have  been  found  in  that  neighborhood,  but  they  are  not  known  elsewhere  in 
the  vicinity. 

Besides  the  mounds  mentioned  in  Waseca  county,  on  page  414,  others  are  in  the  vicinity  of 
Woortville.  According  to  Mr.  J.  F.  Murphy  there  are  21  mounds,  from  four  to  five  feet  in 
hight,  near  the  center  of  section  3,  between  \Vatkins  and  Rice  lakes,  some  of  them  thirty  feet  in 
diameter. 

In  Fillmore  county  several  large  mounds  are  to  be  seen  on  the  tops  of  the  bluffs  near  Rush- 
ford;  and  at  the  junction  of  the  north  branch  of  Root  river  with  the  main  river,  two  miles  below 
Lanesboro,  area  great  many  mounds,  probably  forty  in  number.  Several  years  since,  on  the  dis- 
covery of  human  bones  in  plowing  the  fields  in  which  they  lie,  about  twenty  of  these  mounds  were 
examined  by  some  citizens  of  Laneeboro.  The  human  relics  discovered  on  excavating  consist 
of  large  human  bones,  several  stone  hammers,  a  copper  spear-head,  several  clay  pipes  and  beads, 
as  well  as  a  small  clay  image  of  the  human  face  and  head,  the  latter  with  a  circlet  of  radiating 
feathers  passing  over  the  top.*  Other  earthworks  are  near  Houston  in  the  Yucatan  valley. 

•Some  of  yiesc  specimens  have  boon  placed  in  the  Renernl  museum  of  the  University.  l>y  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  B.  A 
Man.  Fora  representation  of  the  imasje  of  the  human  face  found  in  the  Lanesboro  mound,  «ee  I'opitlar  Science  Monthly, 
XIX, 009. 

43 


GEOGRAPHICAL  AND  PERSONAL  INDEX. 


Abenakis,  5. 

Abert,  Col.  J.  J.,  57,  59,  87. 

Accault,  Michel,  9,  13. 

Adela  lake,  46. 

Agassiz,  lake  (glacial),  101,  622. 

Agrenipoulak,  5. 

Akonsa,  13. 

Albert  Lea,  lake,  66,  377,  386. 

Alden,  Rev.  E.  D.,  600. 

Alexander  lake,  46. 

Allen,  Lieut.  James,  50,  52. 

Allen,  Capt.  J.,  79. 

Allen  lake,  52. 

Allenoga  river,  51 . 

Allouez,  4. 

Anderson  and  Clark's  survey,  94. 

Andrews,  Dr.  E.,  504  f.  n.,  548  f.  n. 

Andrrisia,  lake,  50. 

Angst,  Robert,  409,  652. 

Annian,  straits  of,  8,  20,  25". 

Antelope  hills  and  valley,  593,  605,  616.  621. 

Antonelli,  lake,  48. 

Archives  de  la  Marine,  2  f.  n.,  18. 

Areas  of  counties  and  state,  114. 

Assiniboines,  3. 

Assowa,  lake,  52,  75. 

Atkinson,  fort,  31. 

Austin,  Gov.  Horace.  106. 

Avernus,  lake,  46. 

Baer,  Aaron,  550  f.  n.,  551. 

Baker,  Samuel  H.,  39S. 

Harris,  W.  II.,  303,  353. 

Harry,  Charles,  156. 

Hasswood  lake,  52. 

Beal,  J.,  82  f.  n. 

Bear  lakes,  518,  525. 

Beatty,  J.  R.,  447,  449. 

Beaver  Bay,  quarries,  145,  148. 

Beaver  river,  53. 

Bechdolt,  Prof.  A.  F.,  435. 

Beche,  Henry  T.  de  la,  156. 

Belle  Plaine,  104. 

Beltrami,  J.  C.,44, 110, 130. 

Benton,  lake,  124,  594,  603,  610. 

Big  Cobb  river,  404,  416,  422,  431, 437,  454. 


Big  falls,  56. 

Big  Fork  river,  18,  99. 

Big  Salt  lake,  53. 

I!is  Salt  river,  88. 

Big  Sioux  river,  79,  90,  91,  499,  518,  533,  538, 

590-1. 
Big  Stone  and  Lac  qui  Parle  counties,  chapter 

on,  613. 

Big  Stone  lake,  40,  53,  124,  132,  613,  622-4. 
Big  Winnipeg  lake,  51. 
Big  Woods,  409,  421,  525,  636,  650. 
Bigsby,  Dr.  J.  J.,  34,  42,  100. 
Birch  lake,  52. 

Bismarck,  Dak.,  lignite  near,  578.  620. 
Black  Hawk  purchase,  66. 
Black  Hills,  Dak.,  344. 
Black  river,  7, 11. 
Blake,  W.  P.  99. 
Bloody  river,  46. 

Blue  E:\rth  county,  chapter  on,  415. 
Blue  Earth  river,  30,  59,  71,  85,  90,  415,  117, 

422,  427,  435,  445,  451,  .160,  4(17;  glacial  lake, 

461,  622,  042. 
Blue  mounds,  Cottonwood  county,  80, 4!)5, 497, 

506-7. 

Blunt,  John  E.,  244,  408. 
Bonifs,  river,  11. 
Bois  Blanc  lake,  112. 
Bois  Brule  river,  15. 
Bois  des  Sioux  river,  113. 
Boundaries  of  the  state,  111. 
Bourbon,  river,  23. 

Boutwell,  Rev.  W.  T.,  50,  51  f.  n..  75. 
Bow  String  lake,  134. 
Bridgewater,  kame.  11115  9. 
Broachus,  river,  46. 
Brochet,  lake,  19. 
Bromwick,  Charles,  354  f.  n. 
Hi  nun  and  Red  wood  counties,  chapter  on,  682, 
Brown's  Valley,  123,  622,  624. 
Bryan,  F.  C.,  mineral  spring  of,  264. 
Buache,  18. 
Buade,  lake,  3,  5,  7. 
Buade,  river,  110. 
Bndd,  William  II.,  4s2. 


GEOGRAPHICAL  AND  PERSONAL  INDEX. 


075 


Buffalo  ridge,  520. 

ISnnis,  John  F.  and  Daniel,  572-3. 

IJurt,  G.  ('.,  423,425. 

Cabotian  mountains,  32,  53. 

Caledonia,  quarries,  102;  section,  2i!">. 

Calvin,  Prof.  S.,  303. 

(lamp  Crescent,  3fl. 

Cannon  lake,  73,  048,  662,  664. 

Cannon  river,  15,  73,  138,461  f.  n.,  022,  633, 

642,  648-652,  657,  663,  668,  671. 
Capitol  at  St.  Paul,  how  constructed,  163, 193. 
Carleton  college,  172,  669,  670. 
Carte  du  Canada,  20. 
Carver,  Jonathan,  19,  217  f.  n.,  560  f.  n. 
Carver's  cave,  21. 
Carver's  river,  23,  36,  58. 
Carver,  rapids  near,  59,  85. 
Cass,  Gov.  Lewis,  31. 
Cass  lake,  32,  124. 
Castle  rock,  33,  58,  74,  656. 
Catlin,  George,  62,  538  9,  542,  54'i  f.  n. 
Cedar  river,  84,  135,  347-8,  350,  364,  367,  662. 
Central  chain  of  lakes,  481. 
Chabadeba  river,  7. 
Chains  of  lakes,  Martin  county,  479. 
Chamberlin,  Prof.  T.  C.,  219,288  f.  n.,  463  f .  n., 

479  f.  n.,  605. 
Cliainplain,  2. 
Chaniushkah  river,  90. 
Chapeau  lake,  (56. 
Charlevoix,  2  f.  n  ,  17. 
Charlotte,  fort,  19. 
Chataba  river,  40. 
Chaudiere  falls,  112. 
Chemann  river,  51. 
Chickasaw  bluff,  4. 
Chimney  rock,  33,  74,  20i;. 
Chippewa  river,  40,  53,  1 18. 
Chongaskethon,  8. 
Clark,  Thomas,  93. 
Clear  river,  28,  52. 
Clearwater  river,  110. 
Clinton  Falls,  quarries,  170,  397. 
Cloqnet  river,  52. 
Colbert,  river,  6,  9. 
Colhoiin,  J.  Edward,  34. 
Commissioner  of  statistics,  92. 
Comstock,  Col.  C.  II.,  211  f.  n. 
Condi1,  lake,  7. 
Conisburgh  castle,  150. 
Conty,  lake,  8. 

•Converse,  Clarence  W.,  wells,  413. 
•  'IKIII  creek,  52. 
Cooper,  Dr.  J.  G.,  91. 
Cooper,  William,  52  f.  n. 


Cormorant  river,  46. 

Coteau  des  Prairies,  36,  41,  60,  80,  111),  121, 

123,  125,  131,  494,  507,  519,  534,  5:51),  544, 

565,  593,  59G-9,  601,  616,  621. 
Coteau  du  grand  bois,  76. 
Coteau  lakes.  596. 
Cottonwood  and  Jackson  counties,  chapter 

on,49I. 
Cottonwood  county,  quartzyte  range  in,  150. 

499. 
Cottonwood  river,  85,  492,  518,562-4,566-8, 

572,  586,  590,  594,  596,  602. 
Coulee  de  1'Anglais,  88. 
Council  lake,  66. 
Coureurs  des  bois,  11,  19,  26,  50. 
Courtland,Nicollet  county,  building  stone. 153. 
Coxe,  16  f.  n. 
Creve  Cceur,  fort,  9. 
Croll,  Dr.  James,  549  f.  n. 
Crow  river,  28,  53,  75,  118. 
Crow  Wing  river,  52,  53,  56,  87,  122. 

Dakota,  lignite  nnd  silicified  wood  from,  in 

drift,  620,  643,  669. 
Dakota,  lignite  mined  in,  578,  620. 
Dakota,  Winona  county,  quarries,  178. 
Dakotahs,  3. 

Dalles  of  the  St.  Croix,  57.  . 

Dalles  of  the  St.  Louis,  53. 
Dana,  Prof.  J.  D.,  542  f.  n.,  549  f.  n. 
Daniels,  Prof.  E.,  92. 
Daniells,  Prof.  W.  W.,  542. 
Dauphin,  lake,  8. 
David,  lake,  86. 
Davis,  C.  E.,  100." 
Davis,  Capt.  John  B.,  134  f.  n. 
Davis,  Squier  and,  560,  561  f.  n. 
Dawson,  J.  W.,  283. 
Dayton's  bluff,  St.  Paul,  656. 
Deer  river,  52. 
Derague,  17. 
De  Soto,  4  f.  n. 
De  Soto  river,  51 . 
Des  Feuilles  river,  28. 
Des  Moines  river,  74,  79,  135,  492,  495,  507, 

510,513,515,  518,  533,590;  east  fork,  461, 

473,  485. 

Desor,  E.,  504  f.  n. 
Devil's  lake,  Dakota,  81. 
J  Mviding  ridge,  53,  56. 
Dodd,  Capt.,  90. 
Dodge  county,  chapter  on,  367. 
Dodge,  Prof.  J.  A..  184,  438,  449,524  f.  n. 
Doon,  Iowa,  railroad  branch,  536. 
Douglas,  Alexander,  487. 
Douglass,  Capt.  D.  IJ.,32  f.  n. 


676 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


Douglass,  lake,  52. 

Dresbaeh,  Winona  county,  quarries,  178. 

Du  Gay,  9,  13. 

Du  Luth,  Sieur,  4,  9,  14. 

Duluth,  rocksat,  103;  quarries,  147. 

Du  Pratz,  Le  Page,  2  f.  n.,  23  f.  n. 

Eagle  lake,  80,  90. 

Eagle  rocks,  296. 

Eames,  II.  II.,  95,  578. 

Eames,  Richard  M.,  97. 

East  chain  of  lakes,  80,  481. 

East  fork  of  the  Mississippi,  77. 

Easton,  bed-rock  in  well,  457. 

East  St.  Cloud,  quarries,  142. 

Elbow  lake,  76,  87. 

Eldora,  Iowa,  402. 

Eleonora,  lake,  46. 

Elevations,  122,  124,  211,  244,  277,  328,  349, 

369,  379,  396,  408,  419,  455,  474,  496,  522, 

536,  565,  593,  615,  634,  652. 
Elk  lake,  26,  87. 
Elk  river,  28,  36,  52,  75. 
Elm  creek,  473,  476,  489,  493. 
Elysian,  lake,  405,  633,  634. 
Embarras  river,  66. 
Emery,  W.  II.,  667. 
Emmettsburg,  Iowa,  507. 
Emmons,  E.,  84. 
Epervier  river,  40. 
Evans,  J.,  82  f.  n. 
Everard,  lake,  46. 
Everett,  II.  W.,  465. 

Faribault  county,  chapter  on,  454. 

Faribault,  Rice  county,  quarries,  171,  672. 

Featherstonhaugh,  17,  57,  74,  99  f.  n.,  165,428. 

Fillmore  county,  chapter  on,  268. 

Fleuve  de  1'ouest,  18. 

Flynn,  B.,  577. 

Folwell,  Pres.  Wm.  W.,  106, 108. 

Fond  du  Lac,  quarries,  180. 

Fond  du  Lac  river,  54. 

Fond  du  lac  Supcrieur,  4. 

Foreston,  Iowa,  304. 

Fort  Atkinson,  81. 

Fort  Charlotte,  19. 

Fort  Creve  Cceur,  9. 

Fort  L'Huillier,  17,  71,  430  f.  n. 

Fort  Pembina,  134. 

Fort  Ridgely,  road  to,  91. 

Fort  Ripley,  road  to,  91. 

Fort  Rupert,  3. 

Fort  Snelling,  58, 175,  177;  quarries,  177. 

Forty  Sioux  villages,  3. 

Foster  and  Whitney,  84  f.  n.,  500, 504  f.  n. 


Fountain,  Fillmore  county,  quarries,  170,  288. 

292,  322. 

Fountain  cave,  near  St.  Paul,  58. 
Fountain  lake,  GO,  377,  S86. 
Fowl  lakes,  North  and  South,  112. 
Fowle  river,  52. 
Fox  lake,  66. 

Franklin,  G.  B.,  wells,  466. 
Franquelin's  map,  66,  110. 
Frederica,  lake,  46. 
Freeborn  county,  chapter  on,  376. 
Fremont,  Lieut.  J.  C.,  68,  71. 
Fremont  lake,  72. 
French,  15.  F.,  2  f.  n.,  4  f.  n. 
Frontenac,  Count,  1 1 . 
Frontenac,  Fort,  11. 

Frontenac,  Goodhue  county,  quarries,  160, 183. 
Frontenac,  lake,  8. 
Frontenacie,  110. 

Gannett,  Henry,  114,  133  f.  n. 

Gardiner,  lake,  89. 

Gastacha.  river,  9. 

Geikie,  James,  389  f.  n. 

Geographical  position  of  Minnesota,  1 , 1 1 1 , 1 40. 

Gere,  T.  P.,  419. 

Geyer,  Charles,  68. 

Giant's  range,  120,  125,  135. 

Gillmore,  Gen.  Q.  A.,  184. 

Godard,  J.  C.,  596. 

Gold  Fish  river,  46. 

Goose  river,  23. 

Grand  Portage,  19,  40,  53. 

Grand  rapids,  28,  56. 

Grand  river,  10,  14. 

Gravel  river,  46. 

Gray,  Dr.  Asa,  91. 

Great  Portage  river,  46. 

Great  Rock  river,  46. 

Green  river,  16. 

Grindstone  river,  177. 

Groselliers  and  RadissOn,  3. 

Grosillers,  river,  3. 

Gull  river,  75. 

Gwinu's  bluff,  Winona  county,  243. 

Haight,  W.  Z.,  465,  466,  468,  469. 

Hall,  Prof.  James,  97,  225  f.  n.,  284  f.  n.,  290, 

303,  353,  538,  576. 
Halliday,  Alex.,  457. 
Hanchett  and  Clark's  survey,  94. 
Ilanska  lake,  563,  565,  568. 
Harris,  J.  S.,  217. 
Hauteurs  des  terres,  76. 
Ilayden,  Dr.  F.  V.,538. 
Ilendricks,  lake,  594,  603. 


GEOGRAPHICAL  AND  PERSONAL  INDEX. 


677 


Heiinepiii,  Father  Louis,  5,  6,  9,  14.  * 

Heurie,  lake,  80. 

Heron  lake,  124,  493,  496,  503,  507,  509. 

Hewitt,  A.  8.,  92. 

High  Island  creek,  59  f.  n. 

Hills,  valleys  and  plateaus,  elevations  of,  125. 

IlincUley,  quarries,  176. 

Hind,  Henry  Y.,  09  f.  n.,  101. 

Ilinton,  James,  844. 

Historical  sketch,  1. 

History  of  the  present  survey,  100. 

Hitchcock,  Prof.  C.  II.,  9J  f.  n. 

Hodapp,  W.,  4C2. 

Hokah,  section  at,  224. 

"  Hole  in  the  Mountain,"  595,  603,  012. 

Holmes,  W.  11.,  555  f.  n. 

llonolbotons,  5. 

llorton,  Horace,  328. 

Houghton,  Dr.  Douglass,  50,  52  f.  n. 

Houston  county,  chapter  on,  207. 

Hunt,  T.  S.,  84  f.  n. 

II untley,  Calvin  E.,  313. 

Hurlbut,  \V.  D.,  102,  108,  339. 

Hurons,  4. 

Ikouetii,  13. 

llligan,  lake,  52. 

Independence  lake,  80. 

Indian  lake,  Blue  Earth  county,  418. 

Inyan-bosndata  (Castle  rock),  74. 

Iowa  lake,  80. 

Iroquois,  13. 

Irving,  Prof.  R.  I).,  98  f.  n.,  220,  502  f.  n.,  542. 

Isle  de  Corbeau  river,  28. 

Isle  Pelce,  16. 

Isle  Royale,  3,  181. 

Islinois,  6,  9. 

Islinois  river,  9. 

Issati,  7. 

Itasca  lake,  26,  50,  51  f.  n.,70,  123-5,  130. 

Itasca  prairie,  386. 

Izatys,  5. 

Jackson  county,  chapter  on,  491. 
Jackson,  Dr.  C.  T.,  70,  84  f.  n.,  538,  512. 
James  river,  Dakota,  499,  538. 
Jeromine,  lake,  48. 
Jesuits,  8,  11. 
Joliet,  maps  by,  110. 
Jordan,  Scott  county,  quarries,  179. 
Julia,  lake,  47. 

Julian  sources  of  thu  Mississippi,  45,  56   110 
130. 

Kabekonang  river,  75. 
Kakaling  river,  1 1 . 
Kamauistigouia,  fort,  110. 


Kasota,  quarries,  165,  638,  646. 

Kathio,  5. 

Keating,  Prof.  W.  II.,  15,  31  f.  n.,  33,  99f.n. 

Kettle  river,  52,  86,  104,  135. 

Kiester  hills,  462,  464. 

Kikapou,  14. 

KitchiGummi,2. 

Kloos,  J.  II.,  103. 

Knife  falls,  32. 

Kossuth  county,  Iowa,  461. 

Kwiwiseus  river,  75. 

Lac  du  Diable,  62. 

Lac  la  Biche,  55,  76. 

Lac  la  Crosse,  54. 

LaclaPluie,  112. 

Lac  Pie,  52. 

Lac  qui  Parle,  40,  613,  018,  023. 

Lac  qui  Parle  county,  chapter  on,  613. 

Lac  qui  Parle  river,  590,  594, 596, 602, 614, 623, 

625,  630. 

LaCroix,  lake,  112. 
Lac  Vieux  Desert,  52. 
"La  Grande  Riviere,"  2. 
La  Ilarpe,  17. 
La  Hontan,  15,  73. 
Lake  of  Tears,  7. 
Lake  of  the  Isle,  52. 
Lake  of  the  Mountain,  52. 
Lake  of  the  Woods,  42,  112,  114  f.  u.,124,  131, 

133  f.  n.,  134. 
Lakes  and  rivers,  130. 
Lakes,  elevations  above  sea,  124. 
Lakes  of  the  Park  region,  89. 
Lakes  of  the  upper  Mississippi  region,  78. 
Lander,  Fred.  W.,  91. 
Lanesboro,  quarries,  162,  284,  323. 
La  Place,  river,  77. 
La  riviere  a  Gauche,  53. 
La  Roche  Galet,  53. 
La  Salle,  3,  9. 
La  Salle.  lake,  51. 
La  Sang  Sue,  lake,  26,  29. 
Lavinius,  lake,  40. 
Lea,  Lieut.  Albert  M.,  66,  386  f.  n. 
Leaf  hills,  89.  119,  121,  123,  125,  130,  406. 
Leaf  lake,  90. 

Leaf  river,  28,  52,  53,  56,  87,  90,  122. 
Leaping  rock,  70,  538. 
Le  Cross,  river,  30. 

Leech  lake,  26,  29,  52,  75,  77,  124, 131. 
Leiberg,  John,  435. 
Leidy,  Dr.  J.,82f.  n. 
Le  shute  de  la  Roche  Peinture,  28. 
Lesquereux,  Dr.  L.,  354,  573,  574,  676. 
LeSueur,  16,36,60,71;  site  of  his  copper  mine, 

428,  435  f.  n. 


678 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


LeSueur  county,  chapter  on,  632. 

Le  Sueur  creek,  632. 

Le  Sueur  prairie,  634,  (112. 

Le  Sueur  river,  404,  410, 418, 422, 431, 135, 436, 

4  Hi,  454. 

Lewis  and  Clarke,  Capts.,  25. 
L'Huillier,  fort,  17,  71,  430,  f.  n. 
L'lluillier  mound,  430. 
Lightning  lake,  86. 
Lime  Springs,  Iowa,  304. 
Lincoln  county,  chapter  on,  589. 
Little  Boy  river,  75. 
Little  Cottouwood  river,  492,  404,  500,  563, 

565-7. 

Little  Falls,  33,  56. 
Little  Heron  lake,  71. 
Little  Long  lake,  52. 
Little  Pelican  river,  89. 
Little  rapids,  35,  39,  72. 
Little  Sac  river,  56. 
Little  Sioux  river,  493,  508,  51  i). 
Little  Vermilion  lake,  52, 112. 
Little  Winnipeg  lake,  54. 
Litton,  A.,  82  f.  n. 
Livermore,  G.  S.,  477. 
Locke,  Dr.  John,  84  f.  n.,  290. 
Logan,  AV.  E.,  100. 

Lone  mound,  Olmsted  county,  328,  338. 
Lone  rock,  Dakota  county,  74. 
Long,  major  8.  IL,  30,  33,  44. 
Long  lake,  62,  56,  111. 
Long  Prairie  river,  56. 
Long  Prairie,  road  to,  91 . 
Long  Rice  lake,  52. 
Long  river,  15,  52,  73. 
Longwater  lake,  52. 
"  Lost  timber,"  524. 
Louisiana,  2. 
Loyell,  Dr.  Joseph,  34. 
Low,  John  II.,  525. 
Lower  Red  Cedar  lake,  27. 
Luverne,  quarries  near,  151,  554. 
Lyon  county,  chapter  on,  589. 

Magdalena,  lake,  46. 

Maidens,  Three,  546. 

Marnecan  lake,  112. 

Man,  B.  A.,  573. 

Mankato,  deep  well  at,  422,  452. 

Mankato,  quarries,  166,  42'J,  447. 

Mankato  river,  71,  416. 

Mankato,  road  to,  90. 

Mantwrville,  quarries,  167,  373. 

Maple  river,  416,  417,  422,  431,  436,  446,  453, 

454. 
Maple  wood  lake,  71. 


Margry,  Pierre,  2  f .  n  ,  9. 

Maroa,  9. 

Marquetle,  4. 

Marquette,  lake,  51. 

Marsh  lake,  <>23,  626. 

Martin  county,  chapter  on,  472. 

Mascoutens,  10. 

Mather,  W.  W.,  17,  S4. 

McCadden,  R.  J.,  490. 

McMillan,  senator  S.  J.  R.,  109. 

McNiven.  Malcolm,  568. 

Meadow  river,  29,  30. 

Meek,  F.  B.,  82  f.  n.,  104,  308,  <>uo. 

Me-me-si-pi  river,  3. 

Menard,  4. 

Mendota,  road  to,  90. 

Mer  Vermeille,  8. 

Mesabi  range,  119,  120,  123,  125,  130. 

Meschetz  Odeba  river,  10. 

Messipi  river,  4. 

Messorie  river,  23. 

Miamis,  10,  13;  river  of,  10. 

Military  roads,  90,91. 

Mille  Lacs,  5,  13,  27,  124,  130. 

Miller,  Gov.  Stephen,  95. 

Miner,  A.,  519. 

Minneapolis,  section,  168;  quarries.  175. 

Minneopa  falls,  416,  426. 

.Minnesota  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  35 
f.  n.,  99  f.  n. 

Minnesota  Historical  Society,  2  f.  n.,  4  f.  u., 
15  f.  n.,  17  f.  n.,  18,  26.  30  f.  n. 

Minnesota  Lake,  bed-rock  in  well,  458. 

Minnesota  river  and  valley,  16,  35,  58,71,  85, 
100,  103,  118,  121,  133,  416,  418,  430,  432, 
439,  444,  485,  562,  565-9,  577,  580,  591,  594, 
607,  611,  614,  616,  622-6,  632,  i;:;i.  642;  ele- 
vations. 420,  566,  594,  616,  635;  glacial  lake, 
461  f.  n..  606,  622,  642. 

Minnetonka,  lake,  124,  131. 

Miscousin  river,  7,  10. 

Mission  creek,  quarries  on,  181. 

Mississippi  river,  2,  4-35,  44-58,75-7,86-91, 
118,  133,  207,  236,  241;  Pike,  26;  Beltrami, 
44;  Schoolcraft,  50;  Nicollet,  75;  river  sys- 
tem, 133. 

Missouri  river,  23,  533,  544. 

Mitchell,  Dr.  S.  L.,  32  f.  n. 

Monette.  John  W.,  2  f .  n. 

Money  Creek,  section,  229. 

Monteleoiie,  lake,  48. 

Moon  creek.  59. 

Morgan,  Lewis  II.,  560  f.  n.,  561  f.  n. 

Morin,  William,  379,  386. 

Morris,  C.  A.  F.,  616. 

Morrison,  William,  26,  50. 


GEOGRAPHICAL  AND  PERSONAL,  INDEX. 


Morse,  P.,  wells,  465. 

Mound,  Rock  county,  151,  536,  5-10  1,  550. 

Mound  creek,  Brown  county,  501,  5G3,  57:2. 

Mountain  lake,  483,  492,  514. 

Mower  county,  chapter  on,  347. 

Muddy  lake,  30. 

Murchisou,  11.  1.,  346. 

Murray  and  Nobles  counties,  chapter  on,  517. 

Myah  Skah,  59. 

Nadouecioux,  6. 

Nadeuesioux,  11. 

Nadouessans,  8. 

Nadouessi,  4. 

Nadoussion,  river,  7. 

Neill,  llev.  E.  D.,2  f.  n.  3  f.  n.,  4  f.  n.,  17  f.  n., 

18,51  f.  n.,  10'J. 
Nelson,  Lieut.,  86. 
Nemadji  river,  53. 
Nenaudag  river,  52. 
Newberry,  Prof.  J.  S.,  354. 
New  France,  map  of,  8,  20. 
New  Ulm,  sections,  570,  582. 
Nicollet,  Sieur,  3,  4  f.  u. 
Nicollet,  Jean  N.,  15,  67,  416,  428,  494,  507, 

538,  593,  634. 
Nid  de  Tonnere,  61. 
Nimissakouat  river,  7,  15. 
Nipissiriens,  5. 

Nobles  county,  chapter  on,  517. 
Noire,  river,  11. 
Nokasippi  river,  28,  33. 
Norfal,  England,  quarries,  156. 
North  and  South  lakes,  134. 
Northern  boundary,  42,  112. 
Northfleld,  657,  664,  670,  672. 
"  Northwest  angle"  of  the  lake  of  the  Woods, 

112,  113,  134  f.n. 

Norwood,  J.  G.,  82  f.  n.,  84,  9'J,  154. 
Noyes,  W.  A.,  264,  512,  550. 

Ochagach's  map,  18. 

Ocheyedan  or  Ocheeda  creek  and  lake,  519, 

523. 525. 

Ocheyedan  mound,  Iowa,  520. 
Odell,  L.  O.,  280. 

Ohio,  terminal  moraines  in,  463  f.  n. 
Okabena  lakes  and  creek,  519,  525. 
Okaman,lake,  72. 
Okamanpidan  lake,  71,90. 
.Okoboji  lakes,  Iowa,  507. 
Olmsted  county,  chapter  on,  325. 
Omanhulake,  90. 
Onisconsin  river,  7. 
Openagaux,  5. 
Otontenta,  7. 


Ottawa,  LeSueur  county,  quarries,  164,  639, 

646. 

Otter  Tail  lake,  29,  87,  89,  122,  124. 
Otter  Tail  river.  89,  118. 
Ouadebathon,  8. 
Ouisconsing,  river,  10. 
Outagamis,  13  f.  n. 
Owatonna,  well,  398;  springs,  402. 
Owen,  D.  I).,  survey  of,   81,  99  f.  n.  166,  282, 

284  f.  n.,  285  f.  n.,  290  f.  u.,  335,  431. 
Owen,K.,  82  f.  n. 
Ozawiudib,  51. 

Pacagama  falls,  54. 

Pacific  railroad  survey,  91. 

1'ackegamau  falls,  29. 

Paniitascodiac  lake,  50. 

Paote,  10. 

Paradise  prairie,  67,  386. 

Parallel  river,  57. 

Parkman,  Francis,  2  f.  n.,  13  f.  u. 

Park  region,  described  by  Capt.  Pope,  89;  lakes 
of,  130. 

Park  river,  88. 

Parliament,  new  houses  of,  156. 

Parry,  Dr.  C.  C.,  82  f.  n. 

Patterson's  rapids,  38,  566,  587. 

Paul  le  Jeune,  3. 

Peace  rock,  Watab,  33,  75. 

Peckham,  Prof.  S.  F.,  469,  514,516,  532,  542, 
578. 

Pelican  lakes  (lake  Shetek),  524. 

Pembina,  expedition  to,  86. 

Pembina,  fort,  134. 

Pembina  hills.  62. 

Pembina  Indian  reservation,  128. 

Pembina,  road  to,  91. 

Pemidji  lake,  51,  55. 

Penicaut,  16. 

Pepin,lake,  58,  124,132. 

Perch  lake,  51,  55. 

Perch  river,  90. 

Period  prior  to  1783,  2;  of  territorial  explora- 
tion, 25;  of  state  exploration  and  survey,  91. 

Perrot,  Nicholas,  2  f.  n.,  16,  110. 

Physical  features  of  the  state,  111-141. 

Pigeon  river,  3,  136. 

Pike,  Lieut.  Z.  M.,  25,  56. 

Pike  lake,  87. 

Pike  rapids,  56. 

Pikwabik  river,  75. 

Pillsbury,  senator  J.  S.,  106,  108. 

Pimiteoui  (lake  Peoriaf,  9. 

Pine  hills,  53. 

Pine  river,  26,  29,  52,  53,  75. 

Pipestone  and  llock  counties,  chapter  on,  533. 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


Pipestone  City,  quarries,  151 ,  554. 

Pipestone  creek,  69,  533,  539. 

Pipestone  falls,  534. 

Pipestone  quarry,  62,  69,  98,  538,  541. 

Plantagenet,  lake,  51. 

Plum  river,  53. 

Point  Douglas,  road  from,  ill. 

Pokegama  falls,  29,  3) ,  54,  77,  96,  100. 

Pomme  de  Terre  river,  53,  87,  118,  623,  626. 

Pope,  Oapt.  John,  86,  87. 

Portage  a  couteau,  54. 

Porter,  E.,  465. 

Position,  boundaries  and  area  of  the  state,  111. 

Poualak,  3. 

Prairie  creek,  649,  651,  657,  662,665,  671. 

Prairie  river,  52,  97. 

1'ratten,  II.,  82  f.  n. 

Prince  society,  2  f.  u. 

Providence  lakes.  48. 

Puans,  bay  of,  7,  10. 

Puposky,  lake,  47. 

(Jueeii  Anne  lake,  51. 

llabbit  river,  87. 

Raccoon  creek,  52. 

Uadisson,  3. 

Rainy  lake  and  river.  43,  1)2,  124, 132,  134. 

Ramsey,  Gpv.  Alex.,  93. 

Ramsey  falls,  587. 

Raiidin,  engineer,  map  by,  110. 

Rapid  river,  52. 

Ked  Cedar  lake,  26,  46,  53,  54. 

Red  lake,  46,  53,  124,  131. 

Red  Lake  Indian  reservation,  128. 

Red  Lake  river,  53,  87.  110. 

Red  Marble  river,  23,  24  f.  n. 

Red  river  of  the  North,  53,  87,  110,  113,  119, 

122,  133,  614,  622. 

Red  river  valley,  42,  88, 119, 125, 128,  133, 136. 
Red  sea,  6. 

Redstone,  Nicollet  county,  quarries,  149. 
Red  Wing,  quarries,  160. 
Red  Wing's  village,  67. 
Redwood  county,  chapter  on,  562. 
Redwood  falls,  98,  570,  587. 
Redwood  river,  49,  80,  518,  533, 562,  564, '567, 

577,  587,  590.  594,  596,  602,  611. 
Regents,  board  of.  in  charge  of  the  survey,  106. 
Relations  of  the  Jesuits,  3. 
Reno,  Capt.  J.  L.,  90. 
Resting  lake,  55. 
Rice  county,  chapter  on,  648. 
Rice  creek,  53. 

Rice,  senator  Edmund,  108  f.  n. 
Ridgely,  fort,  91. 
Ripley,  fort,  91. 


Rupert,  fort,  3. 

River  of  the  West,  23,  132. 

Riviere  an  Mantis,  Nos.  1,  -  and  3,  88. 

Rock  county,  chapter  on,  533. 

Rock  river,  123,  135,  518,  533,  535,  541,  550. 

Root  river,  15,  118,  214,  287,  326,  346,  350. 

Rose,  Dr.  P.  «.,  4B8,  409,  647. 

Rossbach,  Dr.  G.  A.,  398. 

Routes  to  the  Red  river  valley,  Sis. 

Rum  river,  12,  23,  27,  52,  57. 

Runals,  D.  E.,  543. 

Sac  river,  2fS. 

Saganaga  lake,  124,  145. 

Saint  Anthony  falls,  7,  9,  12,  15,21,27,30,33, 

34,  49,  57,  58,  75, 133. 
Saint  Croix  falls,  57. 
Saint  Croix  lake,  125,  132. 
Saint  Croix  river,  15,  57,  97,  118,  135. 
Saint  Francis  river,  7,  15,  23,  28,  52,  57. 
Saint  Louis  river,  29,  113,  118,  122,  128,  135. 
Saint  Olaf  school,  664,  670,  672. 
Saint  Paul  quarries,  172. 
Saint  Pierre,  21. 
Saint  Pierre  river,  21,  88. 
Saisaginaga,  lake,  112. 
Sakata,  lake,  633,  634,  642,  060. 
Salt  river,  53. 
Sand  Hill  river,  53. 
Sandy  lake,  28,  54. 

Sank  Rapids,  33,  88;  quarries,  142,  148. 
Sauk  river  and  valley,  86, 104,  136. 
Sauteaux  river,  28. 
Sauteurs,  11,  28. 

Savanna  rivers,  29,52,  54,  110,  12,s. 
Sawteeth  mountains,  120, 125. 
Say,  Thomas,  34,  78. 

Schoolcraft,  II.  R.,  31,  32  f.  n.,  50,  <>2  f.  n. 
Schoolcraft  island,  55. 
Schweinitz,  Lewis  D.  de,  34. 
Scisaiaguay  river,  48. 
Seignelay,  Marquis,  5. 
Seignelay,  river,  7. 
Seward,  William  II.,  140. 
Shakopee,  quarries,  164. 
Shaokatan,  lake,  594,  603. 
Shea,  John,  398. 

Shea,  John  Gilmary,  2  f.  n.,  5  f.  n.,  6. 
Shell  river,  53,  56. 
Shell  Rock  river,  376,  386,  oi>2. 
Shetek,  lake,  79,  124,  507,  518,  522-4,  590. 
Shieldsville,  lakes,  648,  651,  671. 
Shingle  creek.  53. 
Shining  mountains,  1,  23. 
Shoemaker,  J.  F.,  537,  541  f.  n. 
Slnmiard,  Dr.  B.  F.,  82  f.  u.,85,  98  f.  n.,  2S5 

f.  n.,  310. 


GEOGRAPHICAL  AND  PERSONAL  INDEX. 


GS1 


Sibley,  Gen.  II.  II.,  52  f.  n.,  109  f.  u.,  174, 

430  f.  n. 

Sibley  mound,  430. 
Sidener,  G.  F.,  184,  438,449. 
Simpson, Capt.  J   II. ,91. 
Sioux  Falls,  Dakota,  1.52,  .580,  -538. 
Sissitons,  SI. 

Sleepy  Eye,  Indian  chief,  72. 
Sleepy  Eye  creek,  563. 
Smith,  Charles  II.,  1-50. 
Smith,  Dr.  William,  156. 
Snake  river,  .52,  86,  !I7,  101. 
Snelling,  fort,  53,  175,  177. 
Songaskitons,  5. 
Source  of  the  Mississippi,  24,  26,  82.  44,50, 

55,  76. 

Southwell  church,  156. 
Sperry,  Prof.  L.  13.,  410,  648  f.  n.   655  f.  n., 

669,  670. 

Spirit  lake,  90,  494,  499,  505,  507-9,  514,  510. 
Spirit  Mountain  creek,  40. 
Sprague,  O.,  344. 
Spring  Valley,  section,  301,  307. 
Squier  and  Davis,  560,  561  f.  n. 
Standard  Cement  company,  434,  149. 
Standing  rock  (Castle  rock),  74. 
State  exploration  and  survey,  91. 
Steele  county,  chapter  on,  394. 
Stevens,  Gov.  J.  J.,  91. 
Stilhvater,  quarries,  159. 
Stockton,  quarries,  162,  255. 
Straight  river,  394,  397,  648-652,  659,  661,  662, 

667-8,  671;  glacial  lake,  662,  663,  668. 
Straits  of  Annian,  8,  20,  25. 
Streng,  Prof.  A.,  104  f.  n. 
Strong,  Moses,  221. 
Sturgeon  river,  46. 
Suckley,  Dr.,  91. 
Sugar  Loaf,  Winona,  155,  260. 
Sugar  Loaf  mound,  near  Rochester,  338. 
Sumner,  Capt.  E.  V.,  80. 
Superior,  lake,  120,  122,  132,  135;  rocks,  84, 

100,  424,  500,  627. 
Swan  lake,  Iowa,  80,  508. 
Swan  lake,  Nicollet  county,  60,  124. 
Swan  river,  29,  52,  91. 

Table  rock,  Houston  county,  226. 

Tailhan,  2  f.  n. 

Talcott  lake,  80,  499. 

Tamaroa,  9. 

Tanner,  Rev.  G.  C.,  395. 

Taoapa,  35. 

Taylor,  N.  C.  D.,  97,  104. 

Taylor's  Falls,  98,  104,  182. 

Tchanhassan  lake,  71. 


Tchan-shetcha  lake,  74. 

Tchatchakigona,  13. 

Ti'akiki,  river,  9. 

Temple,  C.  C.,  310. 

Tetonka,  lake,  633,  634,  642. 

Thinthonka,  7. 

Thompson,  David,  25,  109. 

Thomson,  T.,  542  f.  n. 

Thousand  lakes,  23. 

Three  Maidens,  546. 

Three  rivers,  110. 

Thunder  Nest,  53,  61. 

Tiuthona,  8. 

Tipsenah  river,  87. 

Ti-tanka-tanninan,  lake,  73. 

Tomb  river,  7. 

Torrey,  Dr.  John,  68,  79. 

Torrigiani,  lake,  48. 

Trail  lake,  67. 

Traverse  des  Sioux,  36,  90. 

Traverse,  lake,  49,  55,  113,  124,  132,  622-4. 

Trout  river,  52. 

Turtle  lake,  32,  45,  48,  56,  110, 130. 

Turtle  river,  88. 

Twining,  major  W.  J.,  112, 134  f.  n. 

Twin  mounds,  Olmsted  county,  33s. 

Two  rivers,  Kittson  county,  88. 

Undine  region,  71,  90,  138,  416. 
Union  slough,  Iowa,  461,  622. 
University  of  Minnesota,  106,  108,  192. 
Upper  Iowa  river,  347,  348,  350,  358,  364. 
Upper  Mississippi  region,  75,77,  121,  125,133. 
Usaw-way  lake,  55. 

Valeuse  river,  46 

Verd  river,  23. 

Verendrye,  18. 

Vermilion  lake,  18,  52,  95,  103,  124,  132. 

Vermilya,  S.,  489. 

Virginia,  lake,  46. 

Wabasha,  road  to,  91. 

Wabe/i,  river,  75. 

Wadapaw  Menesotor  river,  21. 

Walcott,  C.  D.,  289  f.  n. 

Walnut  lake,  66. 

Wapsipinicon  river,  347. 

Waraju  river,  23  f.n.,  85,  98,562,  575. 

Warpetou  Sioux,  81. 

Warpool  lake,  52. 

Warren,  G.,  82  f .  n. 

Warren,  Gen.  G.  K.,  C7,  100.  103,  622,  623. 

Warren,  river  (in  glacial  period),  101, 134,615, 

622. 

Waseca  county,  chapter  on,  404. 
Washington  Irving,  lake,  51. 


682 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


Watab,  quarries,  146.  [472. 

Watonwaii  and  Martin  counties,  chapter  on, 
Watonwan  river,  417,  422,  431,  436,  446,  4712, 

474,  476,  48!),  492,  494. 
Wattah  river,  56. 
West  chain  of  lakes,  482. 
West  Savanna  river,  52,  54. 
Wheelock,  Joseph  A.,  92. 
Whelpley,  C.  E.,  410. 
Whetstone  river,  614,  625. 
Whitcomb,  O.  I'.,  108.    . 
White  Bear  lake  (or  lake   Whipple),    I'ope 

county,  87,  124. 

White  Bear  lake,  Hamsey  county,  12-5. 
White,  Dr.  C.  A.,  300,  303,  308,  363,  461  f.  n., 

508  f.  n.,  537,  538. 
White,  George  II.,  396. 
Whiteflsh  lake,  26,  29,  75. 
White  Rock  bluff,  59,  637. 
Whitewater  river,  66,  236,  326, 327. 
White  Wood  lake,  52. 
Whitfield,  B.  P.,  291,  303. 
Whitney,  Foster  and,  500,  504  f.  n. 
Whitney,  J.  D.,  103,  222,  225  f.  n.,  254  f.  n.. 

298,  311,  317,  353. 

Whittlesey ,  Col.  C.,  82  f.  n.,  93  f.  n.,  99, 555  f.  n. 
AVild  Hice  river,  53. 
Williams,  Prof.  H.  S,  360. 
Williamson,  Prof.  A.  W.,  577. 
Willow  river,  53. 


Wilson,  II.  B.,  ins. 

Winchell,  A.,  104. 

Wind-mill  bluff,  126.  145. 

Winnebago  City,  bed-rock  in  well,  457. 

Winnibigoshish  lake,  124,  131,  134. 

Winnipeg  lake  and  basin,  42,  44,  101,  134, 

615,  622. 

Winnipeque  lake  and  river,  30. 
Winona  county,  chapter  on,  236. 
Winona,  quarries,  161,  255,  265. 
Wisconsin  river,  4. 
Woods,  lake  of  the,  42,  112,  114  f.  n.,  124,131, 

133  f.  n.,  134. 
Woods,  major  S.,  86. 
Wood  worth.  George  B.,  211. 
Worden,  Park,  597. 
Worth,  Dr.  F.,212. 
Wright,  Prof.  G.  F.,  406. 

Yellow  Bank  hills,  621. 

Yellow  Bank  river,  40,  014. 

Yellow  Head,  Indian  chief, 55. 

Yellow  Medicine,  Lyon  and  Lincoln  counties, 

chapter  on,  589. 

Yellow  Medicine  river,  40,  590,  594,  611. 
Young,  II.  II.,  114  f.  n.,  207  f.  n. 
Young,  Thomas  M.,  590. 

Zumbro  river,  118,  326,  329,  334,  336,394,  6 lit. 
662,  668. 


SCIENTIFIC  INDEX. 


Aboriginal  mounds.    8ee  Mounds. 
Absorption  of  atmospheric  moisture  and  of 

water  by  building  stones,  185,  ISO. 
Acervularia,  357  f.  n. 

Acid  fumes,  action  on  building  stones,  180. 
Agassiz,  lake,  101,  408,  412,  461,  484,  581,  6122, 

623. 

Alkali,  524,  610,  620. 
Alkaline  soils,  128,  129,  524,  610. 
Alkaline  waters,  136,  512,  524,  554,  610,  620. 
Alluvial  terraces.    See  Terraces. 
Alluvium,  264,  445, 451, 464, 467, 527,  583,  612, 

624,  643,  662. 

Altamont  ( first)  moraine,  505, 520, 528, 602, 64 1 . 
Altitudes.    See  Elevations. 
Arnbocojlia,  360. 

Ammonites,  577;  A.  placenta,  600. 
Amphibole,  38. 
Analyses:  alkali,  524  f.  n. 

Building  stones,  195—203. 

Cretaceous  clays,  438. 

Dolomites,  154-5. 

Galena  limestone,  Lime  City,  299. 

Hydraulic  cement  and  limestone,  449. 

Lignite,  578;  lignite  ashes,  579. 

Peat,  469,  514,  532,  047;  peat  ashes,  516. 

1'ipestone  (catlinite),  542. 

Shakopee  limestone,  450,  638. 

Water  of  Heron  lake,  512. 
of  spring  near  Minnesota  City,  264. 
of  Owatonna  mineral  springs,  402. 
of  Rock  river,  550. 
Andromeda  1'arlatorii,  574. 
Antelope,  80. 
Antelope(  third  )moraine,  478, 509, 581 , 593, 605, 

017,  021,  624,  641. 
Antelope  valley,  593,  605,  616,  621. 
Arcluuan  system,  568,  596. 
Archeology,    489,    555—561,   647,    673.     See 

J/oim<fo  and  Ineeriptiona. 
Argillyte,  82, 58. 
Artesian  wells,  389,  398,  422,  424,  452,  470. 

Also  see  Flowiwj  wMs. 
Asbestus,  669. 


Atrypa,  78,  305,  307,  358. 

aspera,  300. 

reticularis,  301,  304,  307,  :J60. 
Aulopora,  360. 
Austin  rock,  359. 
Aviculopecten,  360. 

Baculites,  584, 585,  599,  600,  608. 

ovatus,  600. 
Balsam  fir,  139. 
Banksian  pine,  139. 
Bass  and  elm  in  Big  Woods,  636,  65 !. 
Bear,  30. 

Bear  lake  prairie,  386. 
Beaver,  23,  29. 
Bellerophon  bilobatus,  78. 
Berea  sandstone  for  building,  183. 
Big  Stone  and  Lac  qui  1'arle  counties,  chapter 
011,  613. 

Situation  and  area,  613. 
Surface  features,  614. 

Natural  drainage,  614. 

Topography,  614. 

Elevations,  615. 

Soil  and  timber,  617. 
Geological  structure,  617. 

Granite  and  gneiss,  617. 

Cretaceous  shale,  619. 

Glacial  and  modified  drift,  619. 

Coteau  des  I'rairies,  021. 

Antelope  valley  and  moraine,  621 . 

Fourth  or  Kiester  moraine,  621. 

Later  moraines,  621. 

Glacial  lake  in  basin  of  Minnesota  river, 
622. 

River  Warren,  622. 

Modilied  drift  and  alluvium,  624. 

Terraces,  625. 

Modified  drift  of  earlier  glacial  epoch,  625. 

Buried  moraine,  626. 

Red  till,  627. 

Wells,  629. 

Material  resources,  630. 

Water-powers,  630. 


684 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


Building  stone,  030. 

Lime,  (ii!0. 

Bricks,  03 1. 

Aboriginal  earthworks,  031. 
Big  Woods,  90,  409,  "121,  olio,  030,  000. 
Birches,  215,  247,  2  8. 
Bliiek-bird,  37. 
Black-breasted  tern,  37. 

Black  walnut,  139,  457,  508.  [f.  n. 

Blanchard  ridge  (terminal  moraine),  Ohio,  463 
Blue  Earth  county,  chapter  on.,  415. 
Situation  and  area,  415. 
Surface  features,  415. 

Natural  drainage,  415. 

Lakes,  416. 

Topography,  410. 

Eroded  valleys,  417. 

Elevations,  419. 

Soil  and  timber,  420. 

Trees  and  shrubs,  421. 
Geological  structure,  422. 

Potsdam  sandstone  aud  shales,  42::. 

Deep  well  at  Mankato,  423. 

St.  Croix  sandstone  and  shales,  424. 

St.  Lawrence  limestone,  424. 

Jordan  sandstone,  426. 

Shakopee  limestone,  429. 

Cretaceous  beds,  431. 

Analyses  of  Cretaceous  clays,  438. 

Glacial  drift,  439. 

Wells,  442. 

Modilied  drift,  444. 
Material  resources,  445. 

Water-powers,  445. 

Quarried  stone,  446. 

Lime,  447. 

Hydraulic  cement  and  analyses,  449. 

Bricks,  451. 

Fire-bricks,  451 . 

Drain-tiles,  452.      I'ottery,  452. 

Artesian  wells  and  fountains,  452. 
Blue  till,  as  subsoil,  126.    Also  see  Till. 
Blue-winged  teal,  37.  [623,  034 

Bluffs  of  the  Minnesota  valley,  418,  505,  592, 
of  the  Mississippi  valley,  122,210,239—244. 
characteristic  of  rock -formations,  328. 
See  also  Erosion  by  streams. 
Bog  iron  ore,  orLin  of,  129. 
Bois  francs  (or  forts),  72,  650. 
Botany  of  the  state,  106.    See  Flora,  Flowers, 
Forests,  Grasses,  Prairies,  Trees,  aud  Shrubs. 
Bottom'ands,  567,  624,  643.     See  Alluvium. 
Boulder-clay.     See  Till. 

Boulders,  36,  38,  55,  59,  64,  70,  88,  125;  Hous- 
ton county,  227;  WInona  county,  260;  Fill- 
more  county,  311;  Olmsted  county,  344; 


Mower  county,  362;  Dodge  county,  368. 
Freeborn  county,  384, 385,  390;  Steele  coun- 
ty, 401;  Waseca  county,  413;  Blue  Earth 
county,  417, 42o,  441;  Faribault  county,  401; 
Watonwan  and  Martin  counties.  485;  Cot- 
tonwood  and  Jackson  counties,  509;  Murray 
and  Nobles  counties,  £26,  531;  Pipestone 
and  Rock  counties,  535,  537,  543,  547,  551; 
Brown  and  Redwood  counties,  564,  583; 
Yellow  Medicine,  Lyon  and  Lincoln  coun- 
ties, 595-0,  002,  007,  (ill;  Big  Stone  and  Lac 
qui  Parle  counties,  020,  024,  626,  627;  Le 
Sueur  county,  027,  043;  Rice  county,  658-9. 
Boulders  of  felsite  from  the  Great  Palisades, 
lake  Superior,  609. 
of  limestone  from  vicinity  of  Winnipeg,  509, 

553,  620,  043,  059. 
of  magnetic  iron  ore,  344. 
Brants,  21. 
Brelaws,  28. 

Bricks:  Houston  county,   234;    Winona.  200; 
Fillmore,  321;  Olmsted,  345;  Mower,  360; 
Dodge,  375;  Freeborn, 39 1;  Steele,  402;  Wa- 
seca, 413;  Blue  Earth,  451;  Faribault,  467; 
Watonwan  and  Martin,  489;  Cottonwood  and 
Jackson,  514;    Brown  and  Redwood,  587; 
Yellow  Medicine,  Lyon  and  Lincoln, 012;  Big 
Stone  City,  631;  Le  Sueur,  646;  Rice,  672. 
Uridgewater  kame,  6(15-9. 
Brown  and  Redwood  counties,  chapter  on,  562. 
Situation  and  area,  502. 
Surface  features,  562. 

Natural  drainage,  50:!. 

Lakes,  563. 

Topography,  503. 

Elevations,  565. 

Soil  and  timber,  507. 
Geological  structure,  508. 

Gneiss  and  granite,  569. 

Decomposed  gneiss  and  granite,  570. 

Potsdam  quartzyte,  572. 

Cretaceous  beds,  572. 

Glacial  and  modified  drift,  580. 

Terminal  moraines,  581.  [581. 

Modilied  drift  of  the  earlier  glacial  epoch, 
of  the  last  glacial  epoch,  582. 

Alluvium,  583. 

Water-worn  boulders,  583. 

Wells,  583. 
Material  resources,  580. 

Springs,  586. 

Water-powers,  5S6. 

Building  stone,  lime,  bricks,  587. 

Fire-bricks,  588. 

I'ottery,  588. 

Mineral  paint,  588. 


SCIENTIFIC  INDEX. 


Aboriginal  earthworks,  588. 
Buffaloes,  21,28,29,79,541  f.n.,  547. 
Building  stones,  chapter  on,  142. 
Their  qualities  and  distribution,  142. 
Crystalline  rocks,  142. 
Quartzytes,  149. 
Dolomites,  153. 
Dolornitic  limestones,  163. 
Limestones,  170. 
Sandstones,  176. 
Stones  from  other  states,  182. 
Table  of  qualitative  tests,  184,  195—203. 

Methods  of  the  physical  tests,  185. 
General  conclusions,  187. 
Use  of  stone  in  Minnesota,  191. 

Also  see  Quarries. 

Buildings  belonging  to  the  state,  193. 
Bumelia  Marcotiana,  570. 
Buried  moraine,  607,  626. 

Calcareous  tufa,  327, 513, 550, 5S7.  f>1 0,  61 1 , 620. 

Calcareous  soils,  129. 

Calcareous  veins  in  till,  442,  64(1. 

Calciferons  series,  422,  424,  500. 

Calcite,  lamellar,  233,  267;  crystals,  575. 

Calumet,  peace,  6,  9,  13,  24,  5fiO. 

Calymene,  343. 

Cambrian  formations:  Houston  county,  217, 
219-227;  Winona,  249,251-9;  Fillmore,  280-9; 
Olmsted,  334-9:  Blue  Earth, 422-431;  Cotton- 
wood,  499-503;  Pipestone  and  Rock,  537-543; 
Le  Sueur,  636-9;  Bice,  656-7. 

Cambrian  rocks,  chief  source  of  tf!e  red  till,  126. 

Cannon  valley  railway,  elevations,  652. 

Carbonaceous  shale,  655,  672. 

Carbonic  acid,  action  on  building  stones,  186. 

Carp,  78. 

Castle  rock,  33,  58,  74,  656. 

Catlinite,  24,  37,  62,  70,  500-502,  541. 

Cedar  logs  in  drift,  345. 

Cedar,  red  and  white,  139,  248. 

Cedar  river,  Devonian  rocks  on,  84,  357-361. 
system  of  drainage,  135. 

Central  chain  of  lakes,  481. 

Cervus  sylvestris,  52  f.  n. 

Clia-tetes,  292.  301,  342,  374. 
lycoperdon,  293. 

Chains  of  lakes,  Martin  county,  479,  507, 528. 

Chalybeate  springs,  136,414,465,488,532,586, 
610,645. 

Channels.     See  Erosion  and  Water-courses. 

Channels  through  the  moraine  on  the  Coteau 
des  1'rairies,  603. 

Cliazy  formation,  424. 

Chicago  &  Northwestern  railway,  elevations. 
245,  329,  369,  396,  408,  419,  565,  593,  635. 


Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul  railway,  eleva- 
tions: 

Hastings  &  Dakota  di vision,  (i  15. 

Iowa  &  Minnesota  division,  349,  396,  652; 
Austin  &  Mason  City  branch,  350. 

River  division,  244. 

Southern  Minnesota  div'n,211,277,349,455, 

474, 496,  522, 536;  Mankato  branch ,419. 
Chicago,  St.  Paul,  Minneapolis  &  Omaha  rail- 
way, elevations,  419,  474,  496.  522,  536,  635. 
Chimney  rock,  33,  74,  296. 
Chimneys,  quartzyte  used  for,  500. 
Chlorite  slate,  32. 
Choke-damp  in  wells,  488. 
Cinnarnomum  Scheuclr/.eri,  574. 
Cissus,  574. 

Clay  and  clay  loam  as  subsoils,  128.  [588. 

Clay,  layers  indicating  years  in  deposition,  467, 
Clay,  lumps  in  gravel,  629. 
Clay,  pottery,  402,  452,  573,  585. 
Clay,  stratified,  119. 
Clay,  transition  to  till,  544,  659,  661. 
Clays,  Cretaceous,  353, 432,  573;  analyses,  438. 
Clear  Creek  limestone,  Illinois,  356. 
Climatic  changes,  498,  524,  526. 

effects  on  ice-sheet,  641 . 
Coal,  62,  98,  579.    See  Lignite. 
Cocnostroma,  357  f.  n. 
Coffee-tree,  139,  215,  248,  421. 
Coluber,  37. 

Columnaria  alveolata,  289, 290. 
Concretions  and  concretionary  structure,  257, 

285,  340,  360,  375,  442,  543,  552,  575-6,  577, 

598-600,  640.  [640. 

Conglomerate,  61, 77,  86, 97,  355,  499,  501,  541, 
Contour  of  the  state,  120-5.  See  Topography. 
Copper- bearing  rocks  of  lake  Superior,  32  f.  n., 

52  f.n.,  100,422,500. 

of  the  St.  Croix  valley,  97,  98,  104. 
Copper,  in  aboriginal  mounds,  560,  673;  in  the 

drift,  321,  628,643,  669. 

mined  by  Indians,  561. 

Copper,  Le  Sueur's  mine,  17,  59.  71,  428,  435. 
Coregonus  albus,  78,  89. 
Coteau  des  Prairies,  123, 494, 519,  539, 544, 593, 
598,601,  616,  621. 

described  by  Keating,  41;  Long,  44;  Feath- 
erstonhaugh,  61;  Catlin,  63;  Nicollet,  68. 

its  geological  formation,  41,  09,  99,  494,  598, 

599,601.  [491. 

Cottonwood  and  Jackson  counties,  chapter  on, 

Situation  and  area,  491. 

Surface  features,  492 . 
Natural  drainage,  492. 
Lakes,  493. 
Topography,  494. 


086 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


Coteau  des  Prairies,  101. 
Valley  of  Des  Moines  river,  495. 
Elevations,  196. 
Soil  and  timber,  4!)7. 
Trees  and  shrubs,  -tun. 
Geological  structure,  499. 
Potsdam  quartzyte,  499. 
Drift  and  contour,  503. 
Glacial  stria;,  503. 

First  and  second  terminal  moraines,  505. 
Medial  moraine,  506. 
Interglacial  drainage,  507. 
Drainage  during  the  last  glacial  epoch,  508. 
Boulders  and  pebbles,  509. 
Modified  drift,  510. 
Wells,  510. 

Water  of  Heron  lake  analyzed,  512. 
Travertine,  513. 
Material  resources,  513. 
Water-powers,  513. 
Building  stone,  513. 
Lime,  513;  bricks,  514. 
Peat,  514;  analyses  of  peat  ashes,  516. 
Aboriginal  mounds,  516. 

County  geology,  205.  [18,  432,  638-9, 

Cretaceous  clay  in  hollows  of  Cambrian  strata, 
of  Devonian  strata,  353-4. 
clays,  analyses,  438. 

Cretaceous  formations:  Sank  river  valley,  104; 
Houston  county , 233;  Fillmore,  280,  307-3 1 1 ; 
Olmsted,  352-6;  Dodge,  370,  374;  Freeborn, 
383-5;  Steele,  398-9;  Waseca,  410;  Blue 
Earth,  431-9, 451;  Faribault,  459 ,460;  Waton- 
wan  and  Martin,  477;  Pipestone  and  Rock, 
535,  538;  Brown  and  Redwood,  98,  568, 
572-9;  Yellow  Medicine,  Lyon  and  Lin- 
coln, 598-600;  near  Big  Stone  lake,  619; 
Marsh  lake  and  Lac  qui  Parle,  625;  Le 
Sueur,  639. 

Cretaceous  formations,  chief  source  of  the  blue 
till,  126,  374,  595,  599,  659. 
extent  in  Minnesota,  579. 
making  the  Coteau  des  Prairies,  598-9,  601. 
Cretaceous  lignitic  beds,  383,  398,  568,  572, 

577-9,  599.     See  Liynile  in  drift. 
Crinoidal  remains,  79,  301. 
Crystalline  rocks,  as  building  stones,  142. 
Cupriferous  series,  422,  500. 
Curved  glacial  strise,  604. 
Cyathopliyllum  ceratites,  79. 
Cyrtina,  360. 

Dakota  Central  railway,  elevations,  593. 
Dakota  group,  308,  574,  576.  [570. 

Decomposition  of  gneiss  and  granite,  75,  98, 
Deer,  23,  30,  79. 


Des  Moines  river,  drainage  system,  l.°>5;  inter 
glacial  drainage  course,  507. 

Devonian  formations,  84,  303,  357. 

Diallage,  103. 

Dikes,  500,  597. 

Diospyros  primawa,  354. 

Dip  of  Cambrian  rocks,  225,  252;  Cretaceous 
strata,  599;  Eoz.oic  rocks,  569,597,598;  Pots- 
dam qnart/.yte,  499,  502,  53s.  5  to  1. 

Dodge  county,  chapter  on,  367. 
Situation  and  area,  367. 
Surface  features,  367. 
Natural  drainage,  367. 
Water-powers,  368. 
Topography,  368. 
Elevations,  369. 
Timber,  trees  and  shrubs,  369. 
Geological  structure,  370. 
Shakopee  limestone,  370. 
St.  Peter  sandstone,  370. 
Trenton  limestone,  370. 
Galena  limestone,  371. 
Drift,  374. 
Bricks  and  lime,  375. 

Dolomites  as  building  stones,  153. 

Dolomitic  limestones,  as  building  stones,  163. 

Dovre  (seventh)  moraine,  621. 

Drainage,  132-6.    Also  see  reports  of  counties. 

Drainage,  interglacial,  481.  507. 

Drainage,  local,  effect  on  soils,  129. 

Drain-tiles,  452. 

Drift:  Houston  county ,227-230;  Winona,  260-3; 
Fillmore,  311-318;  Olmsted,  343-5;  Mower, 
362-5;  Dodge,  374;  Freeborn,  385-8;  Steele, 
397,  399-402;  Waseca,  406,  411-413;  Blue 
Earth,  439-445;  Faribault,  460-7;  Watonwan 
and  Martin,  4 78 -488;  Cottonwood  and  Jack- 
son, 503-513;  Murray  and  Nobles,  520-2, 
526-531;  Pipestone  and  Rock,  548-553;  Brown 
and  Redwood,  580-6;  Yellow  Medicine,  Lyon 
and  Lincoln,  595, 599, 600-610;  Big  Stone  and 
Lac  qui  Parle,  619-630;  Le,  Sueur,  639-615: 
Rice,  658-671. 

Drift,  contained  in  the  ice-sheet,  440,  602,  604, 
626,  and  exposed  on  it  by  melting,  604,  610, 
662,  665,  668. 

distribution  and  characters,  1 16,  126,  4:i9. 
of  successive  glacial  epochs,  406,  484,  52S, 
582,626,658.'  |6.vs  ". 

origin  of  material,  99,  126,  374,  595,  599. 
soils  and  subsoils,  125-8,  351. 
thickness,  116,  .'{4:!,  363,3X5,  399,  Ml,  439, 
478,  505,  527,  528,  551,  580,  601,  620,  639,  659. 
Also  see  ./>V>i/Wi  ;•*,  Till,  Modified  drift,  Mo* 
raiwx,  (Undid  cjxw/is,  Glacial  xtria\  and 
Jce-theet. 


SCIENTIFIC  INDEX. 


GS7 


Drift  lakes  classified,  180,  480. 

Driftless  area,  117,  227,  275,  311,  317,  406. 

Ducks,  21. 

"  Duluth  granite",  103,  147. 

Eagles,  22. 

Eagle  rocks,  296. 

Elevation  and  subsidence,  09,  101. 

Elevations  above  the  sea,  122;  lakes,  124;  hills, 
valleys  and  plateaus,  125;  Houston  county, 
211-213;  Winona,  244;  Fillmore,  277:  Olm- 
sted,  328;  Mower,  349;  Dodge,  369;  Freeborn, 
380;  Steele,  396;  Waseca,  408;  Blue  Earth, 
419;  Faribault,  455;  Watonwan  and  Martin, 
474;  Cottonwood  and  Jackson,  496;  Murray 
and  Nobles,  522;  Pipestone  and  Bock,  536; 
Brown  and  Kedwood,  565  7;  Yellow  Medi- 
cine, Lyon  and  Lincoln,  593;  Big  Stone  and 
Lac  qui  Parle,  615;  Le  Sueur,  634;  llice, 
652.  [594,  616,  635. 

Elevations  of  the  Minnesota  river,  420,  566, 
Also  see  names  of  railroads. 

Elk,  23,  28,  29,  79. 

Elms,  215,  636,  653.  [634,  641. 

Elysian  (fifth)  moraine,  461  f.  n.,  581,  606,  621 , 

Endoceras  magniventrum,  300,  655. 

Eozoic  system,  568,  .V.MI. 

Eozoon  Canadense,  283. 

Epidote,  104. 

Erosion  by  streams.  122;  Houston  county,  210; 
Winona,  239-242;  Fillmore,  270-6;  Olmsted, 
328,333;  Mower, 348;  Dodge, 369;  Freeborn, 
381;  Waseca,  408;  Blue  Earth,  417,  418,  430, 
439;  Faribault,  455;  Watonwan  and  Martin, 
474;  Cottonwood  and  Jackson,  495-6;  Mur- 
ray and  Nobles,  527;  Pipestone  and  Bo  ck 
541;  Brown  and  Kedwood,  564,  581;  Yellow 
Medicine,  Lyon  and  Lincoln,  592,  602;  P.ig 
Stone  and  Lac  qui  Parle,  615,  622;  Le  Sucnr, 
630;  Bice,  651,  669. 
Also  see  Water-courses. 

Erosion  by  weathering,  226,  598,  599. 

Erosion,  glacial,  43(1,  571,  602. 

Erosion  in  Cambrian  strata  before  the  Creta- 
ceous age,  234,  432,  439. 

Eskers,  582.     See  Kames. 

Euomphalus,  78.  431;  E.  Minnesotensis,  637. 

E-yan-shah,  the  Indian  word  for  pipestone, 
62  f.  n. 

Faribault  county,  chapter  on,  454. 
Situation  and  area,  454. 
Surface  features,  454. 

Natural  drainage,  454. 

Lakes,  455. 

Topography,  455. 


Elevations,  455. 

Soil  and  timber,  456. 

Trees  and  shrubs,  457. 
Geological  structure,  457. 

Bed-rock  in  wells,  457. 

Cretaceous  beds,  460. 

Drift  and  contour,  4(10.  [460. 

Glacial  lake  in  basin  of  l>hie  Earth  river, 

Terminal  moraines,  462. 

Modified  drift,  464. 

Alluvium,  464. 

Pebbles  and  boulders,  464. 

Wells,  465. 
Material  resources,  467. 

Water-powers,  467. 

Bricks,  467. 

Peat,  468. 

Artesian  fountains,  470. 
Aboriginal  mounds,  471. 
Fault  in  St.  Croix  sandstone  at  Dresbach,259. 
Fauna  of  the  Minnesota  valley,  37. 

of  the  Mississippi  valley,  21.  28,  30,  32  f.  n. 
Favosites,  357  f.  n.;  F.  lycoperdon,  79. 
Favositoid  coral,  391. 
Feldspar,  38,  143,  569,  669. 

Also  see  Crystalline  rocks  as  building  stones. 
Fenestella,  304,  305. 
Ferruginous  soils,  129. 
Ficus,  573,  574;  F.  Ilalliana,  576. 
Fillmore  county,  chapter  on,  268. 
Situation  and  area,  268. 
Surface  features,  268. 

Natural  drainage,  268. 

Water-power  mills,  268. 

Topography,  270. 

Elevations,  277. 

Soil  and  timber,  277. 

Trees  and  shrubs,  278. 
Geological  structure,  280. 

St.  Croix  sandstone,  281. 

St.  Lawrence  limestone,  282. 

Jordan  sandstone,  284. 

Shakopee  limestone,  285. 

St.  Peter  sandstone,  288. 

Trenton  limestone,  289. 

Green  shales,  293. 

Upper  Trenton  and  Galena,  293. 

Maquoketa  shales,  MOO. 

Niagara  limestone,  302. 

Devonian  limestones,  303. 

Cretaceous  beds,  307. 

Drift,  311.  [313. 

Ancient  peat  and  vegetation  in  tlied  rift 

Wells,  315. 

Loess  loam,  315. 

Alluvial  ten-aces,  317. 


688 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


Material  resources,  318. 
Fuel,  318.    Iron,  318. 
Lead,  319.    Quicklime,  319. 
Bricks,  321 .    Gold  and  copper,  321 . 
Building  stone,  322. 
Sand  for  mortar  and  concrete,  323. 
Calcareous  tufa,  324. 
(Artificial  mounds,  673.) 
Fire-brick,  403,  451,588. 
Fires,  prairie,  345,  881,  524,  520. 
Fish  in  lakes  of  1'ark  region,  !-7,  89. 
Flora  of  the  state,  79,  '.)5. 
of  Rainy  lake,  43. 
of  the  Minnesota  valley,  37. 
of  the  Mississippi  valley,  21,  22,  28-80,  77. 
of  the  Park  region,  89. 
of  the  Undine  region,  72. 
Flowers  on  prairies,  37,  520,  G17. 
Flowing  wells,  389,402,453,470,486,  510,  5R5. 
Forest  bed  in  drift,  314,  363,  390,  5sr,.    See 

Wood  in  drift,  and  Peat,  interylacial. 
Forests  of  the  state,  136,  140,  636,  650;  deso- 
lated by  fire,  136.    See  Timber. 
Fort  I5enton  group,  308. 
Fort  Pierre  group,  599.  [falls,  78. 

Fossils  collected  by  Nicollet  at  St.  Anthony 
Fountains.    See  Flouring  wclh. 
Fox  Hills  group,  599. 
Freoborn  county,  chapter  on,  376. 
Situation  and  area,  376. 
Surface  features,  376. 
Natural  drainage,  376. 
Topography,  376. 
Elevations,  379. 
Soil,  380. 
Timber,  381. 

Geological  structure,  382. 
Drift,  382,  385. 
Cretaceous  rocks,  383. 
Exploration  for  coal,  384. 
G ravel  and  sand,  385. 
Wells,  388. 

Vegetation  in  the  drift,  ,'ii>o. 
Boulders,  390. 
Material  resources,  391. 
Lime,  391. 
Brick,  391. 
Peat,  393. 

Fringilia  vespertina,  52  f.  n. 
Frost,  effect  on  building  stones,  186. 
in  a  well  70  feet  deep,  671. 
rock  masses  dislodged  by,  540. 
Fucoids,  79,  258,  288,  374,  500. 

Gabbro,  as  building  stone,  147. 
Galena,  32,  33,  259. 


Galena  limestone,  84, 293, 334, 340. 362, 37 1 ,655. 
Gary  (second)  moraine,  4(«i,  505,  521.  52S.  605. 

621,641. 

Gas  in  wells,  384,  388,  4S8,  552,  62'.). 
(ieese,  21. 

Geological  survey  of  the  state,  91,  93,  94,  106. 
Gerolle  in  Winona  county,  262-3. 
( i lacial  currents,  99,  406. 408, 441 ,  Hill,  481 , 504, 

506,  548,  027,  62S,  041  f.  n.,  667-  9.     See  Icc- 

shcct. 
Glacial  drift.    See  Drift,  Till.  Momiws,  lioiil- 

dcrK,  and  Modifnd  drift. 

Glacial  epochs,  406,  528,  580.    See  InlerijhirutL 
Glacial  erosion,  430,  571,  602. 
Glacial  furrows,  600,  619. 
Glacial  lakes,  408,  442, 460, 508,  509, 545,  5SO   1 , 

501,  006,  615,  622,  642,  662,  668. 

effect  on  deposits  of  till,  408,  442,  461,  544, 

581,  622,  661. 

Glacial  markings,  showing  rock-fracture,  548. 
Glacial  rivers,  135,  388,  417,  444,  582,  622,  624, 

668. 
Glacial  striw,  99,  478,  503,  517-550,  5SO.  600. 

curved,  504;  intersecting,  503.         |596,  617. 
Gneiss  in  the  Minnesota  valley,  146,  568-571, 
Gold,  95,  321,  346. 
Gopher  knolls,  365. 
Granites  as  building  stones,  142-8. 
Granites  of  the  Minnesota  valley,  36, 38, 49,  61 , 

86,  146,  568-571,  596-6,  617. 

of  the  Mississippi  valley,  33, 142  5. 

on  the  northern  boundary,  42,  1 45. 
Graphite,  32. 
Graptolithus,  297. 
Grasses,  525-6,  595-6. 
Grasshoppers,  498. 
Grauwacke,  32. 
Gravel  and  sand,  distribution  in  the  stale,  1  is 

soils  and  subsoils,  127. 

See  Mmlijii  d  drift  and  Alluvium. 
Green-sand,  224,425. 

Green  shales,  218.  274,  293,  334, 342.  399, 655. 
Gypsum  (selenite)  crystals,  600,619. 

Hematite,  96. 
Hamilton  formation,  360. 
Hardpan,  512,  530,  607.     See  Till. 
Hard  water,  136,  512,  513,  524,  553,  51)5. 
Hay  used  as  fuel,  525,  537. 
Head-lining  of  Hour  barrels,  672. 
Heat,  effect  on  building  stones,  186. 
Hemlock,  139. 
Hickories,  215,  247. 
Hieroglyphics,  21,  33,  501,  555. 
Ilights.    See  Elevations. 


SCIENTIFIC  INDEX. 


689 


"  IIole-in-the-Mountain",  603.  [ite,  626. 

Hornblende  schist,  597, 598;  fragments  in  gran- 
"  Horse-back",  666. 
Houston  county,  chapter  on,  207. 
Situation  and  area,  207. 
Surface  features,  207. 

Natural  drainage,  207. 

Water-power  mills,  208. 

Topography,  208. 

Elevations,  211. 

Soil  and  timber,  213. 

Trees  and  shrubs,  214. 
Geological  structure,  217. 

Trenton  limestone,  218. 

St.  Peter  sandstone,  218. 

Shakopee  limestone,  219. 

Jordan  sandstone,  221. 

St.  Lawrence  limestone,  222. 

St.  Croix  sandstone,  223. 

Drift,  227. 

Alluvial  terraces,  227. 

Wells,  230. 
Material  resources,  231. 

Building  stone,  231. 

Sand,  233. 

Lamellar  calcite,  233. 

Brick,  234.    Lime,  234. 
Earthworks,  235  (also  673). 
Hudson  River  formation,  102,  176,  217,  218, 

260,  289,  300,  334,  339,  361,  397,  655. 
Huronian  system,  100, 103,  104. 
Hydraulic  limestone  and  cement,  434,  449. 
Hypersthene,  103. 

[641,  668. 
Ice-sheet,  99,  101,  406,  440,  441,  463,  479,  484, 

See  Glacial  currents. 
ice-sheet,  drift  contained  in,  440,602,  604,626. 

drift  on,  387,  604,  610,  662,  665,  668. 

thickness,  484,  549. 
Image  in  mound  near  Lanesboro,  673. 
Indians,  3,  4-23,46,55,  63,  81;  burial  customs, 

673;  inscriptions,  21, 33, 501,  555;  stone  pipes, 

560;  traditions,  64,  69,  546. 
Induration  of  quartzyte,  502. 
Inoceramus,  600. 

Inscriptions  by  Indians,  21,  33,  501,  555. 
Interglacial  drainage  and  water-courses,  484, 

507,  580. 

Interglacial  epochs,  313,  364,  406,  484,  580. 
Interglacial  formations,  313,  363,390,402,  406, 

441,  466,  485,  511,  552,  580,  585-6,  609,  626. 

See   Wood  in  drift  deposits. 
Intersecting  glacial  stria;,  503.         [Alluvium. 
Interval  lands,  567.      See   Bottomlands  and 
Iron  ore,  94,  103;  at  Vermilion  lake,  96,  103; 

at  Prairie  river  falls,  97:  in  Fillmore  county, 

44 


310,  314,  318;  boulders  in  drift,  344. 
Iron  springs.    See  Chalybeate. 
Isotelus,  343. 
Itasca  prairie,  386. 

[491. 
Jackson  county,  Cottonwood  and,  chapter  on, 

See  Cottonwood  county  for  contents  of  chapter. 
Joints,  500,  502,  569,  698,  600,  618,  620. 
Jordan  sandstone,  179, 221 , 252, 280, 284, 334-5 , 

426-9,  636. 
Juniper,  139. 

Kames,  388,  417,  444,  464,  582,  624,  665-9. 

Kame-like  deposits,  545,  565,  582,  584,  606-7. 

Kaolinized  gneiss  and  granite,  37,98,570,588. 

Kasota  stone,  164,  638,  646. 

Kentucky  coffee-tree,  139,  215,  248,  421. 

Keweenawan  formation,  Michigan  and  Wis- 
consin, 422,  500. 

Kiester  (fourth)  moraine,  387,  461  f.  n.,  462, 
581,606,621,  641. 

Labradorite,  103;  labradoiite  rock,  149. 

Lac  qui  Parle  county,  Big  Stone  and,  chapter 
on,  6 13.  See  Big  Stone  county  tor  contents 
of  chapter. 

Lakes,  130,  480,  564;  of  the  upper  Mississippi 
region,  78;  of  the  Park  region,  89;  Dodge 
county,  367;  Freeborn,  376-8;  Steele,  394-6; 
Waseca,  405;  Blue  Earth,  416;  Faribault,  455; 
Watonwan,  473;  Martin,  479-485;  Cotton- 
wood  and  Jackson,  493;  Murray,  518;  Nobles, 
519;  Pipestone,  539;  Brown  and  Redwood, 
563;  Yellow  Medicine,  Lyon  and  Lincoln, 
591;  Big  Stone  and  Lac  qui  Parle,  614,  623; 
Le  Sueur,  633;  Rice,  648,  651,  660. 

Lakes,  absent  beyond  the  outer  moraine,  519. 
chains  of,  in  Martin  county,  479-485.    [640. 
in  drift  deposits,  origin  of,  386, 408, 480, 622, 
See  Glacial  lakes. 

Lake-ridges,  564,  624,  643. 

Laumontite,  103. 

Laurophyllum  reticulatum,  576. 

Laurus,  574;  L.  Nebrascensis,  573. 

Lead,  340. 

Leaf  hills,  89, 119,  121, 123,  125, 130,  406. 

Leaves,  Cretaceous  fossil,  573,  574,  576. 

Leeches,  78. 

Leguminosites  Marcouanus,  576. 

Lemont  limestone,  182. 

Leptsena,  293;  L.  sericea,  301, 339. 

Le  Sueur  county,  chapter  on,  632. 
Situation  and  area,  632. 
Surface  features,  632. 
Natural  drainage,  632. 
Topography,  633. 


690 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


Elevations,  634. 

Soil  and  timber,  636. 
Geological  structure,  636.  [636. 

Jordan  sandstone  and  Shakopee  limestone, 

Cretaceous  clay,  639. 

Glacial  and  modified  drift,  639. 

Terminal  moraines,  640. 

Terraces  of  modified  drift,  642. 

Alluvium,  643. 

Boulders,  643. 

Lake-ridges,  643. 

Copper  found,  643. 

Wells,  643. 
Material  resources,  645. 

Water-powers,  646. 

Building  stone,  646. 

Lime,  646. 

Bricks,  646. 

Peat,  647. 

Aboriginal  earthworks,  647. 
Le  Sueur  prairie,  634,  642.  [577-9. 

Lignite,  exploration  for,  98,  363,  384,  573, 
in  Cretaceous  strata,  73,  84,  96, 98,  383,  398, 

568,  572,  577  9,  599,  620. 
in  drift,  84, 363, 383, 413, 435, 443-4, 465, 486, 

510,  511,529, 553, 584-5,  608,  620,  629, 643, 

644,671. 

mined  in  Dakota,  578,  620. 
Lime:  Houston  county,  234;  Winona,  265; 
Fillmore,  319;  Olmsted,  335;  Mower,  366; 
Dodge, 372, 375;  Freeborn,391;  Waseca,413; 
Blue  Earth,  448;  Jackson,  513;  Murray  and 
Nobles,  531;  Brown  and  Redwood,  587;  Yel- 
low Medicine,  Lyon  and  Lincoln,  611;  Big 
Stone  and  Lac  qui  Parle,  630;  Le  Sueur,  646; 
Kice,  672. 

Limestone  at  lake  of  the  Woods,  42;  at  Saint 
Anthony  falls,  33,  35,  58,  85;  in  the  Minne- 
sota valley,  36,  59, 85,  98,  575-6. 
See  St.  Lawrence,  Shakopee,  Trenton,  Oalena, 

Hudson  River,    Niagara  and    Devonian 

formations. 

Limestone  boulders  and  pebbles  in  the  drift, 
383,  464,  485,  509-10,  531,543,  553,  595,  606, 
611,  620,  631,  640,  643,646,659,  663;  derived 
in  part  from  the  vicinity  of  Winnipeg,  Man- 
itoba, 509,  553,  620,  643. 
Limestones,  as  building  stones,  158, 163,  170. 
Lincoln  county,  chapter,  589.  See  Yellow  Med- 
icine county  for  contents  of  chapter. 
Liugula,  83,  258,  429  f.  n  ,  637. 
Cobourgensis,  292,  298. 
Dacotaensis,  637,  638. 
Elderi,  291,298,  343. 
quadrata,  298. 
Lingulepis,  288 . 


Liriodendron  Meekii,  576. 

Lithology  of  rocks  in  the  Minnesota  valley,  38. 
of  the  building  stones  of  the  state,  142-190. 

Lituites  undatus,  655. 

Loam,  117, 119,128,209,239,245,246,263,278, 
315-317,365,  392,  543,  544,  659,  661. 

Lobes  of  the  ice-sheet,  406,463,479,481,484,640 

Locust,  Rocky  Mountain,  498. 

Lodestone,  344.  [543-5. 

Loess,  118,  119,  213,  245,  260,  262,  278,526, 

Lower  Magnesiau  limestone,  83,  85,  98,  102. 
See  St.  Lawi-ence  and  Shakopee  limestones. 

Lower  Magnesian  series,  422,  500. 

Lower  Silurian  formations:  Houston  county, 
218;  Winona,  250;  Fillmore,  289-301;  Olm- 
sted, 339-343;  Mower,  362;  Dodge,  370-4; 
Steele,  397;  Rice,  655. 

Lower  Trenton  limestone,  85,  102;  section  at 
Minneapolis,  168:  as  building  stone,  170-6; 
Houston  county,  218;  Winona,  250;  Fill- 
more,  289-292;  Olmsted,  343;  Dodge,  370; 
Steele,  399;  Rice,  655. 

Lumber,  421,  672. 

Lyon  county,  chapter,  589.  See  Yellow  Medi- 
cine county  for  contents  of  chapter. 

Maclurea,  300;  M.  Bigsbyi,  340. 

Magnesian  lime,  character  of,  157,  448. 

Magnesian  limestone.  See  Dolomites  and 
Limestone. 

Magnetic  variation,  378,  396,  547  f.  n. 

Magnetite,  96,  103. 

Magnolia  alternans,  574. 

Maples,  653. 

Maps:  by  Allen,  52;  Beltrami,  45;  Carver,  24 
f.  n.;  DeL'Isle,  20;  Franquelin,  66;  Henne- 
pin,8;  Joliet,  110;  Lea,66;Nicollet,  67;  Och- 
agach,  18;  Owen,  82  f.  n.;  Schoolcraft,  52; 
Warren,  100. 

Maquoketa  shales,  84,  300. 

Marble,  357,  366,  672. 

Marcellus  formation,  360. 

Marl  and  marly  soils,  129. 

Marshes,  364,  393,  394,  395,  524,  564,  649,  660. 

Martin  county,  Watonwan  and,  chapter  on, 
472.  See  Watonwan  cnunty  for  contents  of 
chapter. 

Mashkilonge,  78. 

Mastodon  tusk,  670. 

Medial  moraines.    See  Moraines. 

Mergus  cucullatus,  37. 

Mesabi  range,  119-121,  123, 125, 130. 

Metamorphic  rocks.    See  Eozoic  system. 

Metamorphism  of  rocks  north  of  lake  Supe- 
rior, 84-5. 

Meteorology,  95.    See  Climatic  clianyes. 


SCIENTIFIC  INDEX. 


691 


Mica,  38,  143, 569;  mica  slate,  43. 

Mica  schist,  masses  of,  in  gneiss,  597. 

Microscopic  characters  of  building  stones,  145, 
147,  153,  155,  164,  172,176,177,179,180,182. 

Millstones,  quartzyte  used  for,  555. 

Mineralogy,  32  f .  n.,  52  f .  n.    See  Lithology. 

Mineral  springs,  264,  402,  414,  465,  488,  532, 
586,  610,  645. 

Mining  for  gold,  95;  for  coal,  579. 
Also  see  Copper,  Iron  ore,  and  Lignite. 

Minneapolis  and  St.  Louis  railway,  elevations, 
380, 409,  634. 

Minnesota  lobe  of  the  ice-sheet,  406,  479, 481 , 
484,  640.  [642,  667. 

Minnesota  valley  in  the  glacial  period,  580, 622, 
preglacial  erosion,  432,  439. 
glacial  lake,  461  f.  n.,  606, 622,  642,  663. 

Mississippi  river  system,  133;  extension  in  the 
glacial  period,  101,  622. 

Mississippi  valley,  erosion,  241. 

Modified  drift,  118,  127,  444,  480;  Houston 
county,  228;  Winona,  261;  Fillmore,311-313, 
317;  Olmsted,  344;  Mower,  364;  Freeborn, 
385-8;  Steele,  401;  Blue  Earth,  444;  Fari- 
bault,  464;  Jackson,  496;  Clay  county,  Iowa, 
508;  Nobles,  527;  Pipestone  and  Rock,  544-5; 
Brown  and  Bed  wood,  580-3;  Yellow  Medi- 
cine, Lyon  and  Lincoln,  606;  Big  Stone  and 
Lac  qui  Parle,  624;  Le  Sueur,  640,  642;  Rice, 
662-9. 

Modified  drift,  contained  in  the  ice-sheet,  444, 
480,  626,  and  exposed  on  it  by  melting,  387, 
665,  668. 

of  the  earlier  glacial  epoch,  581,  625. 
rate  of  deposition,  588. 
Also  see  Rames,  Terraces,  and  Loess. 

Moose,  29,  30. 

Moraine,  buried,  607,  626. 

Moraine,  medial,  504,  506. 

Moraines,  terminal:  Freeborn  county,  377,  385; 
Steele,  399;  Waseca,  406;  Faribault,  462; 
Watonwan  and  Martin,  478,  484;  Cotton- 
wood  and  Jackson,  495,  505;  Murray  and 
Nobles,  520,  527;  Pipestone,  544;  Brown  and 
Redwood,  581;  Yellow  Medicine,  Lyon  and 
Lincoln,  596,  601;  Big  Stone  and  Lac  qui 
Parle,  621;  Le  Sueur,  633,  640;  Rice,  660-2. 

Moraines,  terminal,  formation  of,  406,  640. 
in  Ohio,  463  f.  n. 

Also  see  Altamont,  Gary,  Antelope,  Kicster, 
Elysian,  Waconia  and  Havre  moraines. 

Mounds,  aboriginal,  3  f.  n.,  235,  266,  365,  403, 
414,471,489,516,532,588,612,  631,  647,  673. 

Mounds,  articles  found  in,  showing  recent  date 
of  burials,  489,  647. 

Mower  county,  chapter  on,  347. 


Situation  and  area,  347. 
Surface  features,  347. 

Natural  drainage,  347. 

Water-power,  348. 

Topography,  348. 

Elevations,  349. 

Soil  and  timber,  35(1. 

Trees  and  shrubs,  351. 
Geological  structure,  352. 

Cretaceous,  353. 

Devonian  limestones,  357. 

Hudson  River  rocks,  361. 

Galena  and  Upper  Trenton,  362. 

Drift,  362. 

Ancient  peat,  363. 

Mounds,  365. 
Material  resources,  365. 
Murchisonia,  300. 

Murray  and  Nobles  counties,  chapter  on,  517. 
Situation  and  area,  517. 
Surface  features,  518. 

Natural  drainage,  518. 

Topography,  519. 

Elevations,  522. 

Soil,  523. 

Timber  and  prairie,  524. 
Geological  structure,  526. 

Glacial  and  modified  drift,  526. 

Terminal  moraines,  527. 

Wells,  528. 
Material  resources,  531. 

Water-power,  531 . 

Stone,  lime,  bricks,  peat,  531. 

Springs,  532. 
Aboriginal  mounds,  532. 
Mus  bursarius,  32  f.  n. 
Muskrat,  37,  525. 

Niagara  limestone,  302,  356. 
Niobrara  group,  308,  576. 
Nishnabotany  sandstone,  308. 
Nobles  county,  Murray  and,  chapter  on,  517. 
See  Murray  county  for  contents  of  chapter. 
Norway  pine,  138. 
Nucleospira,  360. 
Nucula  cancellata,  600. 

Oaks,  214,  247,  279,  653. 
Ocher,  619,  639. 
Olenidse,  638. 

Olmsted  county,  chapter  on,  325. 
Situation  and  area,  325. 
Surface  features,  326. 
Natural  drainage,  326. 
Springs,  326. 
Water-power,  327. 


692 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


Contour,  328,  333,  337-8. 
Elevations,  328. 

Surface  features  of  various  towns,  329. 
Timber,  330. 

List  of  trees,  shrubs  and  vines,  331. 
Geological  structure,  332. 
St.  Lawrence  limestone,  334. 
Jordan  sandstone,  335. 
Shakopee  limestone,  336. 
St.  Peter  sandstone,  387. 
Trenton  period,  339. 
Drift,  343. 
Wells,  345. 

Material  resources,  345. 
Soil,  345. 
Brick,  345. 

Gold  in  the  drift,  345. 
Ophileta,  223,  257. 
Opwagonite,  Schoolcraft's  name  for  catlinite, 

62  f.  n. 
Orbiculse,  83. 
Oriskany  sandstone,  356. 
Orthis,  293,  297,  305,  342,  637,  638,  655. 
;i  n  n  rim.  301. 
Lynx,  301. 
perveta,  291. 
plicatella,  301. 
polygramma,  78. 
snli;i-(|ii;ita.  301. 
subquadrata,  301. 
testudinaria,  78,  301. 
tricenaria,  291 . 
Whitfleldi,  301. 

Orthoceras,  78, 223,  291,  340,  360. 
Orthonota,  297. 
Otters,  23. 

Paint,  571,  588,  639.  [531,647,660. 

Peat,  108,  129,  318,  363-4,  393,  468,  489,  514, 

Peat,  interglacial,  313,  363,  402. 

Peat,  process  of  manufacture,  468. 

Peaty  soils,  129. 

Pebbles,  on  Kiester  hills,  464;  on  lake  shores, 

485-6,  509;  at  Balaton,  606;  Cretaceous,  309, 

552,  607. 
Pelicans,  524. 

Pepin,  lake,  its  cause,  58, 124, 132. 
Perch,  78. 
Persea,  574. 

Petrified  moss,  327,  513,  550,  587,  610,  620. 
Phillipsite,  86. 
Phragmolites,  78. 

Physical  features  of  the  state,  95, 100, 111-141. 
Physical  tests  of  building  stones,  185. 
Pickerel,  78. 
Pigment  used  by  Indians,  60,  71,  428. 


Pike,  78. 

Pine,  area  of  merchantable,  138. 

species  of,  138,  139,  215,  248,  279. 
Pinus  (fossil),  574. 

Pipes,  Indian  stone,  24  f .  n.,  560.    See  Calumet. 
Pipestone  and  Rock  counties,  chapter  on,  533. 
Situation  and  area,  533. 
Surface  features,  533. 
Natural  drainage,  533. 
Topography,  534. 
Elevations,  536. 
Soil,  timber  and  fuel,  537. 
Geological  structure,  537. 
Red  quartzyte,  537. 
Historical  resume,  538. 
The  pipestone  quarry,  538. 
Conglomerate,  541. 
Pipestone  or  catlinite,  541. 
Drift.    Till,  543. 
Terminal  moraine,  544. 
Loam-clay,  544. 
Kame-like  deposits,  545. 
Boulders,  545. 
Glacier-marks,  547. 
Thickness  of  the  glacier,  549. 
Analysis  of  water  of  Rock  river,  550. 
Springs,  550. 
Wells,  550. 
Material  resources,  554. 

Building  stone,  654. 
Archseology,  555. 
Indian  inscriptions,  555-560. 
Indian  stone  pipes,  560. 

Pipestone,  24,  37, 62,  70,500,501,502,541,561 
Pipestone  quarry,  62,  70,  538,  541. 
Placenticeras  placenta,  600. 
Plains  of  sand  and  gravel,  118,  122. 
Platanus  primseva,  574. 
Pleurotomaria,  78,  223,  342. 
Polished  rock  surfaces,  66,  541. 
Ponds,  326,  564. 
Poplars,  214,  247. 
Populites  cyclophyllus,  574. 
Populus  cordifolia,  574. 
cyclophylla,  574. 
elegans,  574. 
Lancastriensis,  574. 
litigiosa,  574. 
Porphyrite,  104. 
I'ot-holes,  61,  434,  583. 

Potsdam  formations,  83,  97,  100,  103,  180; 
Blue  Earth  county,  422,  424;  Watonwan; 
474,  476;  Cottonwood,  494,  499,  513;  Pipe- 
stone  and  Rock,  537,  554;  Brown,  568,  572. 
Potsdam  pebbles  and  boulders,  465,  486,  509, 
606. 


SCIENTIFIC   INDEX. 


693 


Potsdam  period,  Cupriferous  series  referred 

to,  100,  103,  422,  500. 

Potsdam  sandstone  as  building  stone,  180. 
"Potsdanr'fSt.  Croix)  sandstone,  83,98,102,107. 
Pottery,  343,  402,  452,  588. 
Prairies,  42, 125, 136, 421, 498, 524, 526, 567, 617. 
Prairie-fires,  129,  524,  526,  617. 
Preglacial  erosion,  226,  234,  275,  418,  439. 
Productella  truncata,  360. 
Proteus  of  the  lakes,  32  f.  n. 
Protophyllum  crednerioides,  574. 
"  Protozoic  rocks,"  83. 

Qualitative  tests  of  building  stones,  184. 
Qualities  of  building  stones,  187,  195-203. 

of  the  natural  waters  of  the  state,  136. 
Quarries:  Houston  county,  221,  231;  Winona, 
252,  256,  265;  Fillmore,  284,  292,  297,  305-7, 
322;  Olmsted,  335, 337,  341, 348;  Mower,  357- 
361,  366;  Dodge,  373;  Steele,  397;  Blue  Earth, 
446;  Cottonwood,  513;  Pipestone  and  Kock, 
554;  Brown  and  Redwood,  587;  Yellow  Med- 
icine and  Lincoln,  611;  Big  Stone,  and  Lac 
qui  Parle,630;  LeSueur,646;  Kice,  671-2. 
Quarries  referred  to  in  chapter  on  the  building 
stones  of  the  state: 

Beaver  Bay,  145,  148. 

near  Caledonia,  162,  225. 

Clinton  Falls,  176,  397. 

Dakota,  178. 

Dresbach,  178. 

Duluth,  147. 

East  Saint  Cloud,  142. 

Faribault,  171,672. 

Fond  du  Lac,  180. 

near  Fort  Snelling,  177. 

Fountain,  170,  288,  292,  322. 

Frontenac.  160. 

Hinckley,  176. 

Jordan,  179. 

Kasota,  165,  638,  646. 

Lanesboro,  152,  284,  323. 

near  Luverne,  151,  554. 

Mankato,  166, 429,  447. 

Mantorville,  167,  373. 

Minneapolis,  175. 

Ottawa,  164,  639,  646. 

Pipestone  City,  151,  554. 

lledstone,  near  New  Ulna,  150. 

Red  Wing,  160. 

Saint  Paul,  172. 

Sank  Rapids,  142, 148. 

Shakopee,  164. 

Sioux  Falls,  Dakota,  152. 

Stillwater,  159. 

near  Stockton,  162, 255. 


Taylor's  Falls,  182. 
Watab,  146. 
Winona,  161,  265. 

Quartz,  38,  143,  360,  569;  veins,  597,  598. 
Quartzyte  near  New  Ulm,  36,  60,  85,  149,  499; 
at  the  pipestone  quarry,  63,  70,  537,  554; 
at  Pokegama  falls,  77,  100;  in  Watonwan 
county,  474,  476;  Cottonwood,  494,  499,  513; 
Pipestone  and  Rock,  537,  554;  Brown,  568, 
572. 

Quartzytes  as  building  stones,  149. 
Quebec  formation,  424. 

Raccoons,  28. 

Rain-fall,  498,  524,  591. 

Rainy  river,  drainage  system,  134. 

Receptaculites,  297,  298,  342,  371,  374,  510. 

Recession  of  ice-sheet,  406,  479,  496,  504,  508, 

580-1,  591,  604-6,  622,  641,  662,  669. 
Red-bird,  37. 
Red  clay  at  Duluth,  120. 
Red  marble,  24. 

Red  marls  and  sandstone  at  New  Ulm,  98, 576. 
Red  river  of  the  North,  system  of,  133. 
Red  till,  126,  127,  627,  658,  666,  668-9. 
Redwood  county,  Brown  and,  chapter  on,  562. 
See  Brown  county  for  contents  of  chapter. 
Rensselseria,  360. 
Reptiles,  37,  78. 
Rhynchonella,  292,  301,  655. 
Rice  county,  chapter  on,  648. 
Situation  and  area,  648. 
Surface  features,  648. 

Natural  drainage,  648. 

Water-powers,  650. 

Topography,  651. 

Elevations,  652. 

Soil  and  timber,  652. 

Trees  and  shrubs,  653. 
Geological  structure,  654. 

Rocks  of  the  Trenton  period,  655. 

St.  Peter  sandstone,  656. 

Shakopee  limestone,  657. 

Drift.    Till,  658. 

Moraines  and  morainic  belts,  660 

Gravel  and  gravel  terraces,  662. 

Cannon  river  terraces,  663. 

The  lower  terrace,  665. 

The  Bridgewater  kame,  665. 

Minerals  from  the  drift,  669. 

Mastodon  remains,  670. 

Wells,  670. 
Material  resources,  671. 

Building  stone,  671. 

Lime,  672.    Brick,  672. 

Sorghum,  672. 


694 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


Lumber,  672. 

Artificial  mounds,  673. 
Ripple-marks,  500,  502,  599. 
Rivers,  systems  of,  132. 
Rochester  and  Northern  Minnesota  railway, 

elevations,  329. 
Rock  county,  Pipestone  and,  chapter  on,  533. 

See  Pipestone  county  for  contents  of  chapter. 
Rock  decomposed  in  place,  75,  98,  397, 570. 
Rock-outcrops  in  the  state,  116. 
Rock- specimens  collected  by  Norwood,  84. 
Rocky  Mountain  locust,  498. 
Roman  architecture  in  England,  156. 

St.  Croix  sandstone,  (83,98, 102,)  107;  as  build- 
ing stone,  178,  182;  Houston  county,  223-7; 
Winona,  257-9;  Fillmore,  281;  Blue  Earth, 
422-4.  [463  f.  n. 

St.  John's  ridge    (terminal  moraine),    Ohio, 

St.  Lawrence  limestone  as  building  stone,  154; 
Houston  county,  222;  Winona,  253-7;  Fill- 
more,  282-4;  Olmsted,  334;  Blue  Earth.  424-6. 

St.  Louis  river  system,  135.  [463  f.  n. 

St.  Mary's  ridge  (terminal  moraine),  Ohio 

St.  Paul  &  Sioux  City  division,  Chicago,  St. 
Paul,  Minneapolis  &  Omaha  railway,  eleva- 
tions, 419,  474,  496, 522,  536,  635. 

St.  Paul,  Minneapolis  &  Manitoba  railway, 
Brown's  Valley  branch,  elevations,  616. 

St.  Peter  sandstone,  24,33,98,102;  as  building 
stone,  177;  Houston  county,  218;  Winona, 
251;  Fillmore,  288;  Olmsted,  337-9;  Dodge, 
370;  Steele,  399;  Waseca,  410;  Rice,  656; 
fossils,  288,  656. 

Salix,  435;  S.  protesefolia,  573, 5Z4. 

Salt,  brought  by  Indians,  6. 
on  the  shores  of  lakes,  61. 

Salt  ponds  and  lakes,  53,  61,  614. 

Salt  springs,  42,  62,  108,  414. 

Salt  spring  lands,  104,  105,  108. 

Salt  well  at  Belle  Plaine,  104. 

Sand-hill  crane,  37. 

Sand  prairie,  642. 

Sandstone  at  Castle  rock,  33, 58,  74,  656;  Fond 
du  Lac,  32,  77,  180;  Fort  Snelling,  35,  85, 
177;   Jordan,  105,  179;  Little  rapids,  35,  85; 
Myah  Skah,  59;  Pokegama  falls,  54,  77,  96; 
St.  Anthony  falls,  33, 58;  Taylor's  Falls,  104; 
"of  the  upper  Mississippi",  83. 
See  Potsdam,  St.  Croix,  Jordan  and  St. 
Peter  formations. 

Sandstones  as  building  stones,  176-182. 

Satin  spar,  341. 

Scaphites  Nicolletii,  600. 

Sciurus  tridecem-striatus,  32  f.  n. 

Scolithus,  288. 


Sections  (also  see  Wells): 

Cretaceous  beds  on  Big  Cobb  river,  438. 
on  Cottonwood  river,  573-4. 
in  Le  Sueur  valley,  435. 
on  Maple  river,  437. 
on  Minnesota  river  near  New  Ulm,  574  6. 

Trenton  limestone  at  Minneapolis,  31,58,168. 

Shakopee  limestone  at  Mankato,  429. 

Jordan  sandstone  in  Blue  Earth  county,  427. 

St.  Croix  sandstone  at  Hokah,  224. 
in  Winona  county,  257. 

Potsdam  quartzyte,  Cottonwood  county,  502. 

Albert  Lea,  388. 

Caledonia,  225. 

ChatUeld,  286. 

Clear  Grit,  283. 

Clinton  Falls,  397. 

Concord,  370. 

Dresbach  (at  a  fault),  259. 

Faribault,  656. 

Fort  Snelling,  35,  85. 

Fountain,  288,  292. 

Freeborn,  384. 

Gregson's  mill,  Mower  county,  360. 

Heron  Lake,  503. 

Hokah,  224. 

Kasota,  638. 

L'Huillier  mound,  430. 

Mankato,  423,  429. 

Mantorville,  373. 

Milton,  371. 

Money  Creek,  229. 

Oronoco,  335. 

Owatonna,  398. 

Pickwick,  246,  262. 

Pleasant  Grove,  342. 

(iuincy,  336. 

across  Root  river  valley,  287. 

St.  Anthony  falls,  31,  58. 

Spring  Valley,  301. 

Whalan,  284. 
Selenite  crystals,  600. 
Sequoia,  384. 
Shakopee  limestone:  as  building  stone,  163; 

Houston  county,    219-221;    Winona,  252; 

Fillmore,  285-8;  Olmsted,  336;  Dodge,  370; 

Blue  Earth,  429-431;   Faribault,  459;  Le 

Sueur,  336-9;  Rice,  657. 
Shark's  tooth,  435. 
Shells,  in  alluvial  deposits,  552,  553. 

interglacial,  441,  485,  487,511,  580,  608-9. 
Shrubs:  Houston  county,  214;    Winona,  247; 

Fillmore,  278;  Olmsted,  332;  Mower,  351; 

Dodge,  369;  Freeborn,  381;  Steele,  397;  Blue 

Earth,  421;    Faribault,   457;    Cottonwood, 

499;  Murray,  525;  Pipestone  and  Rock,  537; 


SCIENTIFIC  INDEX. 


695 


Redwood,  568;  Coteau  lakes,  Dakota,  596; 
Big  Stone  lake,  617;  Le  Sueur  county,  636; 
.  Bice,  653. 

Silieifled  wood,  643,  669. 
Silurian  rocks  at  St.  Anthony  falls,  83. 

See  Lower  and  Upper  Silurian. 
Silver,  52  f .  n. 

Sink-holes,  209,  252,  275,  326,  333,  341. 
Sioux  Falls  branch,  Chicago,  St.  Paul,  Minne- 
apolis &  Omaha  railway,  elevations,  536. 
Sioux  quartzyte,  537. 
Slate,  32,  56, 103;  talcose,  75. 
Slickeusides,  571. 
Sloughs,  524,  564,  595. 
Snow-fall  in  glacial  period,  641. 
Soils  and  subsoils,  63,  69,  125-9;  soil  of  Hous- 
ton county,  213;  Winona,245;  Fillmore,  277; 
Olmsted,    345;    Mower,  350;  Dodge,  374; 
Freeborn,  380;  Steele,  396;    Waseca,  409; 
Blue  Earth,  420;  Faribault,  456;  Watonwan 
and  Martin,  475;  Cottonwood  and  Jackson, 
497;  Murray  and  Nobles,  523;  Pipestone  and 
Rock,  537;  Brown  and  Redwood,  567;  Yel- 
low Medicine,  Lyon  and  Lincoln,  595;  Big 
Stone  and  Lac  qui  Parle,  617;  Le  Sueur,  636; 
Rice,  652. 
Sorghum,  672. 

Southern  Minnesota  division,  Chicago,  Mil- 
waukee &  St.  Paul  railway,  elevations,  211, 
277,  349,  455,  474,  496,  522,  536;  Mankato 
branch,  419. 

Specific  gravity  of  building  stones,  185, 195-203. 
Specimens  in  duplicate  ordered,  109. 
Spirifer,  301,339. 

Springs,  71  f .  n.,  264,  274,  275,  286,  326,  333, 
357,  402,414,  465,  488,515,532,550,586,590, 
595,610,611,620,645. 
Spruce,  139. 
Stalactites,  341. 

Standard  Cement  company,  434,  449. 
State  buildings,  193. 
Staurolite,  43. 
Steaschist,  76,  77. 
Steele  county,  chapter  on,  394. 
Situation  and  area,  394. 
Surface  features,  394. 
Natural  drainage,  394. 
Water-power,  394. 
Topography,  395. 
Townships  described,  395. 
Elevations,  396. 
Soil  and  timber,  396. 
List  of  trees  and  shrubs,  397. 
Geological  structure,  397. 
Trenton  period,  397,  899. 
Cretaceous,  398,  399. 


Owatonna  well,  398. 

Glacial  drift,  399. 

Terminal  moraines,  400. 

Wells,  401. 

Mineral  springs,  402. 

Pottery  and  brick,  402. 

Aboriginal  mounds,  403. 
Steriocisnia,  78. 

Stone  buildings  in  Saint  Paul,  191;  in  Minne- 
apolis, 192. 

Stone  City  limestone,  183. 
Stone  hammers  in  mounds,  673. 
Storks,  21. 

Straparollus  Minnesotensis,  431. 
Striae.    See  Glacial  strice. 
Stromatoporoid  corals,  357. 
Strophomena,  78,  292,  293,  297,  300,  361,  655. 
alternata,  78,291,  301,  307. 
fluctuosa,  301,  307. 

Subsidence,  99, 101 .  [276,  326, 453, 586. 

Subterranean  streams,  71  f.  n.,  208,  237,  242, 
Sucker,  78. 

Sulphuret  of  copper,  Huronian,  100. 
Sulphuret  of  lead,  32,  33,  259. 
Swans,  21. 
Syenite,  33,  142-9,  569,  596-7. 

Table  of  qualities  of  building  stones,  184,  195- 

Taconic  controversy,  84.  [203. 

Tamarack,  139. 

Terminal  moraines.    See  Moraines. 

Terraces  of  modified  drift,  118,  227,  261,  313, 
317,364,  386,  445,496,510,545,564,581,  583, 
607,  642,  643,  662-5. 
of  rock  strata,  270-4,  418,  625,  636,  665. 
of  till,  607,  625,  626. 

Thickness  of  the  ice-sheet,  484,  549 . 
of  drift.    See  Drift. 

Thousand-foot  contour-line,  123. 

Tiles  for  drains,  452. 

Till  (see  Drift],  117, 126, 440;  Fillmore  county, 
311;  Olmsted,  343;  Mower,  362;  Dodge,  374; 
Freeborn,  385;  Steele,  399;  Waseca,  413; 
Blue  Earth,  439-442;  Faribault,  460;  Waton- 
wan and  Martin,  478;  Cottonwood  and  Jack- 
son, 505;  Murray  and  Nobles,  526;  Pipestone 
and  Rock,  543;  Brown  and  Redwood,  580; 
Yellow  Medicine,  Lyon  and  Lincoln,  601; 
Big  Stone  and  Lac  qui  Parle,  620;  Le  Sueur, 
639;  Rice,  658. 

Till,  blue  in  western  Minnesota,  126,440, 627-8. 
changed  by  weathering  to  yellow  next  to 

surface,  440,  582,  625. 

contained  in  the  ice-sheet,  440,  602, 604.  626, 
and  exposed  on  it  by  melting,  604, 610,  662, 
665.  668. 


696 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  MINNESOTA. 


Till,  effect  of  glacial  lakes  on  its  deposition, 

408,  442,  545,  622,  659,  661. 
red  (chiefly  in  eastern  Minnesota),  126-7, 

627,  658. 
varieties,  126,  440-2,  461,  465,  512,  529,  530, 

543,  582,  607,  659,  661. 
yellow  till  below  blue  till,  529. 
red  till  below  the  blue,  659. 

Timber,  136-140,  636;  Houston  county,  214; 
Winona,  247;  Fillmore,  278;  Olmsted,  831; 
Mower,  350;  Dodge,  369;  Freeborn,  378-9, 
381;  Steele,  395-7;  Waseca,  409;  Blue  Earth, 
421;  Faribault,  456;  Watonwan  and  Martin, 
476;  Cottonwood  and  Jackson,  498;  Murray 
and  Nobles,  525;  Pipestone  and  Rock,  537; 
Brown  and  Bed  wood,  567;  Yellow  Medicine, 
Lyon  and  Lincoln,  596;  Big  Stone  and  Lac 
qui  Parle,  617;  Le  Sueur,  636;  Rice,  653, 672. 

Topography,  120-5,  406;  Houston  county,  208; 
Winona,  238;  Fillmore,  270;  Olmsted,  328; 
Mower,  348;  Dodge,  368;  Freeborn,  376; 
Steele,  395;  Waseca,  405;  Blue  Earth,  416; 
Faribault,  455;  Watonwan  and  Martin,  473; 
Cottonwood  and  Jackson,  494;  Murray  and 
Nobles,  519;  Pipestone  and  Rock,  534;  Brown 
and  Redwood,  563;  Yellow  Medicine,  Lyon 
and  Lincoln,  591;  Big  Stone  and  Lac  qui 
Parle,  614;  Le  Sueur,  633;  Rice,  651. 

Tourmaline,  39. 

Traditions  of  the  Indians,  64,  69,  546. 

Trap-rock,  32,  33,  97,  100,  104,  500. 

Travertine,  327,  513,  550,  587,  610,  611,  620. 

Trees,  138-9,  636;  Houston  county,  214;  Wino- 
na, 247;  Fillmore,  278;  Olmsted,  331 ;  Mower, 
351;  Dodge,  369;  Freeborn,  381;  Steele,  397; 
Waseca,  410;  Blue  Earth,  421;  Faribault, 
457;  Watonwan  and  Martin,  476;  Cotton- 
wood  and  Jackson,  499;  Murray  and  Nobles, 
525;  Pipestone  and  Rock,  537;  Brown  and 
Redwood,  568;  Yellow  Medicine,  Lyon  and 
Lincoln,  596;  Big  Stone  and  Lac  qui  Parle, 
617;  Le  Sueur,  636;  Rice,  653. 

Tree  cultivation,  331, 382,  525. 

Tree,  supposed  fossil,  598. 

Trenton  formations,  85, 102;  as  building  stones, 

167-176;  Houston  county,  218;  Winona,  250; 

Fillmore,  289-301 ;  Olmsted,  339-343;  Mower, 

362;  Dodge,  370;  Steele,  397,  399;  Rice,  655. 

See  Lower  and  Upper  Trenton,  Green  shales. 

Galena  and  Hudson  River  formations, 

and  Maquoketa  shales. 

Triassic  (?)  at  New  Ulm,  98. 

Trilobites,  83,  343,  637,  638. 

Trout,  78. 

Tuliby,  78. 

Turbinolopsis  bina,  79. 


Turkeys,  21. 
Turritella,  79. 

Upper  Magnesian  limestones,  83. 
Upper  Silurian,  83,  302,  35"6.  [362. 

Upper  Trenton  limestone  and  shales,  289, 293, 
Utica  slate,  289. 

Valleys.    See  Erosion  and  Water-courses. 
Veins,  calcareous,  in  till,  442,  640. 
of  quartz,  597,  598. 

Wabash  ridge(terminal  moraine),  Ohio,  463f .n. 
Waconia  (sixth)  moraine,  461  f . n.,  606, 621 ,641 . 
AVarren,  river,  101, 134,  615,  622. 
Waseca  county,  chapter  on,  404. 
Situation  and  area,  404. 
Surface  features,  404. 
Natural  drainage,  404. 
Lakes,  405. 
Topography,  405. 
Terminal  moraines,  406. 
Glacial  lake,  408. 
Elevations,  408. 
Soil  and  timber,  409. 
Geological  structure,  410. 
St.  Peter  and  Cretaceous  formations,  410. 
Drift,  411.    Wells,  411. 
Material  resources,  413. 
Lime  and  brick,  413. 
Springs,  414. 

Aboriginal  mounds,  414  (also  673). 
Water  in  the  state,  120, 130-6;  area,  132. 

Also  see  Lakes  and  Springs. 
Water-courses,  glacial,  deserted,  509,  592, 606, 

624,  626,  642,  662.  Also  see  Interglacial. 
Water-powers:  Houston  county,  208;  Winona, 
237;  Fillmore,  268;  Olmsted,  327;  Mower, 
348;  Dodge,  368;  Freeborn,  376;  Steele,  394; 
Waseca,  413;  Blue  Earth,  445;  Faribault, 
467;  Watonwan,  489;  Martin,  489;  Cotton- 
wood,  513;  Jackson,  513;  Murray,  531;  Rock, 
534;  Brown,  586;  Redwood,  587;  Yellow 
Medicine,  611;  Lyon,  611;  Big  Stone,  630; 
Lac  qui  Parle,  630;  Le  Sueur,  646;  Rice,  650. 
Water-worn  boulders,  583. 

ledges,  61,  226,  434,  583,  597,  664.  [472. 

AVatonwan  and  Martin  counties,  chapter  on, 
Situation  and  area,  472. 
Surface  features,  472. 
Natural  drainage,  472. 
Lakes,  473,  479. 
Topography,  473. 
Elevations,  474.  . 

Soil  and  timber,  475. 
Geological  structure,  476. 


SCIENTIFIC  INDEX. 


697 


Drift  and  contour,  478. 
Third  terminal  moraine,  478. 
Chains  of  lakes,  479. 
Boulders  and  gravel,  485. 
Wells,  486. 

Material  resources,  488. 
Water-powers,  489. 
Stone,  bricks,  peat,  489. 
Aboriginal  mounds,  489. 
'   Weathering,  169,  174,  176,  226,  233,  286,  655. 

See  .Erosion  and  Till. 
Well,  salt,  at  Belle  Plaine,  104. 
Wells:  Owatonna,  398;  Mankato,-423;  Heron 
Lake,  503;  Houston  county,  230;  Fillmore, 
315;  Olmsted,  345;  Mower,  363;  Freeborn, 
389;  Steele,  398,  401;  Waseca,  411;  Blue 
Earth,  442;  Faribault,  465;  Watonwan,  486; 
Martin,  486;  Cottonwood,510;  Jackson,  511! 
Murray,  528;  Nobles,  529;  Pipestone,  550; 
Rock,  551;  Brown,  583;  Redwood,  585; 
Yellow  Medicine,  607;  Lyon,  608;  Lincoln, 
609;  Big  Stone,  629;  Lac  qui  Parle,  629; 
Le  Sueur,  643;  Rice,  670. 

See  Artesian  wells  and  Flowing  wells. 
Wells,  curbing  for,  610. 
Wheat,  498,  610. 
White-fish,  78,  89. 
White  pine,  138. 

White  Rock  bluff.  59,  637.  [671. 

Winds,  effects  of,  66  f.  n.,226, 535, 541, 623,  641, 
Winnipeg,  limestone  boulders  from  near,  509, 
533,  620,  643. 

basin,  drainage  from,  during  recession  of 
ice-sheet,  101,  134,  615,  622. 
Winona  &  St.  Peter  division  of  the  Chicago  & 
Northwestern  railway,  elevations,  245,  329, 
369,  396,  408,  419,  565,  593,  635. 
Winona  county,  chapter  on,  236. 
Situation  and  area,  236. 
Surface  features,  236. 
Natural  drainage,  236. 
Water-power  mills,  237. 
Topography,  238. 
Elevations,  242. 
Soil  and  timber.  245. 
Trees  and  shrubs,  247. 
Geological  structure,  249. 
Trenton  rocks,  249. 
St.  Peter  sandstone,  251. 
Shakopee  limestone,  252. 
Jordan  sandstone,  252. 
St.  Lawrence  limestone,  253. 
Drift,  260. 

High  alluvial  terrace,  261. 
Loess  loam,  262. 


Fossils  in  alluvium,  264. 
Springs,  264. 
Material  resources,  265. 
Stone  quarries,  265. 
Quicklime,  265. 
Brick,  266. 
Archaeology,  266. 
Minerals,  267. 

Wisconsin,  Minnesota  &  Pacific  railway,  ele- 
vations, 652. 
Wood.    See  Timber  and  Trees;  also  Silicijied 

wood. 

Wood  in  drift  deposits,  314,  345, 363,  375,  390, 
402,  413,487,  511,  530,552,553,584,586,  630, 
671. 

Wooden  well-curbing,  510,  554,  608,  670. 
Woodstock  branch,  Chicago,  St.  Paul,  Minne- 
apolis &  Omaha  railway,  elevations,  536. 

Yellow  Medicine,  Lyon  and  Lincoln  counties, 
chapter  on,  589. 
Situation  and  area,  589. 
Surface  features,  590. 

Natural  drainage,  590. 

Lakes.  591. 

Topography,  591. 

Coteau  des  Prairies,  593,  601. 

Elevations,  593. 

Soil  and  timber,  595. 
Geological  structure,  596. 

Eozoic  rocks,  596. 

Cretaceous  beds,  598. 

Glacial  and  modified  drift,  600. 

Outer  or  western  terminal  moraine,  602. 

Channels  through  the  outer  moraine,  603. 

Second  terminal  moraine,  605. 

Third  terminal  moraine,  605. 

Antelope  valley,  605. 

Ancient  water-courses,  606. 

Fourth,  fifth  and  sixth  moraines,  606. 
.  Modified  drift,  606. 

Boulders,  607. 

Wells,  607. 

Travertine,  610. 

Springs,  610. 
Material  resources.  610. 

Water-powers,  611. 

Building  stone,  611. 

Lime,  611. 

Bricks,  612. 

Aboriginal  earthworks,  612. 
Yew,  American,  139. 

Zoology  of  the  state,  21-3,28-30,  32f.n.,37, 
52  f.  n.,  78-80,  87,  89,  106,  498,  524-5. 


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